Bibliogr.

The soils of the Outer Carpathians, including the Gorce Mountains, are developed from flysch regolith or flysch-derived slope sediments, which predominantly form Cambisols. However, Podzols also occur locally in these areas. Their formation was attributed either to the presence of coarse-grained parent material at lower elevations or to bioclimatic factors at higher elevations that promote strong soil acidification and initiate podzolization. This study aimed to determine how soil properties across the Cambisol-Podzol transition in the highest parts of the Gorce Mountains relate to present-day bioclimatic conditions. The results of comprehensive studies, including soil temperature and moisture measurements, vegetation studies, and soil properties analyses, showed that while a generally humid and cool climate is an indispensable condition for podzolization, the properties of the parent material play a decisive role. Podzols are consistently associated with sandstone-derived, coarse-grained parent materials poor in clay and iron. The adjacent soils developed from fine-grained mudstones, although displaying redox features in their upper horizons resembling colours of eluvial horizons, show no clear evidence of illuviation processes and possess properties that support a far richer assemblage of vascular plant species in the forest undergrowth. These findings challenge the view that bioclimatic conditions are the main factor in podzolization in the upper montane zone of the Flysch Carpathians and emphasize the crucial importance of lithological variability in soil development at high elevations.