Reference soil Nicaragua 09: Vertisol

NI009

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 NI009: Vertisols

Moderately deep, imperfectly drained, very dark grey to black heavy clay developed from alluvium derived from tuff. The soil contains few pyroclastic fragments, is moderately to strongly structured (columnar) and moderately to slightly porous. This typical Vertisol with a very high clay content and poor internal drainage shows great problems in workability and management (central pivot irrigation system). This profile forms part of the NIC05 to NIC09 toposequence. NIC09 ("black soils") and NIC08 ("red soils") are both found at short distances in an irregular pattern, as a consequence of differences in drainage conditions (imperfectly c.q. well drained).

Classification

WRB 2006

WRB 1998

Grumic- Vertisol (Hypereutric Pellic)

Grumi-Pellic- Vertisol (Hypereutric)

15-55 cm

vertic horizon

0-15 cm	ochric horizon
15-55 cm	vertic horizon

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Pelli-Eutric Vertisol gilgai

Pellic Vertisol

0-15 cm	ochric A horizon
15-55 cm	cambic B horizon
- cm	cambic B horizon
- cm	ochric A horizon
-	slickensides
-	vertic

0-15 cm	ochric A horizon
15-55 cm	cambic B horizon
-	gilgai microrelief
-	slickensides

Local classification:	San Nicolas Series

Other classification

USDA-NRCS (1999)	Typic Haplustert
USDA-SCS (1975)	Typic Pellustert ustic very fine montmorillonitic (calcareous) isohyperthermic

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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
0-15	-	0.6	0.6	0.6	1.0	1.1	3.9	1.3	16.0	17.3	78.9
15-55	-	0.4	0.5	0.5	1.1	0.7	3.2	0.8	14.8	15.6	81.3
55-90	-	0.2	0.4	0.4	0.8	0.9	2.7	0.5	13.6	14.1	83.1

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-15	1.055	-	-	69.2	78.9
15-55	1.084	-	-	71.8	81.3
55-90	1.041	-	-	64.1	83.1

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
0-15	1.055	62.2	60.8	59.6	56.7	56.5	54.1	49.5	46.3
15-55	1.084	60.9	60.4	60.4	57.8	57.2	53.1	47.1	37.7
55-90	1.041	59.4	59.2	58.7	55.7	55.2	51.7	46.9	36.8

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
0-15	6.4	4.7	0.08	-	1.11	0.10	11	-	-	48.2	34.8	0.2	0.6	83.8
15-55	6.5	4.7	0.06	-	0.86	0.07	12	-	-	43.8	29.0	0.2	0.8	73.8
55-90	6.5	4.7	0.09	-	0.90	0.08	11	-	-	46.5	30.6	3.8	1.2	82.1

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 %
0-15	109	77.2	98	3.9	-	-	1
15-55	99	74.2	91	3.0	-	-	1
55-90	110	74.6	90	3.2	-	-	2

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
0-15	-	-	-	0.23	0.20	-	-	-	-	-	0.99
15-55	-	-	-	0.21	0.21	-	-	-	-	-	0.81
55-90	-	-	-	0.20	0.18	-	-	-	-	-	0.79

Depth (cm)	CaSO4.2H2O %	P Bray mg/kg	P Olsen mg/kg	pH CaCl2	clay_noncarbonate % w/w	clay_carbonate % w/w	phosphorus4 mg/kg	phosphorus1 mg/kg	total_sulfur % w/w
0-15	-	-	0.4	-	-	-	-	-	-
15-55	-	-	0.0	-	-	-	-	-	-
55-90	-	-	0.1	-	-	-	-	-	-

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-15	-	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	-	-	-	very strong	-
15-55	-	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	-	-	-	very strong	-
55-90	-	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	-	-	-	very strong	-

Profile description

Ah 0-15 cm	very dark grey (10YR 3/1, moist)clay,moderate to strong fine and medium granular and weak to moderate medium wedge-shaped angular blocky,slightly sticky plastic,few medium distinct clear mottles (7.5YR 4/6),common fine oblique pores and common oblique pores moderately porous (40-60 vol%),very few fine gravel fresh pyroclastic fragments,clear wavy boundary to,
Bi 15-55 cm	very dark grey (10YR 3/1, moist)clay,strong medium columnar,slightly sticky plastic,broken slickensides on pedfaces cutans,few fine oblique pores and few oblique pores slightly porous (<40 vol%),very few fine gravel fresh pyroclastic fragments,clear wavy boundary to,
C 55-90 cm	very dark grey (10YR 3/1, moist)clay,strongly coherent,non sticky very plastic,few fine oblique pores and few oblique pores slightly porous (<40 vol%),clear smooth boundary to,
R 90- cm	(dark) brown (10YR 4/3, moist)silt loam,

Depth1	90cm
Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	tuff
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	fluvial
Soil Depth	90cm
Texture of parent material	silty
Texture of parent material (second entry)	silty
Weathering Resistance	moderate
General characterization of the status of weathering of solid rock	slightly

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

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 grassland, grazed
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	LANDUSE: Intended to use for sugar cane
Rotation scheme ; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	crop rotation scheme not relevant
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)	medium tall grassland

Altitude	80m
Physiographic Unit	Nicaragua Depression
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.	plain
Slope	0%
Slope Aspect	east-south-east
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	flat or almost flat

Lower limit of a slow permeable or stagnating layer in the profile	90cm
Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	imperfect
Flooding frequency (FAO, 1986)	irregular
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	0-90cm
Estimated permeability (class) of least permeable part of the profile	slow
Estimated run off (class)	ponded
Upper limit of a slow permeable or stagnating layer in the profile	55cm

Evidence of alkali ; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-alkaline
Surface cracking	large cracks (width more than 1 cm, or depth more than 50 cm)
Slaking of aggregates by tillage, rainfall or frost (USDA/SCS, 1979)	no surface slaking/crusting observed
Microrelief Height: variation in height	20
Micro relief type: small-scale differences in relief in the direct vicinity of the site (FAO, 1986)	gilgai
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 Nicaragua 09: Vertisol

Characteristics

Reference soil NI009: Vertisols

Classification