The investigated soils are found in the Darror Valley in the arid part of NE Somalia. In this part of east Africa, calcic solonchaks, calcaric fluvisols, calcaric regosols, and calcic vertisols are the most common soils found on Quaternary sediments, which consist mainly of fluvial sediments of different texture, playa sediments, and dunes partly of loamy material. Our investigations indicate that all soils developed from Quaternary sediments are rich in carbonates and gypsum, are often saline, and often have a color of 7.5 YR, which becomes more red in the subsoil. The soils are very weakly altered in situ, and the topsoils are sometimes low in clay due to enrichment of eolian sand and termite activities where soil particles <200 μm are used for wrapping local plant remains. Compared with vertisols of more humid climatic conditions, the investigated vertisols have cracks that penetrate the soil to a greater depth. They have a moderate content of clay and an unusual mineralogical composition. The clay fra...