Summary Profile-differentiated soils of the Precarpathian region were formed due to the combined effect of such processes as podzolization, lessivage, gley-eluvium. For the diagnosis of these soils, researchers have used different diagnostic features. The most controversial is the diagnosis of the lessivage process. Based on our own field and analytical studies, it is suggested to use the granulometric composition compared to the contents of the horizon and the silt content in argillanes for the diagnosis of lessivage argillanes within the illuvial horizon. A reliable feature of lessivage is the equal distribution of the montmorillonite group minerals within the profile, which is diagnosed by the ratio of SiO2:Al2O3 in the silty fraction, the accumulation of Fe2O3 and R2O3 in the illuvial horizon in comparison with the rock and positive values of eluvial-accumulative coefficient of oxides in the silty fraction in the illuvial part of the soil profile.

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Further development of the embryonic process due to the settlement of leaf lichens, the combination of the processes of pedogenesis and lithogenesis cause the formation of Kurums with an organogenic layer thickness of up to 3 cm, which lies directly on a dense rocky rock and is easily separated from it. There are no signs of division into genetic horizons. The soil-like bodies (Kurum) are fragmentarily combined with the weakly developed soils zones within cracks and clefts and embryonic soils. The placement of the moss layer prepared during the embryonic stage intensifies the processes of accumulation of organic matter and the growth of soils upwards. Under the mosses on the dense rocks, the primary (initial) soils are formed. These soils have the power of the organogenic horizon up to 10 cm and marked signs of differentiation on the soil horizons. Settlements on mosses of meadow grass, turf crops, shrubs cause an increase in the power of the organogenic horizon to 20 cm with the allocation of genetic horizons that lie on a dense rock without signs of the development and formation of eluvial deposits. Such signs are characteristic of primitive (young) soils.

The indicators of humus condition reflect not only the productivity of soils, but also the features of the genesis, intensity and direction of soil-forming processes. It was found that the brownish-podzolic soils of the Pregorganian Precarpathian region are characterized by a low content of humus (1 36-3.7%) within the NE gl horizon, and in the lower horizons its content decreases sharply. Profile distribution of humus is determined as regressive-accumulative type, which is typical for most soils with elluvial-illuvial type of profile. The content of humus in the silty fraction of the studied soils is 1.5-2.0 times higher in comparison with the fine soil, and within I (e) m gl of the horizon the accumulation of humus is established, which is due to the lessivage process. Brown-podzolic soils are characterized by fulvate type of humus (C ha: C fa = 0.2-0.5). The movement of fulvic acids within the profile, especially organo-mineral colloids, is caused by the lessivage process. Among fulvic acids, the fraction connected with the mineral part (FC-3) has the highest content, which increases with the depth from 17.6 to 35.1%. The enhance in the content of this fraction with depth is primarily due to the ability to migrate within the profile. It can cause both the movement of fulvic acids deep into the profile with their sorption on peptizing colloids, and the joint movement of organo-mineral peptized colloids in the profile. The highest level of humification (28.10–28.75%) have upper humus-elluvial horizons, because they create the best conditions for the intensive activity of microorganisms. The humus content in clay cutans is 1.5 times higher than in the contained illuvial horizon, which is caused by lessivage and clay granulometric distribution. The humus content in the nodules is lower (0.26%) in comparison with the contained horizon. The results of the optical density analysis indicate a decrease in the extinction index from NE g1 to I (e) m gl of the horizon, which correlates with the indicators of the profile distribution of humic acids, the total content of which decreases with the depth. Such characteristics of humus composition indicate the genetic affinity with brown forest soils.