Experimental Order 1 soil survey of vacant urban land, Detroit, Michigan, USA

• Anthropogenic soils on vacant urban land are mappable, even at the scale of a single lot < 0.1 ha in size.
• Demolition site history can be reconstructed from the spatial pattern of anthropogenic soils and artifacts.
• More Order 1 surveys are needed to define the characteristics of urban anthrosequences.

An Order 1 soil survey was made of a vacant lot < 0.1 ha in size using a square grid with a two meter spacing (n = 90 points) to test the hypothesis that there is a mappable pattern of anthropogenic polypedons against the alternative that the distribution is random. The vacant lot was formed circa 1998 by demolition of a wood-frame home from the 1920s in an urban residential setting in Detroit, Michigan. The anthropogenic soils studied were formed on a 0–2% slope under grass vegetation from artificial fill comprised of a mixture of poorly drained native soil materials, glacial sediments and artifacts (objects of anthropogenic origin), mainly waste building materials. The results suggest that anthropogenic soils on vacant urban land are mappable, even at the scale of a single vacant lot. The soils approximated an anthrosequence, i.e. a genetically related group of profiles whose characteristics differ mainly as a result of anthropogenic activity. The anthrosequence is comprised of soil phases whose range of characteristics can be used to define anthropogenic taxa, or to characterize the map unit composition of native soil–urban land complexes found on vacant property produced by building demolition. The results also suggest that, in the absence of historic records, demolition site history can be reconstructed from the spatial distribution of artifacts and soil types. More Order 1 surveys are needed to define the characteristics of anthrosequences in other urban settings and involving different soil orders, and to develop predictive urban soil–landscape models needed to provide better interpretive information for users of urban soil survey maps.

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