Reference soil Malaysia 59: Cambisol

MY059

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 MY059: Cambisols

A moderately deep, imperfectly drained profile with clayey texture and mixed mineralogy (kaolinite with a mixture of chlorite/vermiculite). This red-yellow podzolic soil, derived from laminated shales of Cretaceous age, is situated near hill summit of rolling to hilly late Pleistocene peneplain. The surface is covered by an O-layer (3cm), consisting of decomposed litter, with abrupt boundary to next horizon. Below 64 cm iron cemented laminated pieces of shale appear increasing with depth. The Cg (coloured 5 YR 6/8 and 10 YR 7/2) consits mainly of shale varying in degree of weathering. Colour mottling below 64 cm indicating hydromorphic conditions may partly be caused by persistence of gray colours of the parent material. Only a few clay cutans are observed in thin section. The profile may have been truncated because an E horizon is not present. The present A horizon may thus be part of the former B, although this is difficult to prove at present. The soil is suitable for a wide variety of crops, but the drainage must be improved for sensitive rops such as pepper. (additional climatic data: days with precipitation > 0,1mm)

Classification

WRB 2014

Cambisol

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Gleyic Cambisol

- cm	cambic B horizon
-	hydromorphic
-	mottles with chroma <2

Local classification:	Semongok series

Other classification

USDA-SCS (1975)

Dystropept fine mixed isohyperthermic

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
3-13	-	1.1	0.9	1.7	7.8	7.2	18.7	9.5	23.1	32.6	48.7
13-33	-	1.2	0.8	1.3	6.5	6	15.8	8.2	20.4	28.6	55.6
33-67	-	8.1	3.4	3.2	5.3	3.8	23.8	6.3	15.4	21.7	54.5
67-107	-	1.2	0.6	0.8	2.5	2.8	7.9	6	20.3	26.3	65.8
107-120	-	1	0.5	0.8	2.3	2.2	6.8	7	29.6	36.6	56.6

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
3-13	-	-	-	-	48.7
13-33	-	-	-	-	55.6
33-67	-	-	-	-	54.5
67-107	-	-	-	-	65.8
107-120	-	-	-	-	56.6

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
3-13	4.8	3.6	0.11	-	3.80	0.27	14	5.2	3.6	0.8	0.7	0.4	0.1	2
13-33	4.8	3.8	0.03	-	0.90	0.08	11	14.8	12.4	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.8
33-67	4.9	3.8	0.02	-	0.52	0.07	7	12.6	12.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.8
67-107	5.0	3.8	0.02	-	0.40	0.08	5	19.6	19.8	0.5	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.7
107-120	4.8	3.7	0.04	-	0.26	0.07	4	20.3	20.2	0.5	0.2	0.3	0.1	1.1

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 %
3-13	7	30	62	13.3	-	12	-
13-33	3	24.1	43	3.2	-	51	-
33-67	4	22.3	41	1.8	-	55	-
67-107	3	26.4	40	1.4	-	75	-
107-120	4	30.1	53	0.9	-	67	-

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
3-13	-	-	-	-	-	2.7	0.5	-	-	-	-
13-33	-	-	-	-	-	3.3	0.6	-	-	-	-
33-67	-	-	-	-	-	6.9	0.7	-	-	-	-
67-107	-	-	-	-	-	6.9	0.6	-	-	-	-
107-120	-	-	-	-	-	2.5	0.4	-	-	-	-

Elemental composition of the soil

Depth (cm)	Al2O3 % w/w	CaO % w/w	Fe2O3 % w/w	K2O % w/w	MgO % w/w	Na2O % w/w	SiO2 % w/w	TiO2 % w/w
3-13	15.2	0.03	5.7	0.50	0.37	-	65.0	1.1
13-33	17.9	-	7.1	0.53	0.4	-	65.7	1.18
33-67	19.1	-	17.7	0.57	0.36	-	52.9	0.98
67-107	25.2	-	8.6	1.20	0.67	-	54.7	1.19
107-120	23.7	-	5.5	1.66	0.76	-	61.2	1.03

Depth (cm)	Al2O3/Fe2O3 mol/mol	LOI % w/w	MnO2 % w/w	P2O5 % w/w	SiO2 / Al2O3 mol/mol	SiO2/Fe2O3 mol/mol	SiO2 / R mol/mol
3-13	4.2	13.1	0.01	0.03	7.3	30.4	5.9
13-33	4.0	8.3	-	0.02	6.2	24.6	5.0
33-67	1.7	8.8	0.01	0.04	4.7	8.0	3.0
67-107	4.6	9.2	-	0.05	3.7	16.9	3.0
107-120	6.8	7.8	-	0.03	4.4	29.6	3.8

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
3-13	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	strong	-	strong	weak to medium	-	-
13-33	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	strong	-	strong	weak to medium	-	-
33-67	-	-	-	weak	-	-	strong	-	strong	very weak to weak	-	-
67-107	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	strong	-	strong to very strong	very weak to weak	-	-
107-120	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	strong	-	strong	very weak to weak	-	-

Profile description

Ah 0-10 cm	light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4, moist)clay,weak medium crumb,friable,clear smooth boundary to,
Bw1 10-35 cm	reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6, moist)clay,weak coarse subangular blocky,firm,gradual smooth boundary to,
Bw2 35-64 cm	reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8, moist)clay slightly gravelly,strong medium angular blocky,firm,common prominent sharp mottles (7.5 YR 4/6),few ferruginous concretions,gradual irregular boundary to,
BCg 64-104 cm	reddish yellow (5YR 6/8, moist)clay,strong medium angular blocky,firm,gradual irregular boundary to,
Cg 104-117 cm	claystrong medium angular blocky,firm,(10 YR 7/2),

Intensity of the soil erosion type	slight
Soil erosion type	gully

Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	Protected primary Dipterocarp forest
Status of vegetation; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	primary
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	17%
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	hilly

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	imperfect
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed

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

You are here

Reference soil Malaysia 59: Cambisol

Characteristics

Reference soil MY059: Cambisols

Classification