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233488

Genesis and Uniformity of Some Soils in West El-Minia, Western Desert, Egypt

Article

Last updated: 05 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Soil science

Abstract

A total of 216 pedons were regularly distributed throughout 130,000 Faddan across the Darb Al-Bahnsawy area at West El-Minia Governorate, Central Egypt representing the major variations in the site. Soil pedons were pedomorphologically described and soil samples were collected from genetic horizons. The toposequence soil transect across a slope gradient (95-135 m) was selected for identifying the origin and homogeneity of the soils under study. To demonstrate uniformity or discontinuity of parent material, the weathering indices of Wr1, Wr2, and Wr3 were performed besides uniformity indices of UV1 and UV2. Five different soil types were distinguished based on soil depth, soil texture, and surface topography. The investigated soils were coarse-textured and widely varied from deep (>100cm) to shallow (gypsic horizons were developed on upper slopes. Some studied soils were affected by the calcareous nature. The investigated soils had different horizonation sequences which are C-2Cyy for shallow soil, C1-C2-2Cyy and C-2C1yy-2C2yy for moderately deep soils, C-Ck-2Cy-2Cr and C-Ck-2C-3C for deep soils. Most soils were formed through geologic processes with no evidence of pedogenesis, except for calcic horizons (Ck) formed on lower slope soils, and gypsic horizons (2C1yy and 2C2yy) formed on upslope soils over the studied toposequence transect. Lithologic discontinuities in most pedons revealed sequences of deposition and erosion processes and the heterogeneity of the parent material. The difference in sand and silt separates of UV1 index on a carbonate-free and clay-free basis was consistent with the vertical distribution of rock fragments within the pedon. The light minerals associations in the studied soils were dominated by quartz, gypsum, feldspars, calcite, mica, and chlorite. Heavy mineral percentages (1.46 – 16.34%) were increased from the west to the east of the investigated transect across the slope gradient. The highest concentration of heavy minerals (10.09 – 16.34%) was detected in the lower soils. The identified heavy minerals were pyroxene (augite and hyperthene), amphiboles (hornblende and actinolite), garnet, staurolite, kyanite, zircon, tourmaline, rutile, epidote, zoisite, biotite, monazite, glaconite, and opaques. Opaque minerals (39.33 to 61.33%) constitute the most predominant constituent in all studied soil samples. The heavy minerals characteristics suggest their mixed sources from sandstone, limestone, and metamorphic rocks. Limestone plateau was the main source of soil regolith, the uniformity ratios depict heterogeneous distribution with depth that may be due to the sedimentation processes which act upon most soils. The sediments were immature to submature based on ZTR index. Various genetic stages of gypsic horizons development were proposed in the current study. Gypsum materials originated within the studied sediments from the weathering of the surrounding Eocene white limestone plateau. The results of weathering indices curves demonstrated that the soils under study are formed from multi-origin under multi-depositional regimes.

DOI

10.21608/jalexu.2022.113069.1032

Keywords

Pedon, Genesis, gypsic horizon, calcic horizon, Uniformity, West El-Minia, Central Egypt

Authors

First Name

Adel

Last Name

Elwan

MiddleName

Abd El-Hamid

Affiliation

Pedology Department, Water Resources and Desert Soils Division, Desert Research Center (DRC), Cairo, 11753, Egypt

Email

dr.elwandrc@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

26

Article Issue

4

Related Issue

26985

Issue Date

2021-12-01

Receive Date

2021-11-25

Publish Date

2021-12-01

Page Start

479

Page End

502

Print ISSN

1110-5585

Online ISSN

2785-9525

Link

https://jalexu.journals.ekb.eg/article_233488.html

Detail API

https://jalexu.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=233488

Order

17

Type

Research papers

Type Code

1,789

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of the Advances in Agricultural Researches

Publication Link

https://jalexu.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Genesis and Uniformity of Some Soils in West El-Minia, Western Desert, Egypt

Details

Type

Article

Created At

23 Jan 2023