Reference soil China 18: Ferralsol

CN018

Ferralsols occur in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, mainly on old and stable land surfaces.

Characteristics

Soils having a ferralic horizon (strongly weathered horizon with low-activity clays and very low amounts of weatherable minerals) between 25 and 200 cm from the soil surface. They lack a nitic horizon (a horizon with strongly developed, nut-shaped structure) and do not have a layer which fulfils the requirements of an argic horizon and which has, in the upper 30 cm, 10 percent or more water-dispersible clay.

Distribution of Ferralsols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil CN018: Ferralsols

PROFILE DESCRIPTION : Very deep, well drained, dark reddish brown clay derived from basalt. Soil colour, structure and other properties are uniform to a depth of about 6 meters. Rooting is as deep as 3 meters. There is a high biological activity caused by termites. GENERAL LANDFORM: Northern Hainan island has a series of extensive, terrace-like basalt plains ranging in elevation from about 50 to 150 m / WATER TABLE: the water table is estimated at a depth of 20 meters (verbal comm.) / LAND USE: Yield of rubber is about 1000 kg/ha / GENERAL SOIL INFORMATION: CN018 is representative for the very deep dark red clay soils derived from basalt. The profile is comparable to the very deep Brazilian Ferralsols developed on basalt in e.g. the Sao Paolo region. Penetrometer readings in the slightly moist soil are about 2 to 2.5 kg/cm2.

Classification

WRB 2006

WRB 1998

Posic- Ferralsol (Alumic Clayic Rhodic)

Posi-Geric- Ferralsol (Rhodic)

20-300 cm	ferralic horizon
-	geric

0-20 cm	ochric horizon
20-300 cm	ferralic horizon
-	geric

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Rhodi-Geric Ferralsol

Acric Ferralsol

0-20 cm	ochric A horizon
20-300 cm	ferralic B horizon
- cm	ferralic B horizon
- cm	ochric A horizon
-	geric

0-20 cm	ochric A horizon
20-300 cm	oxic B horizon

Local classification:	Haplic latosol; Rhodi-Udic Ferralosol
Common name:	Floury red clay

Other classification

USDA-NRCS (1999)	Anionic Acrudox
USDA-SCS (1975)	Anionic Acrorthox udic very fine kaolinitic 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
0-20	-	0.5	1.2	2.4	4.5	1.9	10.5	0.5	11.9	12.4	77.0
20-50	-	0.5	0.8	1.9	3.5	2.4	9.1	1.9	7.4	9.3	81.6
50-80	-	0.2	0.6	1.5	3.2	1.3	6.8	5.6	6.3	11.9	81.3
80-120	-	0.2	0.9	1.5	3.2	2.4	8.2	0.0	11.0	11.0	80.7
120-200	-	0.5	0.7	1.5	2.8	1.6	7.1	1.0	14.0	15.0	78.0
200-300	-	0.4	0.7	1.3	2.3	1.7	6.4	2.0	14.6	16.6	77.1

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
15-20	1.099	-	-	-	-
0-20	-	-	-	1.9	77.0
60-65	1.014	-	-	-	-
20-50	-	-	-	4.7	81.6
50-80	-	-	-	5.5	81.3
125-130	1.100	-	-	-	-
80-120	-	-	-	2.0	80.7
250-255	1.107	-	-	-	-
120-200	-	-	-	2.4	78.0
200-300	-	-	-	3.6	77.1

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
15-20	1.099	58.3	55.7	51.0	43.0	41.1	36.8	30.3	27.0
60-65	1.014	55.4	54.4	48.6	42.0	40.8	37.8	30.3	27.9
125-130	1.100	55.3	53.9	51.5	48.5	47.7	45.2	34.1	31.3
250-255	1.107	55.3	54.4	48.1	44.5	43.9	42.2	36.1	33.4

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
0-20	4.3	4.1	0.06	-	1.48	0.13	11	1.5	0.9	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.1	0.6
20-50	4.3	4.3	0.04	-	0.78	0.08	10	0.8	0.5	0.0	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.5
50-80	4.5	4.7	0.02	-	0.42	0.05	8	0.2	0	0.0	0.3	0.1	0.3	0.7
80-120	4.8	4.9	0.02	-	0.33	0.04	8	0	0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.2	0.5
120-200	4.6	5.1	0.03	-	0.26	0.04	7	0	0	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.1	0.6
200-300	4.5	5.1	0.03	-	0.16	0.03	5	0.1	0	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.1	0.6

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 %
0-20	10	5.9	8	5.2	-	15	2
20-50	28	1.8	2.0	2.7	-	28	6
50-80	33	2.1	3.0	1.5	-	0	14
80-120	25	2.0	2.0	1.2	-	0	10
120-200	26	2.3	3.0	0.9	-	0	4
200-300	29	2.1	3.0	0.6	-	0	5

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
0-20	-	43	-	-	-	7.80	0.70	-	-	-	-
20-50	-	51	-	-	-	8.10	0.70	-	-	-	-
50-80	-	56	-	-	-	8.30	0.80	-	-	-	-
80-120	-	58	-	-	-	7.20	0.60	-	-	-	-
120-200	-	61	-	-	-	7.60	0.70	-	-	-	-
200-300	-	63	-	-	-	7.90	0.70	-	-	-	-

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
0-20	-	0.0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20-50	-	0.0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
50-80	-	0.0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
80-120	-	0.0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
120-200	-	0.0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
200-300	-	0.0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-20	weak	-	weak	weak	-	-	strong	-	-	-	-	-
20-50	weak	-	weak	weak	-	-	strong	-	-	-	-	-
50-80	weak	-	weak	weak	-	-	strong	-	-	-	-	-
80-120	weak	-	weak	weak	-	-	strong	-	-	-	-	-
120-200	weak	-	weak	weak	-	-	strong	-	-	-	-	-
200-300	weak	-	weak	weak	-	-	strong	-	-	-	-	-

Profile description

Ah 0-20 cm	dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4, moist)clay,moderately coherent porous massive parting to weak fine subangular blocky,hard friable slightly sticky slightly plastic,many very fine fine to coarse random pores and common few random pores,diffuse smooth boundary to,
Bo1 20-120 cm	dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4, moist)clay,weakly coherent porous massive parting to weak fine subangular blocky,very friable slightly sticky slightly plastic,many very fine tubular random pores and common tubular random pores,frequent termite channels,
Bo2 120-300 cm	dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4, moist)clay,weakly coherent porous massive parting to weak fine subangular blocky,very friable slightly sticky slightly plastic,many very fine tubular random pores and common tubular random pores,frequent termite channels,

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	fine-grained basic igneous rock
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	residual material
Remarks on Parent Materials	basalt
Soil Depth	300cm
Texture of parent material	clayey

Major crops	rubber
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	VEGETATION: Rubber trees planted are in 1966 LANDUSE: Rubber yield is about 1000 kg/ha/year

Altitude	105m
Physiographic Unit	low broad nearly level hill
Physiographic position of the site	crest
Regional landform; McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F. et all, 1984; Australian soil and land survey Field Handbook, Inkata Press, Melbourne.	peneplain
Slope	1%
Form of the slope surrounding the site	straight
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	flat or almost flat

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	well
Dry From - To	0-50cm
Depth to groundwater table	2000cm
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	50-300cm

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 China 18: Ferralsol

Characteristics

Reference soil CN018: Ferralsols

Classification