Reference soil Costa Rica 01: Cambisol
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.
Reference soil CR001: Cambisol
Crops in experimental fields: mais, beans, palm (Bactis gasipaes), Coral tree (Erythrina poeppigiana), coffee (Caffea arabica), Macademia (Macademia fytogritolia). Brief soil description: Very deep, moderately well to well drained, dark brown gravelly sandy clay loam. Mainly in the subsoil some larger stones. Soil was occasionally saturated/flooded before installation of drains. Colour determination is difficult due to composite character. The lower horizons show smooth shiny ped surface, however, presence of cutans is not so convincing. Note: "halloysite" in clay mineralogy is mixture of 0.7 and 1.0 nm material. Topsoil may be enriched with volcanic ash.
Carthago, Turrialba, CATIE Experimental Station, experiment 170