Reference soil Greece 06: Vertisol

GR006

Vertisols occur dominantly in level landscapes under climates with a pronounced dry season. Vast areas are found in Australia, India, northeastern Africa (Sudan, Ethiopia), southern Latin America and the USA.

Characteristics

Soils having a vertic horizon (a clayey subsurface horizon with polished and grooved ped surfaces ("slickensides") or wedge-shaped or parallelepiped structural aggregates) within 100 cm from the soil surface. They have 30 percent or more clay in all horizons to a depth of 100 cm or more, or to a contrasting layer (lithic or paralithic contact, petrocalcic, petroduric or petrogypsic horizons, sedimentary discontinuity, etc.) between 50 and 100 cm, after the upper 20 cm have been mixed. In addition, Vertisols exhibit wide cracks, which open and close periodically.

Distribution of Vertisols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil GR006: Vertisols

Brief profile description: A dark brown clayey profile with weak blocky structure and pronounced slickensides thoughout the solum, overlying a strong brown calcareous clay with many carbonate concretions. The soil is under cultivation and regularly ploughed. Slickensides: distinct and prominent at 45 degrees in Ap, intersecting in AC1 In the Ac horizon occur "tongues" of organic matter from the A horizon In the Ck3 coatings of Manganese oxide(?) on cracks Attention: Exchangeable cations and CEC : pH=8.2 pH and EC measurements : 1:5 extract

Classification

WRB 2014

Vertisol

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Chromic Vertisol

-	slickensides

Local classification:	Grumusol

Other classification

USDA-SCS (1975)

Chromoxerert xeric fine montmorillonitic mesic

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
0-21	-	0	0.2	0.3	1.2	3.2	4.9	15.4	33.3	48.7	46.3
21-52	-	0.1	0.1	0.3	1	3.1	4.6	14.1	21.2	35.3	60.1
52-73	-	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.7	2.2	3.4	15.1	27.6	42.7	53.9
73-104	-	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.6	2	3.3	13.8	32.8	46.6	50.1
104-135	-	1.1	1.4	1.1	1.7	3	8.3	15.1	31.6	46.7	44.9
135-150	-	0.5	2.1	1.7	1.8	2.1	8.2	11	21.5	32.5	59.3

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-21	-	-	-	-	46.3
21-52	-	-	-	-	60.1
52-73	-	-	-	-	53.9
73-104	-	-	-	-	50.1
104-135	-	-	-	-	44.9
135-150	-	-	-	-	59.3

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
0-21	7.6	6.5	0.08	3.9	0.95	0.08	12	-	-	18.6	10.4	1.3	0.2	30.5
21-52	7.9	7.0	0.16	4	0.76	0.07	11	-	-	18.5	10.0	1.0	0.1	29.6
52-73	8.3	7.6	0.16	14	0.43	0.04	11	-	-	18.2	10.0	0.8	0.1	29.1
73-104	8.5	7.6	0.18	29.5	0.22	0.03	7	-	-	16.0	10.0	0.7	0.1	26.8
104-135	8.6	7.8	0.26	24.2	0.19	0.02	10	-	-	11.4	15.6	0.7	0.2	27.9
135-150	8.7	7.7	0.25	24.8	0.09	0.02	5	-	-	9.8	18.3	0.8	0.3	29.2

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 %
0-21	80	38.1	82	3.3	-	-	-
21-52	81	36.5	61	2.7	-	-	-
52-73	84	34.7	64	1.5	-	-	-
73-104	87	30.7	61	0.8	-	-	-
104-135	91	30.7	68	0.7	-	-	-
135-150	97	30.2	51	0.3	-	-	-

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
0-21	-	-	-	-	-	1	0.15	-	-	-	-
21-52	-	-	-	-	-	1.08	0.16	-	-	-	-
52-73	-	-	-	-	-	0.88	0.13	-	-	-	-
73-104	-	-	-	-	-	0.66	0.1	-	-	-	-
104-135	-	-	-	-	-	0.69	0.1	-	-	-	-
135-150	-	-	-	-	-	0.74	0.09	-	-	-	-

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-21	weak	-	-	-	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	weak	weak	weak to medium	-
21-52	weak	-	-	-	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	weak	weak	weak to medium	-
52-73	weak	-	-	-	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	weak	very weak to weak	weak to medium	-
73-104	weak	-	-	-	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	weak to medium	weak	weak	-
104-135	weak	-	-	-	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	weak to medium	very weak to weak	weak	-
135-150	weak	-	-	-	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	weak to medium	very weak to weak	weak	-

Profile description

Api 0-21 cm	(10YR 3.5/3, moist)clay,moderate fine subangular blocky,very hard firm very sticky very plastic,slickensides cutans,common very fine pores,clear smooth boundary to,
ACi 21-52 cm	(dark) brown (10YR 4/3, moist)clay,weak fine angular blocky,very hard firm very sticky very plastic,slickensides cutans,common very fine pores,clear wavy boundary to,
AC 52-65 cm	(dark) brown (7.5YR 4/4, moist)clay,weak fine angular blocky,very hard firm very sticky very plastic,common very fine pores,very few large spherical soft calcareous nodules very few small irregular soft calcareous nodules,gradual wavy boundary to,
Ck1 65-104 cm	strong brown (7.5YR 5/6, moist)silty clay,weak fine angular blocky,friable sticky plastic,many very fine pores,frequent large irregular soft calcareous nodules small nodules,clear wavy boundary to,
Ck2 104-135 cm	strong brown (7.5YR 5/6, moist)silty clay,massive,friable sticky plastic,many very fine pores,few large irregular soft calcareous nodules,
Ck3 135-150 cm	strong brown (7.5YR 5/6, moist)clay,massive,very sticky very plastic,manganese (hydr-)oxide in cracks cutans,many very fine pores,frequent small irregular soft calcareous nodules large nodules,

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	calcareous
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	lacustrine sediments

Occurrence of soil aggradation (McDonald et al., 1984)	absent
Slope stability	stable

Major crops	wheat
Land use or vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the site	low level arable farming
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	Small grain, natural briars

Altitude	75m
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%
Slope Aspect	west
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	flat or almost flat

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	imperfect
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	slow
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
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 Greece 06: Vertisol

Characteristics

Reference soil GR006: Vertisols

Classification