Abstract:Characterized by strong biological participation and input of extraneous organic matter in the surface layer, ornithogenic soils in penguin rookeries are formed through the pedogenic processes dominated by mineralization of guano and phosphatization of underlying rock. In this paper major pedogenic, characteristics, morphologic profile features, mineral formation and distribution patterns of ornithogenic soils in the maritime Antarctic were expounded, and process of the soils in the abandoned rookeries evolving towards relic ornithogenic soils was demonstrated. Meanwhile, in comparison with ornithogenic soils in other places outside the maritime Antarctic, the soil in this region exhibited some particularities in soil-forming and evolutional processes, and in morphology and mineralogy.