The properties, genesis and significance of a man‐made iron pan podzol near Castletownbere, Ireland

Summary Beneath a layer of artificially deposited peat debris, an eluvial E horizon and thin iron pan (Bsm) has developed in the upper part of the A p horizon of a brown podzolic soil (Haplorthod) near Castletownbere, Ireland. The thickness of the E horizon and the depth of the pan are directly related to the thickness of the layer of peat debris. The original soil (Haplorthod) was strongly podzolized with a significant accumulation of organic carbon, iron and aluminium in the spodic Bs. The iron pan of the upper sequum, on the other hand, is rich in iron. This iron pan seems to have developed as a result of reduction of iron in the E horizon, transport of divalent Fe 2+ cations and precipitation in the Bsm as Fe 2 (OH) 3 , after the peat layer was deposited. We conclude that podzolization and iron pan development were fundamentally different processes. The study suggests a fundamental change in the iron pan‐blanket peat development sequence previously postulated by palaeoenvironmentalists in Ireland.