Soil-Landscape Relationship as Indicated by Micromorphological Data on Selected Soils from Karaj Basin, Iran | ||
| Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology | ||
| Article 8, Volume 9, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 153-164 PDF (442.42 K) | ||
| Authors | ||
| S. H. Mahmoodi* 1; A. Heydari1; M. H. Masihabadi2; G. Stoops3 | ||
| 1Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Islamic Republic of Iran. | ||
| 2Soil and Water Research Institute, Amirabad Shomali, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. | ||
| 3Laboratory of Mineralogy, Petrography and Micromorphology, Ghent State University, Belgium. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Soils of the arid–semiarid Karaj Basin in north-central Iran have formed on alluvium-colluvium derived from mixed calcareous-gypsiferous marls of Miocene and basic igneous rocks of Holocene age. In order to characterize and classify the soils and to determine the soil-landscape relationship in the area, sixteen pedons located on different physiographic positions have been described, sampled and analysed. According to field descriptions these soils all show evidences of carbonate accumulation to be classified as Calcids or Cambids. However, soils with well developed argillic and calcic horizons have been ob-served on apparently younger colluvial fans, whereas the less developed soils with calcic and cambic horizons occur on older upper alluvial plains. Due to the calcareous gravelly soil parent materials, clay films are mainly masked by carbonates and their identification in the field is mostly impossible. Also due to the adherence of these clay films to coarse gravels and their separation from the fine earth materials through sieving, they may not sometimes appear on the particle size distribution analysis. Yet under the microscope the soils show enough indicators to be characterized as argillic horizon and to classify the soils properly according to Soil Taxonomy as Argids instead of Calcids. Also, these find-ings point out the relatively older ages of these physiographic surfaces now they are cov-ered by younger colluvial materials. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Micromorphology; Landform; Carbonates; Clay film; Plaeoclimate | ||
|
Statistics Article View: 117 PDF Download: 72 |
||
| Number of Journals | 45 |
| Number of Issues | 2,171 |
| Number of Articles | 24,674 |
| Article View | 24,460,547 |
| PDF Download | 17,559,782 |