Definition
Acid soils with a blackish/brownish/reddish subsoil with alluvial iron-aluminium-organic compounds.

Distribution
There are 485 million hectares of Podzols worldwide, mainly  in northern Russia, Siberia and northern Canada. Scattered, smaller areas occur on coarse parent materials associated with heathland. Associated soils are Anthrosols, Cryosols, Cambisols, Gleysols and Histosols, and in the humid tropics, mainly Acrisols and Arenosols.