Reference soil Spain 06: Leptosol

ES006

Leptosols are by far the most extensive group of soils in the world. They are found mainly in mountainous regions and in areas where soil has been eroded to the extent that hard rock comes near to the surface. Other (minor) occurrences are along rivers where gravely deposits have accumulated without substantial admixture of fine earth material.

Characteristics

Soils which are either limited in depth by continuous hard rock within 25 cm from the soil surface, or overly mayerial with a calcium carbonate equivalent of more than 40 percent within 25 cm from the soil surface, or contain less than 10 percent (by weight) fine earth (mineral soil material with a diameter of 2 mm or less) to a depth of 75 cm from the soil surface. Leptosols have no diagnostic horizons other than a mollic, ochric, umbric, vertic or yermic horizon.

Distribution of Leptosols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil ES006: Leptosols

Short field description: A very shallow somewhat excessively drained yellowish-red gravelly sandy loam, underlain by weathered schistic rock. The structure is moderate very fine subangular blocky. There is lithic contact at 14 cm depth.

Classification

WRB 2014

Leptosol

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Calci-Eutric Leptosol

Eutric Cambisol lithic

- cm	ochric A horizon
-	continuous hard rock

- cm	ochric A horizon
-	lithic contact

Local classification:	xeroranker

Other classification

USDA-SCS (1975)

Xerorthent xeric loamy mixed thermic

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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
0-1	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	14.8	15.1	29.9	13.2
1-12	17	-	-	-	-	-	-	16.4	15.7	32.1	14.4
12-20	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	13	11.6	24.6	9.8

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-1	-	-	-	-	13.2
1-12	-	-	-	-	14.4
12-20	-	-	-	-	9.8

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
0-1	6.7	5.8	-	-	-	0.25	-	-	-	14.3	4.7	0.4	0.0	19.4
1-12	6.6	4.6	-	-	0.80	0.07	11	-	-	15.9	6.8	0.1	0.0	22.8
12-20	6.8	3.7	-	-	0.13	0.02	7	-	-	22.4	9.4	0.1	0.0	31.9

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 %
0-1	104	18.7	142	-	-	-	-
1-12	150	15.2	106	2.8	-	-	-
12-20	220	14.5	148	0.5	-	-	-

Elemental composition of the soil

Depth (cm)	Al2O3 % w/w	CaO % w/w	Fe2O3 % w/w	K2O % w/w	MgO % w/w	Na2O % w/w	SiO2 % w/w	TiO2 % w/w
0-1	13.3	3.3	8.8	1.20	3.5	-	57.8	1.1
1-12	13.7	3.4	8.5	1.70	3.4	-	60.9	1.1
12-20	17.5	3.7	13.7	1.60	5.3	-	49.8	1.4

Depth (cm)	Al2O3/Fe2O3 mol/mol	LOI % w/w	MnO2 % w/w	P2O5 % w/w	SiO2 / Al2O3 mol/mol	SiO2/Fe2O3 mol/mol	SiO2 / R mol/mol
0-1	2.4	8.5	0.20	0.10	7.4	17.5	5.2
1-12	2.5	5.1	0.10	0.20	7.5	19.1	5.4
12-20	2.0	5.2	0.20	0.20	4.8	9.7	3.2

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-1	-	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	very weak to weak	strong	very weak to weak	strong	-
1-12	-	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	strong	very weak to weak	weak to medium	-
12-20	-	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	weak to medium	very weak to weak	strong	-

Profile description

Ah 0-14 cm	(10YR 4/7, dry)sandy loam slightly gravelly,moderate fine subangular blocky,slightly hard friable non sticky slightly plastic,clear wavy boundary to,
R 14- cm	rockweath. schist fragments,

Depth1	14cm
Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	schist
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	solid rock
Soil Depth	14cm

Altitude	280m
Physiographic Unit	gently undulating landscape
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.	hill
Slope	0%
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	undulating

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	somewhat excessive
Dry From - To	0-15cm
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 Spain 06: Leptosol

Characteristics

Reference soil ES006: Leptosols

Classification