Reference soil China 07: Ferralsol

CN007

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 CN007: Ferralsols

PROFILE DESCRIPTION : Very deep, well drained red sandy clay loam derived from granite. The brownish coloured topsoil is low in organic carbon and very low in bases. The uniformly coloured red subsoil has only weakly developed subangular blocky structures or appears as porous massive. The soil reaction is acid througout. GEOLOGY: medium grained Mesozoic granite / HYDROLOGY: coarse dendritic surface drainage; infiltration is estimated at 25-50 cm/day / SOIL FAUNA: few ants and worms / HUMAN INFLUENCES: reforestation as anti-erosion measure, sometimes taking place by air seeding of pine. Slide nos. of the ISRIC collection: 5980-5986 (profile, landscape, vegetation). Thin section nos. of the ISRIC collection: 2714-2720.

Classification

WRB 2006

WRB 1998

Vetic- Ferralsol (Alumic Epidystric)

Alumi-Vetic- Ferralsol

5-150 cm

ferralic horizon

0-19 cm	ochric horizon
5-150 cm	ferralic horizon

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Alumi-Ferralic Cambisol

Orthic Ferralsol

0-19 cm	ochric A horizon
- cm	cambic B horizon
- cm	ochric A horizon
-	ferralic

0-19 cm	ochric A horizon
5-115 cm	oxic B horizon

Local classification:	Eutrophic latored soil; Hapli-Udic Ferralosol
Common name:	Red floury clay

Other classification

USDA-NRCS (1999)	Inceptic Eutrudox
USDA-SCS (1975)	Inceptic Eutrorthox udic fine kaolinitic thermic

More images

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
0-5	2	11.3	19.7	14.6	8.9	2.4	56.9	2.2	9.5	11.7	31.3
5-19	2	11.6	16.5	11.0	6.7	2.0	47.8	0.6	10.5	11.1	41.1
19-48	3	14.1	16.3	9.5	5.5	1.7	47.1	1.8	11.4	13.2	39.8
48-60	6	14.7	15.7	9.2	5.1	1.6	46.3	2.9	11.7	14.6	39.1
60-83	8	14.0	16.0	8.5	4.7	1.6	44.8	1.9	14.2	16.1	39.2
83-115	7	14.4	14.6	8.1	4.3	1.7	43.1	4.4	19.0	23.4	33.5
115-150	4	12.3	14.7	8.3	5.1	2.1	42.5	4.7	24.1	28.8	28.7

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
2-7	1.274	-	-	-	-
0-5	-	-	-	19.8	31.3
12-17	1.410	-	-	-	-
5-19	-	-	-	0.0	41.1
27-32	1.342	-	-	-	-
19-48	-	-	-	0.0	39.8
72-77	1.469	-	-	-	-
48-60	-	33	-	2.0	39.1
98-103	1.461	-	-	-	-
60-83	-	-	-	0.0	39.2
83-115	-	31	-	1.5	33.5
132-137	1.486	-	-	-	-
115-150	-	-	-	0.0	28.7

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
2-7	1.274	50.1	48.0	41.9	32.0	31.1	29.5	20.8	18.6
12-17	1.410	46.0	43.8	38.2	32.5	32.3	29.3	25.4	24.1
27-32	1.342	48.2	44.9	35.0	29.2	28.7	25.7	24.8	23.0
72-77	1.469	44.3	41.7	35.2	31.1	30.9	28.3	28.5	25.3
98-103	1.461	43.9	41.2	34.8	30.9	30.4	27.9	28.3	25.5
132-137	1.486	43.8	42.6	37.2	33.4	33.0	30.4	29.1	25.2

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
0-5	4.9	4.0	0.08	-	1.53	0.11	14	1.9	1.7	0.4	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.8
5-19	5.2	4.1	0.02	-	0.58	0.03	19	1.4	1.3	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.2	0.7
19-48	5.2	4.2	0.01	-	0.28	0.01	28	1.0	0.7	0.4	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.8
48-60	5.2	4.2	0.01	-	0.16	0	-	0.9	0.7	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.2	0.7
60-83	5.2	4.2	0.01	-	0.37	0	-	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.1	0.0	0.2	1.1
83-115	5.2	4.1	0.01	-	0.19	-	-	1.1	0.9	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.2	0.7
115-150	5.2	4.1	0.01	-	0.14	-	-	1.3	1.0	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.2	0.7

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 %
0-5	20	4.1	13	5.4	-	41	5
5-19	28	2.5	6	2.0	-	52	8
19-48	38	2.1	5	1.0	-	33	10
48-60	50	1.4	4	0.6	-	50	14
60-83	58	1.9	5	1.3	-	37	11
83-115	39	1.8	5	0.7	-	50	11
115-150	39	1.8	6	0.5	-	56	11

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
0-5	-	-	-	0.12	0.01	1.40	0.28	0.27	0.14	-	0.06
5-19	-	-	-	0.11	0.00	1.79	0.35	0.20	0.08	-	0.04
19-48	-	-	-	0.11	0.00	1.93	0.33	0.05	0.05	-	0.04
48-60	-	-	-	0.11	0.01	1.95	0.30	0.03	0.04	-	0.03
60-83	-	-	-	0.07	0.01	2.27	0.23	0.01	0.03	-	0.02
83-115	-	-	-	0.09	0.00	2.08	0.26	0.01	0.04	-	0.03
115-150	-	-	-	0.09	0.01	2.14	0.33	0.02	0.04	-	0.03

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
48-60	41.3	37.0	8.3	0.02	0.17	0.66	-	0.77
83-115	39.6	36.3	8.4	0.03	0.16	0.66	-	0.79

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
48-60	0.02	0.07	13.7	102.0	1.9	13.2	1.7	7.0
83-115	0.03	0.08	13.6	99.4	1.8	12.5	1.6	6.8

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-5	-	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	weak	very weak	-	-
5-19	-	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	weak	very weak	-	-
19-48	-	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	weak	very weak	-	-
48-60	-	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	weak	very weak	-	-
60-83	-	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	weak	very weak	-	-
83-115	-	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	weak	very weak	-	-
115-150	-	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	weak	very weak	-	-

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
83-115	2	1	98	89	-	99

Minerals

Depth (cm)	Anatase % w/w	Andalusite % w/w	Apatite % w/w	Augite % w/w	Biotite % w/w	Hornblende (basaltic) % w/w
83-115	1	-	-	-	-	-

Profile description

Ah 0-5 cm	strong brown (7.5YR 4/6, moist)sandy clay,weak fine subangular blocky,very friable,few very fine fine continuous exped tubular pores,very few fine gravel weathered quartz fragments,clear smooth boundary to,
AE 5-19 cm	(10YR 5.5/8, moist)sandy clay,weak medium subangular blocky,very friable,patchy thin clay and humus cutans,few fine continuous exped tubular pores,few fine gravel weathered quartz fragments,gradual wavy boundary to,
Bt1 19-48 cm	red (2.5YR 5/8, moist)sandy clay,weak medium subangular blocky,very friable,patchy thin clay and sesquioxide cutans,common very fine fine continuous exped and inped tubular pores,few fine gravel weathered quartz fragments,clear smooth boundary to,
Bt2 48-60 cm	red (2.5YR 5/8, moist)sandy clay,weakly coherent porous massive,very friable,patchy thin clay and sesquioxide cutans,common very fine fine continuous tubular pores,frequent fine gravel weathered quartz fragments,clear smooth boundary to,
Bt3 60-83 cm	red (2.5YR 5/8, moist)sandy clay,weak medium subangular blocky,friable,broken moderately thick clay and sesquioxide cutans,common very fine fine continuous exped and inped tubular pores,frequent fine gravel weathered quartz fragments,diffuse smooth boundary to,
Bt4 83-115 cm	red (2.5YR 5/8, moist)sandy clay,very weak medium subangular blocky,friable,broken moderately thick clay and sesquioxide cutans,common very fine fine continuous exped tubular pores,frequent fine gravel weathered quartz very few coarse gravel weathered granite fragments,gradual wavy boundary to,
115-150 cm	red (2.5YR 5/8, moist)sandy clay,very weak medium subangular blocky,very friable,patchy thin clay and sesquioxide cutans,common very fine fine continuous exped tubular pores,frequent fine gravel weathered quartz few coarse gravel strongly weathered granite fragments,

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	coarse-grained acid igneous rock
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	residual material
Remarks on Parent Materials	medium-grained Mesozoic granite
Soil Depth	180cm
Texture of parent material	sandy clay

Intensity of the soil erosion type	slight
Soil erosion type	sheet

Land improvements ; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	no land improvement
Main type of irrigation; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	no irrigation
Land use or vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the site	(semi-)natural vegetation
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	VEGETATION: Open vegetation: pine, shrubs, grass
Rotation scheme ; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	crop rotation scheme not relevant

Altitude	45m
Physiographic Unit	hilly area
Physiographic position of the site	middle slope
Regional landform; McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F. et all, 1984; Australian soil and land survey Field Handbook, Inkata Press, Melbourne.	hill
Slope	10%
Form of the slope surrounding the site	convex
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	rolling

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	well
Flooding frequency (FAO, 1986)	never
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	0-150cm
Estimated permeability (class) of least permeable part of the profile	moderate
Estimated run off (class)	rapid

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
Microrelief pattern	none
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 China 07: Ferralsol

Characteristics

Reference soil CN007: Ferralsols

Classification