Catena (soil)
![Cross Section of Dry Zone Catena of Sri Lanka showing relationship to rural land use](/Images/godic/202502/17/Cross_Section_of_Dry_Zone_Catena_of_Sri_Lanka0259.png")
![A catena is a sequence of soils down a slope, created by the balance of processes such as precipitation, infiltration and runoff.](/Images/godic/202502/17/Catena_of_soils0259.jpg")
![Gullies in wet peaty soil in Scotland show where water has run off, before sinking into deeper soils at the bottom of the catena.](/Images/godic/202502/17/Gully_in_the_Soils_Tulach_north_Blair_Atholl_-_geograph.org.uk_-_3189860259.jpg")
A Catena in soil science (pedology) is a series of distinct but co-evolving soils arrayed a slope.[5] Each soil type or "facet" differs somewhat from its neighbours, but all occur in the same climate and on the same underlying parent material. A mature catena is in equilibrium as the processes of deposition and erosion are in balance.