Northwestern coast of Sinai Peninsula is one from the prospective areas for agriculture expansion in Egypt. The aim of this work is to study characteristics, classification and evaluation of soils representing the geomorphic units of this area.
For this purpose, fifteen soil profiles were chosen representing the main geomorphic units of this area namely, Sabkha, Coastal plain, Elevated sand dunes, El-Tina plain and Western coastal plain.
The soil profiles were morphological described and samples were collected for laboratory analyses.
According to Soil Survey Staff (2014), the studied soils were classified up to sub-great group level into the two orders of Aridisols and Entisols and three suborders namely, Salids, Gypsides and Psamments.
The studied soils were evaluated for their current suitability for agriculture which they categorized into two classes namely, marginally suitable (S3) and not suitable (N). These soils are suffering from different limitations of wetness, texture, depth, gypsum and salinity and alkalinity with different intensity. The severity of these limitations could be corrected by application of organic and inorganic amendments and salt leaching as well as modern irrigation systems (drip and sprinkler). Accordingly, the potential suitability of the most studied soils could be improved to moderately suitable (S2) and marginally suitable (S3).
Moreover the suitability of the studied soils for 13 selected main crops are evaluated. The results indicated that the soils of Sabkha, El Tina plain and Western coastal plain with their current situation are not suitable for growing these crops. The potential suitability for these crops could be improved according to the satisfaction conditions between different properties of the studied soils and crop requirements.