The town of Lugoj is situated in the south-west of Romania, where parallel 45"41' north meetsmeridian 21"53' east, 123 meters above sea level. It covers 9.855 hectares, being the second largest townin Timiș County in what its size, importance and population is concerned. The town was formed on bothbanks of Timiș River, at the foot of the hills descending from Poiana Ruscă Mountains. The hills arecovered by orchards and vineyards. Morphologically, Lugoj area is part of the High Plain of Lugoj andLugoj Hills, being situated at the confluence of these two units. The town was developed on both banks ofTimiş River, more exactly on its lower terrace. The relief unit Lugoj lies on is Lugoj Plain, which reachesdeep into the piedmont hills. The average altitude of the area is 124 m above sea level. For the most part,the area the town lies on is flat, with some elevations that do not however exceed 2 to 3 m altitude asagainst the terrace. To the north-west of the plain there are Lugoj Hills, which make the transition toPoiana Ruscă Mountains. South of Timiş River Valley, Lugoj area stretches to the floodplain ofCernabora, the closest local tributary of Timiş River. The soils in the research area were formed andhave developed through the interaction of a complex of pedogenetic factors, among which the relief, thewater, the parent rock, the vegetation and human intervention are the most important. In the low plain,Timiş River has played a significant part. Through repeated bed changes and overflows, this river hasdeposited alluvial material over another material which was in the course of solidification. Thus, soils inthis area appear as alternate layers with different solidification degrees. Due to damming, accumulationof new alluvial matter has been stopped, and so the solidification started. These processes that led to theformation of the current soils have been strongly influenced by phreatic water. As the area used to befrequently flooded, the humidity excess frequently prevented oxygen from getting into the soil, andanaerobic microorganisms, in the process of decomposing organic matter, have got oxygen from mineralelements (iron and manganese).

fertility, soil, humus, morphological, material deposited

Presentation: oral