Red-brown Soil Research Articles

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF LA POCATIERE AND ST-PASCAL SOILS DEVELOPED ON MARINE SEDIMENTS IN QUEBEC

Some properties of two Gleysolic soils developed on Champlain Sea sediments were studied. Small variations were noted in pH, organic matter, and carbonate values determined in the La Pocatière profile (Low Humic Eluviated Gleysol); these grayish materials were probably reworked by fresh water after their deposition. Changes in these properties were much more marked between upper and lower horizons of the St-Pascal profile (Orthic Gleysol). C horizons of this profile were very compact and only slightly affected by gleysation. Fe, Al, and Mn values decreased with depth in the La Pocatière profile and were maximum in Bg2 and Bg3 horizons of the St-Pascal. Mineralogical analyses showed that illite and quartz were the most important constituents of the clay fraction and that chlorite, plagioclase feldspars, and amphibole were found in greater amounts in the La Pocatière horizons. Interstratified illite-vermiculite was noted in Ahe horizon of the St-Pascal profile, and chloritized vermiculite, hematite, and geothite were identified in Bg2 and Bg3 horizons of this reddish brown soil.

Iron and Clay in Tropical Savanna Alluvium, Northern Colombia: A Contribution to The Origin of Red Beds

Along the flanks of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, northern Colombia, tropical savanna uplands with reddish to reddish-brown soils yield brown alluvium which contains relatively abundant grains of fresh iron-bearing minerals: magnetite, amphibole, and biotite, with subordinate chlorite and ilmenite. They constitute about 4.5 weight percent of bulk samples and 8.8 weight percent of sand-silt fractions. In older terrace deposits bleached biotite is common, amphibole is rare, and some magnetite has been oxidized to specular hematite. Clay minerals consist of varying amounts of montmorillonite, illite, mixed-layer clay, kaolinite, and chlorite. Amorphous to very disordered aluminosihcate constitutes 10 to 26 percent of the clay fraction. Total iron makes up 3.1 to 7.6 percent of bulk samples which is considerably higher than that in Sonoran Desert alluvium (0.7 to 4.7 percent), and its upper range exceeds that in many ancient red beds. With few exceptions most of the total iron is in the clay fractions and about 75 percent of that is combined in clay minerals. Total iron in clay fractions averages about 6.6 percent: 5.5 to 8.0 percent in alluvium in transit, 4.8 to 9.0 percent in flood-plain sediments, and 3.0 to 5.8 percent in older terrace deposits. Free (extractable) iron in brown pigment constitutes 0.7 to 3.2 percent of clay fractions and averages about 0.75 percent of bulk samples. This is about twice that in bulk samples of Sonoran Desert alluvium (0.38 percent mean) and it is more than that in many ancient red beds (0.67 percent mean). According to these data there is enough free brown hydrated ferric oxide in tropical savanna alluvium to produce hematite pigment in a red bed simply by post-depositional dehydration and crystallization in an oxidizing environment of burial.

Plant Availability and Form of Residual Phosphorus in Davidson Clay Loam

AbstractThe form and availability of residual P in Davidson clay loam, a Reddish Brown Lateritic soil, was investigated. Various levels of residual P had been established in the soil by annual application of superphosphate for 17 years. In a greenhouse experiment, residual P from annual application of 21 lb P/acre was adequate to supply the P requirement of three successive crops of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. ‘DuPuits’); application of 10.5 lb P/acre was inadequate. Phosphorus fractionation by the Chang and Jackson procedure (5) showed that native and residual P was present in the soil predominantly as iron phosphate; application of superphosphate resulted in small but significant increases in aluminum and calcium phosphates. A comparison of the inorganic fractions in soil before and after growth of the three crops of alfalfa provided evidence that aluminum, iron, and calcium phosphates were sources of P to the first crop and that iron phosphate was the main source to the second and third crops. The availability of the three fractions was explained on the basis of their composition and soil pH and exchangeable Ca2+ content.

The supply of soluble phosphorus to the wheat plant from inorganic soil phosphorus

Pots containing a slightly acid, red-brown soil were maintained at three moisture levels, in half the pots wheat was grown and in the remainder there was no plant growth. Fractionation of the soil phosphorus showed the aluminium phosphates fraction to be the main source of plant-available phosphorus, but at the same time the growth of the plants reduced the significant increase in iron phosphates which occurred during the period in the no-wheat pots. The plant roots compete with the iron phosphates for the soluble phosphate released from the aluminium phosphates fraction.

The Geomorphic and Paleoclimatic Significance of Alluvial Deposits in Southern Arizona

Alluvial deposits in southern Arizona are conveniently grouped into four major classes for purposes of geomorphic-climatic interpretation. The oldest group consists of (1) great thicknesses of highly deformed, varied, continental sediments and volcanic rocks deposited under conditions of crustal instability and a subhumid climate prior to the major events of the Basin and Range orogeny; (2) moderately tilted and faulted, coarse, postorogenic fanglomerates deposited during rapid erosion of uplifted mountain blocks with steep slopes, under a hot, semiarid climate. A second group consists of locally deformed, fine-grained lake beds and correlative deposits, deposited from lower Pliocene to middle Pleistocene under generally mild climates in response to damming of the ancestral drainage. A third group consists of very coarse, unde-formed fan deposits that were the product of rapid mechanical weathering during the cold Illinoian and Wisconsin glaciopluvial stages. The fourth group consists of fine-grained, denega beds, deposited from 500 B.C. to about A.D 1800 in almost every watercourse under a climate very much like today's. The change from fine-grained deposition of the lake episode to fan deposition indicates that the early Pleistocene pluvial stages were more humid than today, but not particularly cold; mechanical weathering was subordinate to chemical weathering. During the much colder Illinoian and Wisconsin stages only the low desert ranges escaped intensive frost action. A mature, leached, red-brown soil separates Illinoian from Wisconsin deposits over a wide area of southern Arizona. Fan gradients were determined by the ruggedness of the parent basins. Fans are thicker for basins with higher summit elevations and northeast orientation. The empirical equation $$\gamma^{0}= 7.30(H/\sqrt{A})^{0.87}$$ relates gradient to relative relief for both late Pleistocene fans and modern channels. In the headwaters cienega surfaces on fine deposits generally have steeper gradients than the modern bouldery arroyos trenching them. During their formation, the cienegas were zones of very high hydraulic roughness covered by dense stands of tall grass. The pattern of cienega deposition and entrenchment in second-order basins is controlled by mean hill-slope inclination and by the nature of the material upon which the basin is developed.

Phosphorus Availability in Reddish Brown Lateritic Soils. II. Relationships Between Field, Greenhouse, and Soil Analyses1

SynopsisNo method was found to be significantly superior to any other in predicting the P status of the soils. The Olsen method was least affected by soil pH and generally yielded the highest correlation coefficient. This will probably continue to be the method used by the Oregon State University Soil Testing Laboratory for both acid and calcareous soils.

Phosphorus Availability in Reddish Brown Lateritic Soils. I. Laboratory Studies1

SynopsisNH4F extracted Al‐phosphates plus monoor di‐calcium phosphate, NaOH extracted Fe‐phosphates, and H2SO4 extracted calcium phosphates remaining in the sample. Adding mono‐calcium phosphorus to 2 soils increased the NH4F‐ and the NaOH‐extractable P but had no effect on the H2SO4‐extractable P. NH4F‐ and H2SO4‐extractable P in soil correlated best with P content of oats and clover. Uptake of P by oats and clover during a cropping period was significantly correlated with loss of NH4F‐extractable P from the soil.

A study on the effect of colloidal silica in peptising iron oxide with reference to red brown soil formation on limestone

AbstractColloidal silica will peptise Fe2O3 in alkaline media containing Na ions, but Ca ions cause flocculation of the silica and no peptisation of Fe2O2 occurs. It is concluded that the theory of Reifenberg on the formation of terra rossa on limestone is untenable.

The Genesis of the Red‐Yellow Podzolic Soils

AbstractMineralogical, chemical, physical, and morphological data are given for 18 profiles of Red‐Yellow Podzolic soils. These soils represent 3 profiles each of 2 sequences, one derived from acid crystalline rocks and the other from sandstones. Six profiles of Reddish Brown Lateritic soils are included for comparison where appropriate.Differences between sequences and within sequences are due either to inherited or to genetic properties, both of which are related to or limited by parent material. All properties studied follow the same kind of distribution with depth. Differences in magnitude reflect inherited differences, whereas the kind of distribution reflects similar genetic differences under uniform environments. Apparent discrepancies in the distribution with depth of clay content, exchange capacity, and associated properties occur as differences in parent materials. Differences in secondary products are also related to differences in parent materials and in turn are related to the observed differences.Suggested mechanisms for the genesis of these soils and their characteristic mottling are presented. The Red‐Yellow Podzolic soils are compared to the Gray‐Brown Podzolic soils in terms of probable genesis.

The Influence of Soil Conditions, Following Tractor Logging, on the Growth of Planted Douglas‐Fir Seedlings

AbstractGrowth of planted Douglas‐fir seedlings was investigated on Reddish Brown Latosol soils on two cutover areas in the Cascade Mountains of western Oregon.In April 1955, 2‐0 seedlings were planted on tractor roads, in loose berm material adjacent to the tractor roads, and on undisturbed cutover condition. First‐year survival for all conditions was over 90%. Annual height measurements were made at the end of the 1955 and 1956 growing seasons. Differences in height growth between seedlings on the cutover condition and those on the berm and tractor road conditions were highly significant. Seedling growth differences between berm and tractor road conditions were also statistically significant in several instances. Soil analysis data indicated poor growing conditions on the tractor roads, particularly in regard to aeration, moisture, and N relationships.

The nutrient status and cultivation practices of the soils of the North-West wheat belt of NSW.

A study has been made of the nitrogen, organic carbon, phosphate, and pH levels of the wheat soils of north-western New South Wales, and the cultivation practices adopted. They are found generally to be high in both total and available phosphate, and particularly high figures for available phosphate, over 1000 p.p.m., were found in limited areas. The nitrogen levels of the virgin chernozemic soils are distinctly higher than those of the red-brown earths and red solodic soils, but soils of all groups show a decline with cultivation, which is most rapid in the first 10 years. The introduction of periods under lucerne raises the nitrogen level, but the wheat/grazed fallow or wheat/grazing oats appear to cause the same nitrogen losses as are encountered under continuous wheat, in spite of the prevalence of stubble burning which inevitably accompanies this practice. The average yields of wheat on the chernozemic soils are distinctly higher than those obtained on the red-brown earths and red solodic soils, on some of which nitrogen appears to be limiting.

Regional Research Station in N.S.W

To facilitate study of problems associated with the development of irrigated pastures and forage crops on the heavy grey and red-brown soils of the Riverina district of New South Wales, Messrs. F. S. Falkiner and Son have presented 1,550 acres of typical country to the Australian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. An experimental farm will be established, with laboratory facilities, some twelve miles away in the town of Deniliquin. Water will be provided by the State Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission. It is hoped to deal there with many of the plant and animal production problems affecting one of the most important agricultural areas of the Commonwealth.

XXVII.—Notices and Extracts from the Minute-Book of the Geological Society.

1. Extract from the Letters dated Sierra Leone, June 3d, 1822; and Bathurst, St. Mary’s, Gambia, July 20th, 1822; addressed by Joseph Byerley, Esq. to B. Fayle, Esq., and communicated to the Society by Dr. Babington, President . [Read Feb. 21, 1823.] The hills round Sierra Leone are of granite, or rather of sienite-porphyry, composed of olive-green felspar in huge masses, with occasional mica and tourmaline. This rock decomposes, and forms a red loose aggregate which serves to build with, and is of the colour of red brick; the whole soil partaking of this colour, and giving a fine bistre tint to all the scenery, which forms a striking contrast to the great verdure of the woods. The scenery is highly picturesque and mountainous. Orange, lime, coffee, cotton, acacia, cocoa-nut, banana, palm, and other trees in wonderful variety, form a fine shade over the beautiful and romantic roads through the woods on the hills around. The pine-apples grow wild in the woods, and are very fine and abundant. Fine copal is brought by the natives from the interior, but it is not an article of trade, owing to the high duties in England. The governor has a coffee farm on the mountains, the scenery around which is very fine. In the fore-ground are rude fragments of dark olive-green felspar. Behind are higher mountains covered with woods that are always green; in the front down the valley is seen Sierra Leone, on its reddish brown soil, bounded by the mouth of the