Reference soil Nigeria 17: Arenosol

NG017

Arenosols occur over large areas in Africa, central and western Australia, the Middle East and central China. Smaller areas are found along coastlines all over the world.

Characteristics

Soils with a loamy sand or coarser texture either to a depth of at least 100 cm from the soil surface, or to a (petro-)plinthic or salic horizon between 50 and 100 cm from the soil surface. They contain less than 35 percent (by volume) rock fragments or other coarse fragments within 100 cm from the soil surface and have no diagnostic horizons other than an ochric, yermic or albic horizon, a (petro-)plinthic or salic horizon below 50 cm from the soil surface, or an argic or spodic horizon below 200 cm below the soil surface.

Distribution of Arenosols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil NG017: Arenosols

BRIEF CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SOIL: Deep moderately well drained brown sand derived from metamorphic rocks, with shallow topsoil and many hard magniferous concretions in the subsoil. Under thick secondary forest.

Classification

WRB 2006

WRB 1998

Ferralic-Brunic-Hypoluvic- Arenosol (Eutric)

Ferrali-Hypoluvic- Arenosol (Hypereutric)

ferralic

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Lixi-Ferralic Arenosol

Ferralic Arenosol

0-39 cm	ochric A horizon
-	ferralic

0-39 cm	ochric A horizon
-	ferralic

Local classification:	Apomu Series

Other classification

USDA-SCS (1975)

Ustipsamment ustic coarse-loamy kaolinitic isohyperthermic

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	9.2	29.6	28.8	16.8	4.8	89.2	3.0	4.1	7.1	3.7
15-39	0	9.0	27.0	27.0	18.6	5.8	87.4	3.6	4.1	7.7	4.8
39-73	0	8.0	21.7	30.4	21.8	6.5	88.4	3.5	3.8	7.3	4.3
73-113	0	8.6	19.2	27.1	21.8	7.2	83.9	3.5	4.8	8.3	7.8
113-145	0	8.5	16.5	14.1	8.4	3.4	50.9	35.6	4.2	39.8	9.4

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	1.39	-	-	0.9	3.7
15-39	1.41	-	-	2.3	4.8
39-73	-	-	-	2.4	4.3
34-73	1.56	-	-	-	-
73-113	-	-	-	5.8	7.8
113-145	-	-	-	7.9	9.4

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	1.39	41.3	38.6	15.8	8.1	6.1	5.4	4.1	3.8
15-39	1.41	41.9	39.2	18.0	8.6	6.6	5.5	3.3	3.2
34-73	1.56	33.3	31.5	9.3	6.7	5.4	3.0	2.9	1.6

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
0-15	6.6	6.3	0.16	-	0.60	0.06	10	0.0	0.0	3.0	0.7	0.0	0.3	4
15-39	6.3	5.5	0.03	-	0.23	0.03	8	0.0	0.0	1.2	0.3	0.0	0.2	1.7
39-73	6.7	5.7	0.02	-	0.12	0.01	12	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.3	0.0	0.1	1
73-113	6.6	5.4	0.02	-	0.08	0.01	8	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.3	0.0	0.2	1.5
113-145	6.6	5.6	0.02	-	0.04	0.01	4	0.0	0.0	1.8	0.3	0.0	0.2	2.3

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	103	3.9	105	2.1	-	0	8
15-39	89	1.9	40	0.8	-	0	11
39-73	83	1.2	28	0.4	-	0	8
73-113	94	1.6	21	0.3	-	0	13
113-145	88	2.6	28	0.1	-	0	8

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	-	-	-	0.00	-	0.37	0.03	-	-	-	0.02
15-39	-	-	-	0.00	-	0.32	0.03	-	-	-	0.05
39-73	-	-	-	0.00	-	0.29	0.03	-	-	-	0.02
73-113	-	-	-	0.00	-	0.47	0.03	-	-	-	0.02
113-145	-	-	-	0.00	-	2.79	0.19	-	-	-	0.14

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-15	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	medium to strong	weak	very weak to weak	weak	weak	-
15-39	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	strong	weak	very weak to weak	weak	weak	-
39-73	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	strong	weak	very weak to weak	weak to medium	weak	-
73-113	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	strong to very strong	weak	weak	weak	weak	-
113-145	-	-	-	weak	-	-	very strong	weak	weak to medium	weak	very weak to weak	-

Profile description

Ap 0-15 cm	very dark greyish brown (10YR 3/2, dry)sandy loam,very weak medium subangular blocky,loose very friable non sticky non plastic,many medium discontinuous exped and inped interstitial random pores,many very fine to coarse roots,few fine gravel strongly weathered quartz fragments,non calcareous,clear smooth boundary to,
15-39 cm	dark brown (10YR 3/3, dry)loamy sand,very weak medium subangular blocky,loose very friable non sticky non plastic,many fine discontinuous exped and inped interstitial vertical pores,common fine roots,frequent fine gravel strongly weathered quartz fragments,non calcareous,clear smooth boundary to,
BA 39-75 cm	yellowish brown (10YR 5/4, dry)medium sand,moderate medium subangular blocky,loose,few fine continuous exped and inped interstitial vertical pores,few fine roots,very frequent fine gravel strongly weathered quartz fragments,non calcareous,clear wavy boundary to,
B 73-113 cm	strong brown (7.5YR 5/6, dry)loamy sand,moderate medium crumb,slightly hard,few fine discontinuous exped interstitial vertical pores,few fine roots,non calcareous,clear wavy boundary to,
2BC 113-145 cm	strong brown (7.5YR 5/8, dry)sandy loam,very strong coarse subangular blocky,very hard,few fine discontinuous exped interstitial vertical pores,frequent medium hard manganiferous concretions,non calcareous,

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	metamorphic rock
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	colluvial
Soil Depth	113cm
Texture of parent material	loamy
General characterization of the status of weathering of solid rock	highly

Land use or vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the site	fallow
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)	semi-deciduous forest

Altitude	207m
Physiographic Unit	middle slope
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.	low hill
Slope	3%
Form of the slope surrounding the site	convex
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	undulating

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	moderately well
Dry From - To	0-145cm
Flooding frequency (FAO, 1986)	never
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed

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
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 Nigeria 17: Arenosol

Characteristics

Reference soil NG017: Arenosols

Classification