Reference soil Brazil 11: Ferralsol

BR011

Ferralsols occur in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, mainly on old and stable land surfaces.

Characteristics

Soils having a ferralic horizon (strongly weathered horizon with low-activity clays and very low amounts of weatherable minerals) between 25 and 200 cm from the soil surface. They lack a nitic horizon (a horizon with strongly developed, nut-shaped structure) and do not have a layer which fulfils the requirements of an argic horizon and which has, in the upper 30 cm, 10 percent or more water-dispersible clay.

Distribution of Ferralsols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil BR011: Ferralsols

Brief field description: Deep, well drained, yellowish brown sandy clay loam derived from lacustrine sediments; with loamy sand topsoil. Intense biological activity in the first 45 cm; principally ants. Crotovinas present in AB and BA. *) Brazilian classification: Latossolo Amarelo alico. The soil has a clear clay increase, however the soil has all the properties of a ferralic B-horizon, it therefore does not qualify for an Argic horizon (FAO, 1988). Reference soil BR 11 is comparable to soil profile 02 LA-PARA.

Classification

WRB 2006

WRB 1998

Acric-Vetic- Ferralsol (Alumic Xanthic)

Veti-Acric- Ferralsol (Alumic Xanthic)

80-310 cm	ferralic horizon
8-80 cm	argic horizon

0-18 cm	ochric horizon
80-310 cm	ferralic horizon
8-80 cm	argic horizon

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Acri-Xanthic Ferralsol

Xanthic Ferralsol

0-18 cm	ochric A horizon
80-310 cm	ferralic B horizon
8-80 cm	argic B horizon
- cm	ferralic B horizon
- cm	ochric A horizon

0-18 cm	ochric A horizon
8-310 cm	oxic B horizon

Local classification:	Latossolo Amarelo álico

Other classification

USDA-NRCS (1999)	Xanthic Kandiperox
USDA-SCS (1975)	Xanthic Acrustox perudic loamy kaolinitic isohyperthermic

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Physical characteristics

Particle size distribution

Depth (cm)	Gravel % v/v	very coarse sand % w/w	coarse sand % w/w	medium sand % w/w	fine sand % w/w	very fine sand % w/w	Total sand % w/w	coarse silt % w/w	fine silt % w/w	Total silt % w/w	Clay % w/w
0-8	-	0.2	3.3	40.7	40.3	4.9	89.4	1.4	0.3	1.7	9.1
8-18	-	0.2	3.0	32.4	38.1	6.5	80.2	2.2	1.2	3.4	16.5
18-45	-	0.1	2.5	27.7	35.4	7.0	72.7	3.5	0.9	4.4	23.0
45-80	-	0.2	2.5	24.8	33.2	7.2	67.9	2.5	0.6	3.1	29.1
80-120	-	0.3	2.6	25.3	33.3	6.7	68.2	1.8	1.7	3.5	28.2
120-160	-	0.3	2.8	25.2	31.7	6.6	66.6	2.5	0.3	2.8	30.6
160-220	-	0.3	2.6	25.2	31.2	6.4	65.7	3.8	0.9	4.7	29.6
220-260	-	0.3	3.1	26.9	30.4	4.7	65.4	3.3	1.6	4.9	29.6
260-300	-	0.5	3.3	26.3	30.6	6.5	67.2	1.7	2.0	3.7	29.0

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-8	-	16	-	1.9	9.1
16-21	1.554	-	-	-	-
8-18	-	19	-	4.5	16.5
42-47	1.512	-	-	-	-
87-92	1.402	-	-	-	-
18-45	-	22	-	8.4	23.0
45-80	-	23	-	13.8	29.1
80-120	-	21	-	0.0	28.2
120-160	-	21	-	0.0	30.6
160-220	-	21	-	0.0	29.6
220-260	-	21	-	0.0	29.6
260-300	-	20	-	0.0	29.0

Other physical data

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	pF 0 % v/v	pF 1.0 % v/v	pF 1.5 % v/v	pF 2.0 % v/v	pF 2.3 % v/v	pF 2.7 % v/v	pF 3.4 % v/v	pF 4.2 % v/v
16-21	1.554	34.1	33.0	27.5	21.9	18.8	17.5	10.9	10.0
42-47	1.512	35.6	33.7	28.7	23.8	22.0	20.9	13.4	12.7
87-92	1.402	36.8	34.4	27.9	21.4	18.7	17.2	13.9	13.2

Chemical data

Depth (cm)	pH H2O	pHKCl	EC 1: 2.5 dS/m	CaCO3 % w/w	C % w/w	N %	C / N	Exch. Acid cmol(c)/kg	Exch. Al cmol(c)/kg	Ca cmol(c)/kg	Mg cmol(c)/kg	K cmol(c)/kg	Na cmol(c)/kg	Sum Cations cmol(c)/kg
0-8	6.1	5.3	0.13	-	1.42	0.09	16	0	0.1	3.4	0.6	0.1	0.1	4.2
8-18	5.1	4.3	0.11	-	1.03	0.07	15	0.4	0.4	1.2	0.3	0.0	0.1	1.6
18-45	4.8	4.2	0.04	-	0.64	0.04	16	0.8	0.9	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.5
45-80	4.8	4.3	0.03	-	0.36	-	-	0.7	0.9	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.6
80-120	4.9	4.3	0.03	-	0.20	-	-	0.6	0.8	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3
120-160	4.8	4.2	0.02	-	0.11	-	-	0.6	0.8	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4
160-220	4.8	4.2	0.02	-	0.09	-	-	0.5	0.7	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4
220-260	5.0	4.4	0.02	-	0.10	-	-	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.5
260-300	4.9	4.3	0.02	-	0.10	-	-	0	0	0.3	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.4

Depth (cm)	Base sat. %	CEC soil cmol(c)/kg	CEC clay cmol(c)/kg	CEC org cmol(c)/kg	ECEC cmol(c)/kg	Al sat. %	ESP %
0-8	63	6.7	74	5.0	-	1	1
8-18	36	4.4	27	3.6	-	9	2
18-45	17	3.0	13	2.2	-	30	0
45-80	26	2.3	8	1.3	-	39	4
80-120	21	1.4	5	0.7	-	57	0
120-160	29	1.4	5	0.4	-	57	0
160-220	33	1.2	4	0.3	-	58	0
220-260	50	1.0	3.0	0.4	-	30	0
260-300	40	1.0	3.0	0.4	-	0	0

Depth (cm)	pH NaF	P Retention %	ODOE	Al o % w/w	Si o % w/w	Fe d % w/w	Al d % w/w	Fe p % w/w	Al p % w/w	C p % w/w	Fe o % w/w
0-8	-	7	-	0.04	0.01	0.28	0.07	-	-	-	0.04
8-18	-	10	-	0.05	0.00	0.50	0.10	-	-	-	0.07
18-45	-	12	-	0.08	0.00	0.65	0.15	-	-	-	0.09
45-80	-	14	-	0.11	0.01	0.77	0.19	-	-	-	0.08
80-120	-	13	-	0.08	0.01	0.77	0.17	-	-	-	0.05
120-160	-	-	-	0.07	0.01	0.81	0.17	-	-	-	0.02
160-220	-	-	-	0.07	0.01	0.81	0.16	-	-	-	0.01
220-260	-	-	-	0.05	0.01	0.79	0.17	-	-	-	0.01
260-300	-	11	-	0.05	0.01	0.69	0.13	-	-	-	0.01

Elemental composition of the clay

Depth (cm)	SiO2 % w/w	Al2O3 % w/w	Fe2O3 % w/w	CaO % w/w	MgO % w/w	K2O % w/w	Na2O % w/w	TiO2 % w/w
80-120	41.4	36.3	6.0	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.03	2.92
120-160	40.8	36.0	6.0	0.00	0.02	0.03	0.03	2.87

Depth (cm)	MnO2 % w/w	P2O5 % w/w	Ign.Loss clay % w/w	Total Clay % w/w	SiO2/Al2O3 mol/mol	SiO2/Fe2O3 mol/mol	SiO2 / R mol/mol	Al2O3/Fe2O3 mol/mol
80-120	0.01	0.11	13.8	100.6	1.9	18.3	1.8	9.4
120-160	0.01	0.09	13.8	99.6	1.9	18.0	1.7	9.3

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
80-120	-	weak	-	weak	-	very weak	very strong	-	-	-	-	-
120-160	-	weak	-	weak	-	very weak	very strong	-	-	-	-	-

Sand mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Heavy Frac. sand % w/w	K-Feldspar % w/w	Light Fra. sand % w/w	Opaque % w/w	Plagioclase % w/w	Quartz % w/w
80-120	1.4	-	98.6	100	-	100

Profile description

Ah 0-8 cm	greyish brown (10YR 5/2, dry) dark greyish brown (10YR 4/2, moist)loamy sand,strong fine and medium granular,slightly hard friable slightly sticky slightly plastic,many very fine pores,abrupt smooth boundary to,
8-18 cm	(10YR 5.5/3, dry) (10YR 4.5/3, moist)sandy loam,strong fine and medium subangular blocky to granular,hard friable slightly sticky slightly plastic,many very fine pores,clear smooth boundary to,
BA 18-45 cm	(10YR 5.5/4, moist)sandy clay loam,weak fine and medium subangular blocky,very hard friable sticky plastic,many very fine pores,clear smooth boundary to,
Bo1 45-80 cm	(10YR 5/5, moist)sandy clay,weak fine and medium subangular blocky,hard friable sticky plastic,many coarse pores,clear smooth boundary to,
Bo2 80-160 cm	(10YR 6/7, moist)clay,weak fine and medium subangular blocky,hard friable sticky plastic,many very fine pores,clear smooth boundary to,
Bo3 160-310 cm	brownish yellow (10YR 6/8, moist)clay,very fine and fine subangular blocky to crumb,hard friable sticky plastic,many very fine pores,

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	sediment, unconsolidated
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	lacustrine sediments
Remarks on Parent Materials	Tertiary/Quaternary Barreiras formation
Soil Depth	310cm
Texture of parent material	sandy clay
Weathering Resistance	moderate
General characterization of the status of weathering of solid rock	highly

Intensity of the soil erosion type	slight
Soil erosion type	sheet

Land use or vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the site	semi-natural grassland, grazed
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	VEGETATION: Kicuio do Amazonas grass (Brachiaria sp) LANDUSE:
Status of vegetation; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	secondary
Major vegetation type; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	evergreen forest

Altitude	70m
Physiographic Unit	nearly level plain
Physiographic position of the site	flat
Regional landform; McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F. et all, 1984; Australian soil and land survey Field Handbook, Inkata Press, Melbourne.	lacustrine plain
Slope	1%
Form of the slope surrounding the site	straight
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	flat or almost flat

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	well
Dry From - To	0-18cm
Flooding frequency (FAO, 1986)	never
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	18-310cm
Estimated permeability (class) of least permeable part of the profile	moderate
Estimated run off (class)	very slow

Evidence of alkali ; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-alkaline
Surface cracking	no cracks observed
Slaking of aggregates by tillage, rainfall or frost (USDA/SCS, 1979)	no surface slaking/crusting observed
Micro relief type: small-scale differences in relief in the direct vicinity of the site (FAO, 1986)	level
Rock outcrop class (FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description)	none
Evidence of salt; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-saline
Surface stoniness class (FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description)	none

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Reference soil Brazil 11: Ferralsol

Characteristics

Reference soil BR011: Ferralsols

Classification