Reference soil Malaysia 58: Cambisol

MY058

Cambisols occur mainly in the temperate and boreal regions of the world, where the soil’s parent material is still young or where low temperatures slow down the processes of soil formation.

Characteristics

Soils having either a cambic horizon (a horizon showing evidence of alteration with respect to the underlying material), or a mollic horizon overlying a subsoil, which has a base saturation of less than 50 percent in some part within 100 cm from the soil surface, or one of the following diagnostic horizons within the specified depth: an andic, vertic, or vitric horizon starting between 25 and 100 cm; a (petro-)plinthic or salic horizon starting between 50 and 100 cm, in absence of loamy sand or coarser textures above these horizons.

Distribution of Cambisols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil MY058: Cambisols

A red yellow podzolic soil of poorly crystallized kaolinit ineralogy with admixture of poorly crystallized vermiculite, derived from non-homogeneous hard cretaceous shale. The soil had once been used for shifting cultivation (hill rice). There are mottles in EBw and Bw (gray and weak red, the latter probably weathered parent material). The 2Bs contains platy material, probably iron oxides, derived from fossil accumulation in shale. Apart from gray mottles, the 3Bws has got some small quartz pebbles (dark gray-white). The Stass series is suitable for agriculture, but needs to be adequately fertilized for most crops. (additional climatic data: days with precipitation >0,1 mm)

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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
0-5	0	1.2	1.5	1.9	11.7	11.7	28	7.9	21.9	29.8	42.2
30-45	0	0.2	0.4	0.5	5.8	11.5	18.4	5.9	20.6	26.5	55.2
70-90	0	0.5	0.4	0.4	6.8	7.2	15.3	5.9	19	24.9	59.8
100-110	65	14.7	6.2	1.6	2.8	4	29.3	2.3	14.9	17.2	53.6
110-125	0	1.7	1.7	1.3	5.3	5.3	15.3	4.5	21	25.5	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
0-5	-	-	-	-	42.2
30-45	-	-	-	-	55.2
70-90	-	-	-	-	59.8
100-110	-	-	-	-	53.6
110-125	-	-	-	-	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
0-5	4.2	3.4	0.19	-	3.18	0.24	13	15	11.3	3.0	0.7	0.4	0.1	4.2
30-45	4.6	3.7	0.01	-	0.75	0.08	9	13.2	12.7	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.3
70-90	4.6	3.8	0.01	-	0.40	0.05	8	14.6	13.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.2
100-110	4.6	3.9	0.01	-	0.36	0.05	7	10.9	9.6	2.6	0.1	0.2	0.1	3
110-125	4.7	3.8	0.01	-	0.67	0.06	11	11.5	10	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.1	0.5

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	18	24	57	11.1	-	47	-
30-45	2	18.8	34	2.6	-	68	-
70-90	1	18.8	31	1.4	-	70	-
100-110	20	15.1	28	1.3	-	64	-
110-125	3	18.4	31	2.3	-	54	-

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	-	-	-	-	-	1.8	0.4	-	-	-	-
30-45	-	-	-	-	-	2.2	0.5	-	-	-	-
70-90	-	-	-	-	-	2.5	0.5	-	-	-	-
100-110	-	-	-	-	-	7.4	0.8	-	-	-	-
110-125	-	-	-	-	-	4.5	0.7	-	-	-	-

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-5	-	-	-	weak	-	-	strong	-	-	-	-	very strong
70-90	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	medium to strong	-	strong	-	-	weak
110-125	-	-	-	weak to medium	-	-	strong	-	strong	-	-	weak

Profile description

Ah 0-3 cm	brown (10YR 5/3, dry)clay loam,weak angular blocky and weak crumb,loose very friable,gradual smooth boundary to,
EBw 3-60 cm	yellow (10YR 7/6, moist)clay loam,strong medium prismatic,very friable slightly plastic,few fine mottles (10 YR 5/3),gradual smooth boundary to,
Bw 60-105 cm	reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6, moist)clay,very firm plastic,few faint mottles,abrupt smooth boundary to,
2Bs 105-110 cm	reddish brown (5YR 4/4, moist)plastic,(7.5 YR 6/6),abrupt smooth boundary to,
3Bo 110-120 cm	light red (2.5YR 6/6, moist)very firm plastic,prominent mottles,

Intensity of the soil erosion type	moderate
Soil erosion type	gully

Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	Secondary forest, about 7 years old
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)	closed forest

Altitude	70m
Physiographic position of the site	upper slope
Regional landform; McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F. et all, 1984; Australian soil and land survey Field Handbook, Inkata Press, Melbourne.	peneplain
Slope	15%
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	hilly

Dry From - To	0-3cm
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	3cm

Evidence of alkali ; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-alkaline
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 Malaysia 58: Cambisol

Characteristics

Reference soil MY058: Cambisols

Classification