Soil science
S. Sanjari; M.H. Farpoor; M. Mahmoodabadi; S. Barkhori
Abstract
Introduction: Playa, as an important geomorphic position in arid areas, covers about 1% of the continents and has attracted attention of soil scientists and geomorphologists. Soil genetic processes related to landforms and geomorphic processes are of great importance. Micromorphology is among necessary ...
Read More
Introduction: Playa, as an important geomorphic position in arid areas, covers about 1% of the continents and has attracted attention of soil scientists and geomorphologists. Soil genetic processes related to landforms and geomorphic processes are of great importance. Micromorphology is among necessary techniques in soil studies which has been used by several researchers. Micromorphological features together with other soil characteristics provide invaluable data for reconstructing soil genetic processes. Moreover, classification and identifying characteristics of soils are pre-requisites for the optimum use and management of soil resources. Soil Taxonomy and World Reference Base (WRB) is among the most extensively used classification systems worldwide. Since no data about soils of the Jazmoorian Playa is available, the present research was performed with the following objectives: 1) studying physical, chemical, and micromorphological properties of soils in the Jazmoorian Playa related to different geomorphic surfaces, and 2) classifying soils of the region by Soil Taxonomy (2014) and WRB (2015) systems. Materials and Methods: The Jazmoorian playa is located in Kerman and Sistan Baloochestan provinces. The Jazmoorian Playa is a continental depression of late Pliocene. The playa is about 360 m above sea level with about 65 km length and 45 km width located between 58 ˚ to 60 ˚ longitudes and 27 ˚ to 28 ˚ latitudes. The area extends to the igneous Bazman Mountains to the northeast, the igneous Jebalbarez Mountains (granodiorite, andesite, granite) to the north and northwest, the Beshagard Ophiolite Mountains of Cretaceous and Paleocene to the south, and the colored Mélanges to the Oman Sea. Soil moisture and temperature regimes of the area were aridic (and aquic in limited areas) and hyper thermic, respectively. Wet zone, fan delta, clay flat, puffy ground clay flat, sodic clay flat, and salt crust were among the geomorphic surfaces investigated in the playa. In order to study the maximum soil variations in the area, eight representative pedons were described and sampled. Collected soil samples were air dried, grounded, and passed through a 2 mm sieve, and routine physical and chemical soil properties were then analyzed. Undisturbed soil samples were used for micromorphological observations. The soils were classified according to Soil Taxonomy (33) and WRB (11) systems. Results and Discussion: Results showed that EC contents of the saturated extracts ranged from 0.5 (fan delta) to 222.2 (salt crust) dS/m. The soils of the playa in Kerman Province affected by the Halilrood River had less salinity compared to the soils on playa surfaces in Sistan Baloochestan Province under influence of the Bampoor River. In addition, salt crust was only formed in parts of the playa located in Sistan Baloochestan Province. Clay coating and lenticular gypsum crystals were among the micromorphological features observed in the Jazmoorian Playa’s soils. The clay coating was formed due to high Na content. However, lenticular gypsum was formed due to small volume pore spaces as well as high salinity of the area. High soluble salts (Table 3) caused a salt coating around pore spaces to be formed due to evaporation of saline water table. WRB system could better classify soils into Solonchak and Solonetz RSGs compared to Soil Taxonomy system which classifies all soils as the Salids sub order. Natric Aquisalids, Typic Natrisalids, Natric Haplosalids, and Puffic Haplosalids sub groups and Natrisalids great group are recommended to be added to Soil Taxonomy system for more harmonization between the two classification systems. Furthermore, the definition of salic horizon in WRB system (EC of at least 15 dS/m and the EC multiplied by thickness of at least 450) is recommended to be included in Soil Taxonomy, because of limitations induced by salts and for a better correlation of the two systems. Conclusion: Results of physicochemical properties clearly showed that electrical conductivity of soil saturated extracts was in the range of 0.5 to 222.2 dS/m. The part of the playa located in Sistan Baloochestan Province is more saline than the part in Kerman Province. More salinity of playa in Sistan Baloochestan Province was attributed to the Bampoor River which passes through evaporative formations located in east and southeast of the area. Micromorphological observations showed clay coatings and lenticular gypsum crystals as pedogenic features. The soils of the area were classified as Aridisols and Entisols (according to Soil Taxonomy system) and Solonetz, Solonchaks, Fluvisols, and Regosols Reference Soil Groups based on WRB classification system. Moreover, WRB system was capable of separating saline from saline-sodic soils, however, Soil Taxonomy classifies both soils as Salids suborder. Therefore, WRB system is better suited for classification of the soils of our study area as compared with Soil Taxonomy.
S. Sanjari; M.H. Farpoor; M. Mahmoodabadi; S. Barkhori
Abstract
Introduction Increasing demand for an international classification system as a unique communication tool in soil science has caused development of different systems. Like many other countries, Soil Taxonomy and WRB are the most popular soil classification systems in Iran. Genetic and morphologic ...
Read More
Introduction Increasing demand for an international classification system as a unique communication tool in soil science has caused development of different systems. Like many other countries, Soil Taxonomy and WRB are the most popular soil classification systems in Iran. Genetic and morphologic soil properties are used for soil classification in both systems. However, correlation of the two systems and efforts to harmonize them have been a major concern among soil scientists. Comparing Soil Taxonomy and WRB in gypsiferous and calcareous soils of central Iran, Sarmast et al. (13) reported that WRB using various qualifiers is more effective than Soil Taxonomy. Since no study on soils of Iranshahr and Dalghan Regions located in Sistan and Baloochestan Province has performed and/or no reported data is available, the present research was performed to: 1) study morphological, physical, and chemical soil properties in the area, 2) classify soils based on Soil Taxonomy (2014) and WRB (2015) systems, 3) compare the two systems for soil description in Iranshahr and Dalghan regions as a part of Sistan and Baloochestan Province, central Iran. Material and Methods: The study area starts from Iranshahr (590 m asl) in the center of the province and extends to Dalghan (390 m asl) in west. Alluvial fan, pediment, playa, and hill were among different landforms identified using field studies, topography maps (1:50000), and Google Earth image observations. To cover the maximum soil variations in the area, 10 representative pedons were selected, described, and sampled. Results and Discussions: Calcic, gypsic, anhydritic, argillic, natric, and salic horizons identified after field work and laboratory analysis. Results of the study showed that addition of Yermic Torrifluvent, Yermic Torriorthent, Calcic Gypsiargid, Gypsic Natrsalid, Natric Gypsisalid, Anhydritic Gypsisalid, Anhydritic Calcisalid subgroups to Soil Taxonomy system from one hand, and addition of anhydrite and aquic (for Solonchak reference soil group) qualifiers to WRB system from the other hand, causes a higher correlation and more harmonization between the two classification systems. Meanwhile, the minimum percentage of calcium carbonate equivalent necessary for calcic horizon identification in coarse textured soils including gravel in Soil Taxonomy is also suggested to be added to WRB system. Besides, requirements of salic horizon in WRB system is recommended to be added to Soil Taxonomy. At the same time, soil names in WRB system provide more information and data about soil properties and characteristics in young soils (such as yermic qualifier showing desert pavement) compared to Soil Taxonomy. Soil Taxonomy is not able to properly classify saline soils of arid regions down to subgroup level which is a weak point for this system. That is why newly added Gypsic Natrsalids is suggested for soils with natric, gypsic, and salic horizons in the upper 100 cm of the soil. On the other hand, the requirements of salic horizon in WRB system (the minimum EC content of 15 dS/m and the EC multiplied by the horizon thickness of more and/or equal to 450) are also suggested for Soil Taxonomy. Conclusion: Results of the study for both saline and sodic soils show more capability of WRB system compared to Soil Taxonomy to classify soils. From soil management point of view, natric horizon causes more negative effects compared to salic horizon because Na disperses the soil particles and destroys soil structure and sodic soils need more practices to be improved compared to saline soils. Results for gypsiferous soils also show more capability of WRB system compared to Soil Taxonomy because gypsum content which is important for gypsiferous soils management is properly concerned in WRB system. However, lack of anhydritic horizon in WRB seems to be a weak point for this classification system. That is why it is suggested to be added to WRB (13). Since Soil Taxonomy does not use independent abbreviations for anhydritic horizon compared to gypsic horizon, the Ba and Baa abbreviations are also suggested for Soil Taxonomy to be added.
Moghbeli Z.; S. Sanjari; E. Adhami
Abstract
Introduction: In sustainable agriculture, it is essential to know soil various characteristics for increasing the soil productivity. The relationship between soil and geomorphology in arid and semi-arid regions has been considered by many researchers. Faryab plain is located in arid region of Kerman ...
Read More
Introduction: In sustainable agriculture, it is essential to know soil various characteristics for increasing the soil productivity. The relationship between soil and geomorphology in arid and semi-arid regions has been considered by many researchers. Faryab plain is located in arid region of Kerman Province and has diversity in geomorphic positions and parent materials. No previous study has been conducted in this region. Therefore, the objectives of the present research were 1) to study the genesis and development of soils related to different geomorphic surfaces in Faryab region, 2) to study the physicochemical properties, clay mineralogy and micromorphology of soils, and 3) to classify the soils according to Soil Taxonomy (ST) (2014) and World Reference Base (WRB) (2015) systems and compare them.
Materials and Methods: Faryab region with a mean elevation of 630 m above sea level is located in Kerman province, south-eastern of Iran. Mean annual rainfall and temperature of the area are 160 mm and 23.8 oC, respectively. Soil temperature and moisture regimes of the area are thermic and aridic, respectively. From geological point of view, the studied area is a part of west and south west zones and Flysch zone of east of Iran. Ten representative pedons on different geomorphic units including hill, alluvil-colluvial fan, alluvial plain, and lowland were selected, sampled, and described. Routine physicochemical analyses, clay mineralogy, and micromorphological observations performed on soil samples. Soil pH, texture, electrical conductivity, calcium carbonate, Na, Ca, Mg, cation exchangeable capacity and gypsum were identified. Eight samples were selected for clay mineralogy investigations. Four slides including Mg saturated, Mg saturated treated with ethylene glycol, K saturated, and K saturated heated up to 550 oC were analyzed. A Brucker X-Ray diffractometer at 40 kV and 30 mA was used for XRD analyses. Undisturbed soil samples from some representative pedons were selected for micromorphological observations. A vestapol resin with stearic acid and cobalt as hardener was used for soil impregnation. A Lite petrographic microscope was used for micromorphology investigations.
Results and Discussion: The results of the present study indicated that the soils with more evolution were located on the geomorphic surfaces of the lowland and alluvial plain and the soils with lower development on the hill and alluvil-colluvial fan. The most important pedogenic processes of the soils were the eluviation of salt, gypsum, calcium carbonate as well as clay, and the formation of calcic, gypsic, petrogypsic and natric horizons. The soils of the region were classified using ST as Aridisols with three suborders of Argids, Calcids and Gypsids and classified according to the WRB as three soil reference groups of Solonetz, Gypsisols and Calcisolos. A new subgroup of Calcic Natrigypsids is suggested for inclusion to ST for the soils with aridic soil moisture regime and three horizons of gypsic, calcic and natric. The WRB system, due to its flexibility in the use of principle and supplementary qualifiers, prepare a better qualification than ST for the soils of the region. According to mineralogical results, the observed minerals consisted of illite, palygorskite, chlorite, smectite, kaolinite, vermiculite and quartz. The highest amount of palygorskite was observed in the gypsic horizons of hill and alluvil-colluvial fan. By moving to the central part of the plain (lowland), the amount of palygorskite was greatly reduced and the amount of smectite was increased. Two origins of inheritance and transformation (illite and palygorskite) are suggested for the occurrence of smectite in the soils. Due to the lack of the conditions for the formation of kaolinite, illite and chlorite, these minerals are inherited from parent materials. SEM observations suggested a pedogenic pathway for the occurrence of large amounts of palygorskite in the soils of the region. Calcareous and gypsiferous media seems to prepare a favorite environment for the pedogenic formation and stabilizing of this mineral in the studied soils. Coating and infilling of gypsum and calcite crystals in voids and channels, clay coating along chanels as well as Fe and Mn oxide nodules were among the common pedofeatures observed in the thin sections of the studied soils. Occurrence of variable habits of gypsum crystals in different geomorphic surfaces suggested a dynamic soil environment. Larger lenticular gypsum crystals were found in the soils with lighter texture located on more stable geomorphic surfaces.
Conclusion: Different geomorphic situations in the region affected the development and evolution, physicochemical properties, clay mineralogy, micromorphology and soil classification and caused the differences in these characteristics in the Faryab region.
Saleh Sanjari; M.H. Farpoor
Abstract
Introduction: Soil studies have been used as complementary data in archaeological investigations. Review and acceptance of papers focusing on the use of micromorphology in archaeology were discussed and agreed in the 12th International Micromorphology Meeting in Turkey (8). Morphology, physicochemical, ...
Read More
Introduction: Soil studies have been used as complementary data in archaeological investigations. Review and acceptance of papers focusing on the use of micromorphology in archaeology were discussed and agreed in the 12th International Micromorphology Meeting in Turkey (8). Morphology, physicochemical, clay mineralogy, and micromorphology investigations may provide invaluable data about the way ancient people used to live, the source of soil that was used for pottery and architecture, the reason of degradation or existence of monuments, and the suitable soil for the restoration of monuments. On the other hand, the restoration of our ancestor's monuments could be better performed if soil data and micromorphology techniques are used.
Materials and Methods: The present research was conducted to study the ancient and restored sections of Konar Sandal historical (5000 YBP) citadel, South Jiroft, Iran. The area under study located 30 km south of Jiroft in the Halilrud cultural area. Samples were collected from both ancient (3 samples) and restores (1 sample) sections of the citadel. Representative samples (3 from the ancient and the other from the restored sections) were also collected for clay mineralogy and micromorphology (undisturbed samples) investigations after physicochemical analysis performed on all samples. Routine physicochemical analysis performed on the air-dried samples that were passed through a 2 mm sieve.
Results and Discussion: Results of the study showed that the clay percentage of the ancient section was rough twice the restored section. On the other hand, soluble salts were about 3 times higher in the restored section than the ancient section. High salinity and solubility of salts caused restored sections to have lower resistance to environmental variations of the recent years. It seems that saline and gypsiferous soils close to the citadel were used for the restoration of Konar Sandal citadel. However, no gypsum was found in the thin section of the ancient section. Besides, Na monovalent cation plays an important role in the dispersion of soil particles compared to divalent Ca cation. Results of this study showed that soil with low clay content and high salinity was used for restoration recently. On the other hand, soils for construction of ancient sections with higher clay and lower salinity (compared to restored sections) were probably transferred from another area by our ancestors. Besides, pottery pieces to provide more stickiness and charcoal for more resistance to environmental variations were also used to construct the raw bricks in the old (5000 YBP) monument.
Illite, chlorite, smectite, and kaolinite clay minerals were found in the samples from the ancient section (Fig. 3). Palygorskite, quartz and trace amounts of sepiolite were only found in the restored sections together with the previously mentioned clay minerals (Fig. 4). The absence of palygorskite in the ancient samples may prove the presence of paleoclimate with more available humidity in the area because palygorskite is unstable in humid environments and transforms to smectite. It seems that palygorskite has a pedogenic origin in the area.
Micromorphological observations showed that the organic matter in the groundmass of the ancient samples (Fig. 6 a, b) is the reason for stability in this section. The same conclusion was also reported for samples of Bam citadel by Farpoor (4). Lenticular and interlocked plates of gypsum were found in the restored section (Figs. 6 c, and 7 a, b). Gypsum crystals were not observed in the thin sections of ancient samples. Calcium carbonate nodules were also observed in the ancient section (Fig. 7c). It seems that additives such as pottery pieces together with calcium carbonate have probably increased the stability of raw bricks through time.
Conclusion: Physicochemical properties showed more salinity in the restored compared to ancient sections and micromorphology showed gypsum crystals only in the restored samples. Besides, clay content and organic matter in the ancient section are about twice the restored section. Meanwhile, pottery pieces and charcoal were also found in the ancient section. These seem to be a reason for higher stability of ancient sections against environmental variations compared to restores sections with low clay content and high gypsum and more soluble salts that were degraded in 5 years. Illite, chlorite, kaolinite, and smectite clay minerals were investigated in both sections, but palygorskite and quarts were only found in the restored section. Results of the study clearly showed that soil data might be used as a helpful technique in archaeology studies and projects.
Elham Afzali Moghadam; naser boroumand; vahidreza jalali; saleh sanjari
Abstract
Introduction: The hydraulic parameters are very important for perception of water flow in unsaturated soil and using pollutants and nutrient flow modeling in the soil. The effect of soil management and land uses on soil parameters can directly alter soil hydraulic parameters. Because of interactive and ...
Read More
Introduction: The hydraulic parameters are very important for perception of water flow in unsaturated soil and using pollutants and nutrient flow modeling in the soil. The effect of soil management and land uses on soil parameters can directly alter soil hydraulic parameters. Because of interactive and tight relationship between soil and plant covering, studying the soil parameters and its changing during different land uses is vital. The main object of this study was evaluating the effects of different land uses on soil saturated hydraulic conductivity.
Materials and Methods: This study was performed in about 100 hectare fields of Khezrabad region in the 25 km south of the Jiroft county located in south eastern of Kerman province. The region gridded into 1000×1000 meter grids with use of Google earth and Arc GIS software, sampling places has been selected in the center of each grid. Measurement of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity done with the Guelph permeameter in the center of each grid. For the measurement of physical parameters such as bulk density, percent of sand, silt, clay in the laboratory, sampling done from 30cm depth so samples transferred to the laboratory. In this study in order to ensure the normal distribution of variables, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test has been used with SPSS14 software. The Kriging method was used for interpolation and providing spatial maps.
Results and Discussion: Agriculture, garden and sterile lands were selected for the object of the present study. The study area includes garden, agriculture and sterile lands at the same time. The study area contains 3 classes of soil texture as: sandy, sandy-loamy and loamy-sand. The results showed that soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (ks) with strong spatial correlation had a high spatial variability. The fluctuation ranges of its values changes from 0.02 to 2325.71 cm per hour. The lowest value of ks was observed in garden land (by having the lowest value of soil bulk density) while the highest value was observed in sterile land (by having the highest value of soil bulk density). The results also showed that semi-variogram of garden, agriculture and sterile land were not the same, and it may gain from different types of agricultural operations, type of land use and various textures so that from garden land to sterile land, the soil texture becomes lighter and level of saturated hydraulic conductivity changes completely different. Several reasons maybe considered including soil different structures due to different type of agricultural operations and type of cultivation for every single land use. The change process of saturated hydraulic conductivity for garden and agricultural land was identical and for both the Gaussian model were fitted. According to the nugget effect ratio to the sill (C0/C0+C), variability of saturated hydraulic conductivity in agricultural land has a stronger spatial correlation (0.0006) and also has a higher radius of effect range (11740m) compared to garden land in which the ratio of the nugget effect ratio to sill is 0.28 and its radius of effect range is 8030 meters. the radius of effect range in sterile land had the lowest value among studied land uses, though having strong correlation, the effect range of this correlation is low and, compared to other lands, the changes process was more randomly obtained. To mention the reasons of this finding it is possible to refer to area of the sterile land, dispersion of the sampling points and long distance between pair points. The lowest spatial correlation belonged to garden land with middle spatial correlation class and the reason can be explained as due to increase of sand, decrease of clay and silt, bulk density of soil increases as well and leads to increase of coarse pores and consequently increasing saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil.
Results showed that soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (ks) with strong spatial correlation has high spatial variability and these variability consist lowest quantity in the garden lands and highest quantity in the sterile lands. The distribution pattern of Ks was seen similar to the sand and the soils bulk density, this pattern was opposite to the clay distribution pattern, this indicates the effect of soil physical parameters on saturated hydraulic conductivity.
Conclusion: According to the evaluation parameters CRM, MAE and MBA, Gaussian model is the best fitted model to soil saturated hydraulic conductivity data and soil parameters such as saturated hydraulic conductivity consist spatial variability related to sampling scale. The factors of land type and consequently type of land cultivation, lands management system, type of agricultural operations, soil particles size and bulk density of soil have the most impact on variability of Ks.
naser boroumand; saleh sanjari
Abstract
Introduction: Soil and geomorphology are closely related to each other. That is why considering geomorphic concepts in soil genesis and classification studies may cause a better understanding of soil genesis processes. Paleosols with argillic horizons were investigated on stable pediment surfaces in ...
Read More
Introduction: Soil and geomorphology are closely related to each other. That is why considering geomorphic concepts in soil genesis and classification studies may cause a better understanding of soil genesis processes. Paleosols with argillic horizons were investigated on stable pediment surfaces in Jiroft area, central Iran, by Sanjari et al. (2011). They found that secondary gypsum and calcium carbonate were accumulated in mantled pediments, but moving down the slope toward lowlands, salts more soluble than gypsum have been accumulated.
Clay mineralogy in soil researches helps to better studying soil genesis and development. A quantitative and qualitative study of clay minerals together with their structural composition provides valuable data on the absorption, fixation, and desorption of different cations in soils. Smectite, chlorite, illite, vermiculite, kaolinite, palygorskite, and sepiolite were reported as dominant clay minerals found in arid and semi-arid areas. The objectives of the present study are to evaluate the clay mineralogy of Jabalbarez-Jiroft soils on different geomorphic surfaces.
Materials and Methods: The study area was located in Jabalbarez, 200 Km south Kerman, Central Iran. Fig. 1 showed the exact location of study area. Soil temperature and moisture regimes of the area were thermic and aridic, respectively. Hill, rock pediment, mantled pediment and piedmont alluvial plain landforms were identified, using aerial photo interpretation, topography and geological map observation, in addition to detailed field works. Air-dried soil samples were crushed and passed through a 2-mm sieve. Routine physicochemical analyses wereperformed on the samples. Undisturbed soil samples from the Bt horizon of pedons 4, 5 and 6 were chosen for micromorphology investigations. Beside, eight samples including A and C2 horizons of pedon 1, A and Bt horizon of pedon 3, Bt and Bw horizons of pedon 4, and Bt and C horizon of pedon 5 were selected for clay mineralogy.
Results and Discussion: Argillic horizon found in mantled pediment and piedmont alluvial plain surfaces and stable hill, respectively. In thin horizons coating of clay were observed. Pedofeatures formed in this geomorphic surface, seemed to have been buried in the soil, due to the favorable conditions in terms of the time factor and the presence of moisture in the past. Fig. 2 showed clay coatings in the Bt horizon of pedons 4,5 and 6. The presence of argillic horizons in the arid climate of the research area is attributed to a more humid paleoclimate, which was also reported by Farpoor et al. (2002), Khademi and Mermut (2003), and Sanjari et al. (2011) in Rafsanjan, Isfahan and Jiroft, central Iran, respectively. Clay minerals illite, smectite, chlorite and kaolinite were identified by using X-ray diffractometer. Similar results were also obtained by Sanjari et al. (2011) in the Jiroft area. Kaolinite and illite in soils of arid and semi-arid environments of Iran have been reported with an inherited origin (Khormali and Abtahi, 2003; Sanjari et al., 2011). As the environmental conditions are not favorable for the pedogenic formation of such minerals in soils of this study area , it is proposed that they might be inherited from their parent material. Just as previously stated by other researchers that the origin of the kaolinite minerals in the dry climate regionsis due to itsinheritance from parent materials (Farpoor et al., 2002; Khormali and Abtahi, 2003). The dominant of smectite minerals in soils on stable geomorphic surfaces ofhills and mantled pediment can be cause of stable level and more moisture content in the past and the present, which may be resulted to smectite formation from illite and chlorite transformation. Also, chlorite minerals on stable surface of mantled pediment were not observed. High amount of leaching, low pH level (
saleh sanjari; Saeid Barkhori
Abstract
Geomorphologies have an important role in soil genesis and micromorphology. So for survey of pedogenic processes at different levels of geomorphic awareness of soil micromorphology a characteristic is essential. In this study micromorphological properties of soils in the south Roudbar region, part of ...
Read More
Geomorphologies have an important role in soil genesis and micromorphology. So for survey of pedogenic processes at different levels of geomorphic awareness of soil micromorphology a characteristic is essential. In this study micromorphological properties of soils in the south Roudbar region, part of Jazmoryan area study and affected geomorphology on this properties were investigated. In this study, seven soil profiles in playa and alluvial fans landforms that each of them was divided into several different surface geomorphic dug and samples were taken for preparation of thin sections. Geomorphic surfaces of thin sections in median geomorphic and base of alluvial fans represented clay coating, lenticular and interlocked plates of gypsum crystal and gypsum infilling in by and 2Bt1 horizons. While in the levels of different geomorphic surfaces landform playa were shown gypsum infilling and sporadic clay coating and composed pedofeatures included clay coating and calcite. Toward geomorphic surface playa saline puffy ground was added to lenicular crystals and gypsum microcrystals. The view of clay coating in paleosol according to current climate there is evidence of sufficient rainfall and humid paleoclimate for leaching and transport of clay. Also the presence of composed pedofeatures is indicated polygenetic of these soils. Observation of sporadic clay coating is showed natric horizon in effected of sodium ions diffusion were moved and accumulated. Overall, we conclude that presence of micromorphologic observations is showed paleoclimate and wet and dry periods in the last.
S. Sanjari; M.H. Farpoor; M. Karimiam Eghbal; I. Esfandiarpour Borujeni
Abstract
Abstract
Geomorphology and soil genesis and its development are closely related. Besides, soil-landscape studies provide a better understanding of soil forming processes. The objectives of the present research include soil genesis studies, micromorphology and clay mineralogy of soils related to geomorphic ...
Read More
Abstract
Geomorphology and soil genesis and its development are closely related. Besides, soil-landscape studies provide a better understanding of soil forming processes. The objectives of the present research include soil genesis studies, micromorphology and clay mineralogy of soils related to geomorphic surfaces in Jiroft area. Soil temperature and moisture regimes of the area are hyperthermic and aridic respectively. Alluvial fan, mantled pediment, intermediate surfaces, alluvial plain, and lowland landforms were identified. Each landform was divided into different surfaces due to geomorphic stability. One representative pedon was studied and sampled on each geomorphic surface. Routine physicochemical, clay mineralogy, and micromorphology analysis were performed on soil samples. The results showed that electrical conductivity, pH, and SAR contents increased from mantled pediments toward lowland positions. Besides, fine soil textures were found in downward positions. Chlorite, illite, palygorskite, smectite, and kaolinite clay minerals were found. Moving down toward alluvial plain, palygorskite stability decreased due to high water table, that is why smectite is the dominant clay mineral in alluvial plain. Source of palygorskite in mantled pediment, intermediate surfaces, and alluvial plain is inherited, pedogenic, and detrital respectively. Clay coating and infillings in Btn and Btk horizons of stable and unstable surfaces were investigated during thin section observations. Besides, calcite coating and infilling were found in Btk horizon at stable geomorphic surfaces. Results of the present research show that difference in soil characteristics is highly affected by geomorphology.
Keywords: Geomorphology, Palygorskite, Clay and calcite coating, Jiroft