Chemical, physical and mineralogical attributes of the soils of the Sertanejo pediplain in the sisal-growing areas of the semiarid Bahia

Abstract

Information and available knowledge of the soils of the Sertanejo pediplain are relatively scarce and restricted to survey data. Researches about soil characterization and classification contributes to the knowledge of different soil orders within a region and allows information to be obtained systemically based on the physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties of the soil. This study aimed to evaluate the genesis of the Sertanejo pediplain soils, through the characterization of the chemical and mineralogical properties and classification of the soils of the sisal-growing region. Five soil profiles located in Araci, Retirolândia, St. Dominic, and Valente, cities located in the sisal-growing areas of the Bahia semiarid region, were studied, described morphologically, and analyzed for chemical (pH H2O and KCl, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, Al3+, H+ + Al3+, P, and TOC) and mineralogical attributes. Most evaluated soil classes were formed by lithological discontinuity of material. The main processes involved in the formation of such soil classes were: cumulization, accretion, and lessivage. The mineralogy of the clay fraction observed was complex and included a variety of minerals, with a predominance of kaolinite and bayerite. In addition, we also found goethite and illite in most of the studied profiles, both in the sediment, horizons P1 C2, and in the crystalline horizon P1 Cr, P2 Bi, P3 2Cr, and P5 Bi. The soils were classified up to the fourth category level, as Entisol Eutrophic Inceptisol (RRE), Alfisols Haplic typical Eutrophic (SXE), and Inceptisols Ta Eutrophic vertissólico (CXve).