PARTICULARITIES OF THE SOIL COVER IN THE CATCHMENT OF STEMNIC (BUDA)

Stemnic (Buda) river is a right side affluent of Bârlad river, having a surface of the catchment basin of 15662.5 ha. Situated in the central part of the Central Moldavian Plateau, the catchment of the Stemnic is characterized by an oblong form (30.5 km, respectively 8.5 km), having a lithologic homogeneity, but also by a diversity of the upper deposits (eluvia, diluvia, colluvia and proluvia, alluvia). The fields in the catchment of Stemnic have been analyzed from the point of view of the soils’ quality that have been classified into five quality classes. Besides the intrinsic characteristics of the soils, their classification included also the pedo-chemical properties of the lands, geomorphologic or climatic properties of the area. First, second and the third quality classes are predominant in the lower half of the basin, less fragmented, with prolonged cuesta reverses, corresponding to the distribution area of chernosols. The lands that form part of the fourth quality class are distributed, in a great percentage, on the same types of soil, but present greater constrains because of high slopes. The fourth class is made up of lands with severe limitations that reduce the range of agricultural crops or that need special measures in order to protect and ameliorate the soil resources. This class cumulates a percentage of 9%, being characteristic for the area affected by landslides, mainly in the north-west part of the catchment. In the fifth class are included soils with major constrains for agricultural use. From this perspective, in the catchment are dominant the soils in the third quality class (37%), being followed by the second class (26%) and the first class (23%). The main limitative factors for the agricultural production of the lands in the catchment of Stemnic are surface erosion, landslides, humidity excess and the small quantity of nutritive elements.