Reference soil Spain 19: Cambisol

ES019

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 ES019: Cambisols

Location: 50 m to the right of pathway from Portell to Ferran, at the footslope of the first hill on the left side / Physiographical unit: the profile is located in a 400 m wide, slightly concave bottom of a minor valley in the cuesta areas; no water course is present in the valley / Parent material: colluvial materials from the slopes and also other materials transported by streams, but with a short transport; the materials are mainly from calcareous marls and soils up slope / Mesorelief: man-made stone walls, 1-2 m high, at distances of 300-600 m / Surface characteristics: few limestone gravels are on the ploughed surface / Soil aggradation: slight water deposition / Human influence: ploughing. Vegetation and land use: the area has been subjected to cultivation for a very long period of time. According to Bolos (1958) the climax vegetation is Violo-Quercetum valentinae alliance Quercion pubescenti-petraedae with oak (Quercus faginea subsp. valentina) being the dominant tree at the heights above 600 m, below that Quercetum rotundifoliae alliance Quercion ilicis is the climax with holm-oak (Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia) as the main tree. When the vegetation is removed the maquis develops with Quercus coccifera as a main bush. The oak can be found also at heights well below 600 m, on the N and W facing slopes. Only on the shallowest soils or on the steepest slopes forest existed until recent years (two or three decades ago), but now it is under rapid regression and the land is been used for cereals. The agriculture was of Mediterranean type, with olives, vineyards and winter cereals (barley and wheat). Now, the social changes, the use of heavy machinery and the market prices have put almost all the area under winter or spring cereals cultivation. Drainage: the drainage is through two permanent streams: the Sio River and the Llobregos River. The former flows in the south and the latter in the north through an anticline core. The small tributaries carry water only after the storms. The lowest parts of the cuesta consists in many cases on dry minor valleys, where no stream exists and where only in the very large storms water flows through. Calvet and Gallart (1979) concluded that the valleys and drainage system is inherited from past geological times. Additional notes on profile description: Ap: the bottom of the horizon has a continuous, slightly compact plough layer (7-10 cm); Bwt1: frequent (2-20%) accumulations in the form of discontinuous pseudomycelia; few charcoal fragments; frequent signs of biolog. activity (wormholes, wormcasts, filled burrows); limestone fragments without orientation; no cementations; 2Bwk2: limestone fragments with a horizontal orientation: generalized accumulations of lime in the form of hard pendants, with a thickness of <5mm; no cementations; 3Ck1: limestone fragments with a horizontal orientation; generalized accumulations of lime in the form of hard lime beards, <5mm thick on all the limestone gravels, forming discontinuous layers weakly cemented; 4Ck2: limestone fragme

Classification

WRB 2014

Cambisol

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Calcic Cambisol

- cm	calcic horizon
- cm	cambic B horizon
- cm	ochric A horizon

Other classification

USDA-SCS (1975)

Xerochrept xeric coarse-loamy mixed mesic

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
0-26	-	0	0.5	6	14.6	10.4	31.5	23	18.5	41.5	26.9
26-52	-	0	0.5	5.9	14	11	31.4	19.8	22	41.8	26.7
80-105	-	0.1	0.6	5.5	11.4	8.5	26.1	21	22.1	43.1	30.9
105-140	-	0	1.2	11.3	20.1	11.5	44.1	15.6	15.3	30.9	25
140-150	-	0.3	0.5	3.1	6.3	6	16.2	14.6	11	25.6	58.1
150-180	-	0.4	0.4	1.7	4.9	7.3	14.7	4.5	16.9	21.4	63.9

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-26	1.196	-	-	-	26.9
26-52	-	-	-	-	26.7
26-36	1.451	-	-	-	-
80-105	-	-	-	-	30.9
50-65	1.505	-	-	-	-
105-140	-	-	-	-	25
120-130	1.376	-	-	-	-
140-150	-	-	-	-	58.1
160-170	1.314	-	-	-	-
150-180	-	-	-	-	63.9

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
0-26	1.196	48.5	45	37.4	28.4	25.5	21.3	13.4	11.3
26-36	1.451	43.4	41.4	36.5	30.6	28.1	24.2	16	13.7
50-65	1.505	42.7	39.1	32.6	27.6	25.8	22.6	20.3	18.2
120-130	1.376	43.9	41.1	34.9	27.6	24.9	20.4	23.2	19.3
160-170	1.314	38.9	32.6	22.9	17.7	16.1	13.8	9.5	7.3

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
0-26	8.0	7.2	0.24	9.8	1.13	-	-	-	-	30.0	0.7	0.8	0.2	31.7
26-52	8.2	7.3	0.19	8.8	0.62	-	-	-	-	28.8	0.7	0.6	0.2	30.3
80-105	8.1	7.2	0.29	8.5	0.79	-	-	-	-	33.2	1.8	0.6	0.0	35.6
105-140	8.0	7.6	0.51	56.4	0.82	-	-	-	-	25.7	0.4	0.3	0.2	26.6
140-150	8.3	7.7	0.33	75.8	0.28	-	-	-	-	20.6	0.3	0.3	0.2	21.4
150-180	8.4	7.7	0.22	73.1	0.13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
40-50	-	-	-	-	0.52	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
65-75	-	-	-	-	0.70	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
90-100	-	-	-	-	0.83	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
125-	-	-	-	-	0.93	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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 %
0-26	163	19.5	72	4	-	-	-
26-52	159	19	71	2.2	-	-	-
80-105	160	22.3	72	2.8	-	-	-
105-140	-	8.7	35	2.9	-	-	-
140-150	-	4.9	8	1.0	-	-	-
150-180	-	-	-	0.5	-	-	-
40-50	-	-	-	1.8	-	-	-
65-75	-	-	-	2.4	-	-	-
90-100	-	-	-	2.9	-	-	-
125-	-	-	-	3.3	-	-	-

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
0-26	-	-	-	0.1	0.05	1.03	0.07	0.01	0.02	-	0.08
26-52	-	-	-	0.11	0.04	1.07	0.08	0.01	0.02	-	0.08
80-105	-	-	-	0.17	0.04	1.16	0.11	0.01	0.03	-	0.08
105-140	-	-	-	0.12	0.01	0.43	0.04	0.01	0.03	-	0.02
140-150	-	-	-	0.03	0.01	0.29	0.02	0	0.02	-	0.01
150-180	-	-	-	0.02	0.02	0.38	0.02	0	0.02	-	0.01

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-26	weak	-	-	very weak	-	-	weak	weak to medium	-	weak	weak to medium	-
26-52	weak	-	-	very weak	-	-	weak	weak to medium	-	weak	weak to medium	-
80-105	weak	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	-	weak	weak to medium	-
105-140	weak	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	-	very weak to weak	weak to medium	-
140-150	weak	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	-	weak	weak to medium	-
150-180	weak	-	-	very weak to weak	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	-	weak	weak to medium	-

Profile description

Ap 0-28 cm	brown (7.5YR 5/4, dry) (dark) brown (7.5YR 4/4, moist)loam slightly gravelly,very weak very fine granular,hard loose slightly sticky,common pores,very few fine gravel hard limestone very few medium gravel fragments,abrupt wavy boundary to,
Bt1 28-105 cm	light brown (7.5YR 6/4, dry) dark brown (7.5YR 3/4, moist)clay loam slightly gravelly,strong very coarse subangular blocky parting to very strong coarse granular,hard very firm slightly sticky,common very fine fine inped pores and common medium continuous exped interstitial pores,very few fine gravel hard limestone very few medium gravel fragments,gradual smooth boundary to,
2Bwk 105-140 cm	pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2, dry) light brown (7.5YR 6/4, moist)very gravelly,weak medium subangular blocky,hard friable slightly sticky,common fine pores and common pores,very frequent fine gravel hard limestone very frequent medium gravel fragments,clear smooth boundary to,
3Ck1 140-150 cm	pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2, dry) reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6, moist)very gravelly,massive,friable,very frequent fine gravel hard limestone very frequent medium gravel fragments,clear smooth boundary to,
4Ck2 150-180 cm	reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6, moist)very gravelly,massive,rock,friable,hard,very frequent fine gravel hard limestone very frequent medium gravel fragments,abrupt smooth boundary to,

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	limestone
Kind 2 (parent material) (second entry); Parker (eds), 1984	limestone
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	colluvial
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material (second entry)	solid rock
Texture of parent material (second entry)	gravelly

Major crops	wheat
Land use or vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the site	arable farming
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	Other crop: barley, see remarks

Altitude	650m
Physiographic Unit	ebro basin, cuesta areas
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.	basin
Slope	1%
Slope Aspect	south
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	rolling

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	well
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	0-200cm

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 Spain 19: Cambisol

Characteristics

Reference soil ES019: Cambisols

Classification