Reference soil Malaysia 60: Cambisol

MY060

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 MY060: Cambisols

A medium textured gray white podzolic soil of Triassic shale appearing as black weathered material at about 7 m of depth. The upper horizon consists partly of a rootmat with partly decomposed litter of fern and much charcoal. The land had been cleared for a rubber plantation. The Bws1 shows many cracks filled with clayey material of lighter colour. On soils of the Kerait series many crops can be grown but they need to be well fertilized. The compact nature of the soil may hinder root development. (additional climatic data: days with precipitation >0,1mm)

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
0-13	0	0.2	0.5	0.7	2	14.3	17.7	23.9	32.7	56.6	25.8
13-18	0	0	0.2	0.3	1.8	10.1	12.4	19.8	32.2	52	35.5
18-73	0	0	0.1	0.2	0.9	8.5	9.7	15.9	30.8	46.7	43.5
73-120	0	0	0	0.1	0.9	5.7	6.7	12.1	33.4	45.5	47.7
140-	0	0	0.1	0.1	0.4	5.7	6.3	10.3	52.7	63	30.7
-	0	0	0.1	0.1	0.7	5.4	6.3	16.6	43.9	60.5	33

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-13	-	-	-	-	25.8
13-18	-	-	-	-	35.5
18-73	-	-	-	-	43.5
73-120	-	-	-	-	47.7
140-	-	-	-	-	30.7
-	-	-	-	-	33

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
0-13	4.9	3.7	0.15	-	1.93	0.18	11	4.2	3.3	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.1	1.2
13-18	4.5	3.7	0.02	-	0.37	0.07	5	6.6	6.4	0.6	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.8
18-73	4.7	3.8	0.01	-	0.18	0.06	3	6.3	6.2	0.2	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.4
73-120	4.6	3.7	0.01	-	0.11	0.07	2	5.9	5.6	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.1	0.5
140-	4.7	3.7	0.01	-	0.10	0.07	1	7.4	6.4	0.4	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.5
-	3.4	3.3	1.6	-	0.34	0.08	4	10.8	10	0.2	0.0	0.1	0.1	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 %
0-13	11	11.4	44	6.8	-	29	-
13-18	10	8.4	24	1.3	-	76	-
18-73	3	12.7	29	0.6	-	49	-
73-120	5	11.1	23	0.4	-	50	-
140-	5	9.5	31	0.4	-	67	-
-	8	5.1	15	1.2	-	196	-

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
0-13	-	-	-	-	-	0.2	0.1	-	-	-	-
13-18	-	-	-	-	-	0.3	0.1	-	-	-	-
18-73	-	-	-	-	-	0.3	0.1	-	-	-	-
73-120	-	-	-	-	-	0.3	0.1	-	-	-	-
140-	-	-	-	-	-	0.3	0.1	-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	-	-	0.2	0.1	-	-	-	-

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-13	-	-	-	-	-	-	very strong	medium to strong	medium to strong	very weak	-	-
18-73	-	-	-	-	-	-	very strong	medium to strong	weak to medium	very weak	-	weak to medium
140-	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	weak to medium	very weak	-	-
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	very weak to weak	very weak	-	-

Profile description

OA 0-3 cm	sandy clay loamabrupt boundary to,
E 3-18 cm	(light) grey (10YR 6/1, moist)sandy clay loam,fine angular blocky and fine crumb,friable,many fine to coarse pores,clear wavy boundary to,
Bo1 18-73 cm	pale yellow (2.5Y 8/4, moist)clay,coarse angular blocky to fine subangular blocky,hard friable slightly sticky non plastic,few fine mottles (10 YR 5/6),gradual wavy boundary to,
Bo2 73-120 cm	very pale brown (10YR 7/3, moist)clay,massive,hard very firm non sticky slightly plastic,common coarse mottles (2.5 Y 7/4) and common fine mottles (10 YR 6/8),

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	non calcareous shale
Remarks on Parent Materials	shale/mudstone

Intensity of the soil erosion type	moderate
Soil erosion type	gully

Major crops	rubber
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	Dense undergrowth of ferns

Altitude	50m
Physiographic Unit	summit plain
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.	peneplain
Slope	17%
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	hilly

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	moderately well
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

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Reference soil Malaysia 60: Cambisol

Characteristics

Reference soil MY060: Cambisols

Classification