The desert zone located on the east-northern rim of Qarun lake
represents one of the promising desert outskirt of El Fayoum Governorate
whether be under demand for agriculture use or to be future planned
projects for later on use. That is true, since it is considered a good model
for representing many of the landscape features in El Fayoum depression.
So, it selected to be identified within the context of physiography, soil
classification and land evaluation for specific agriculture land use. This
area includes both the continental alluvium of the Nile and desert sediments
that were derived from local parent rocks. The physiographic features were
identified, using visual interpretation of Landsat data ETM7 (Enhanced
Thematic Mapper 7), according the applied physiographic approach, and
found to be as the Nile alluvial terraces, desert alluvial terraces, dissected
slopes, aeolian plain, pediplain, bajada, cuesta fronts, cuesta summits and
wadis. The later landforms whether are almost flat or gently slopping. The
relatively high tableland structures were delineated as dissected cuesta of
summits and fronts. Forty-five mini pits were located and studied for
setting up a characteristic map legend. The differences were represented by
nine soil profiles to be fully described and soil samples were selected for
laboratory analyses.
Soil taxa were categorized according to the Key of Soil Taxonomy
(USDA, 2006) till the soil family level into:
i) The Aridisols, soil families are a) Typic Haplocalcids, coarse loamy,
mixed, hyperthermic in pediplain unit b) Typic Haplogypsids, coarse
loamy, mixed, hyperthermic in bajada unit; c) Soils of wadis unit are
found in a complex pattern of Typic Haplogypsids, fine loamy, mixed,
hyperthermic and d) Typic Calcigypsids, fine loamy, mixed, hyperthermic
in the desert alluvial terraces unit.
ii) The Vertisols include a) Chromic Gypsitorrets, fine clayey, semectitic,
hyperthermic in the Nile alluvial terraces unit.
iii) Entisols include a) Lithic Torriorthents, fine loamy, mixed,
hyperthermic in cuesta summits unit; b) Typic Torriorthents, coarse
loamy, mixed, hyperthermic in cuesta fronts units; c) Typic
Torripsamments, siliceous, hyperthermic in aeolian plain unit and d)
Lithic Torripsamments, siliceous, hyperthermic in dissected slopes unit.
The supreme and subsequent prior potential suitability of sixteen
specific corps, i.e., field crops (wheat, barley, maize, cotton and onion), oil
crops (sesame and sunflower), fodder crops (alfalfa and sorghum),
vegetables (tomato) and fruit trees (banana, citrus, guava, mango, oil palm
and olive) to be cultivated in the studied physiographic-soil units was
carried out by matching between the parametric approach of land
evaluation classes and their crop-physiography adaptations. The obtained
data show that the potential suitability classes differed according to the
satisfaction conditions between different properties of soils developed on
the studied physiographic-soil units and plant requirements. These
adaptations can be promising for rather higher output as the major land
improvements that are considered for the land qualities of drainage, salinity
and sodicity to be achieved when the land considering free of those
limitations.