The mass balance of weathering of soils derived from basic-ultrabasic rocks under the subtropical climate of southern Brazil, the least weathered soils found to date in the Rio Grande do Sul state, showed a higher relative concentration of the mobile elements in the surface horizons than in the subsurface horizons. These features, associated to the soil mineralogy and morphology, indicate the occurrence of erosive-depositional events in a pedogenetically recent past as well as a main contribution from less weathered materials to the mineral composition of the surface horizons. These erosive events and the profiles surface renewal explain the early stage of development of these soils and their chemical and mineralogical similarity to soils derived from basic-ultrabasic rocks of temperate regions.
basic-ultrabasic rocks; udolls; weathering; geochemical balance