TITLE:
Morphological, Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Hill Forest Soils at Chittagong University, Bangladesh
AUTHORS:
Md. Akhtaruzzaman, Md. Enamul Haque, Khan Towhid Osman
KEYWORDS:
Soil Morphological Features; Soil Physico-Chemical Properties; Soil Classification
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Soil Science,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
22,
2014
ABSTRACT: Forty five soil samples were collected from the
four pedons of the hill areas at Chittagong University based on the depth of
soil horizon. Soil profiles on hill top were relatively well developed and
belonged to Ultisols according to USDA soil Taxonomy. The profiles at the
piedmont were relatively young soils and classified as Inceptisols and
Entisols. The soils of all profiles were characterized by coarse texture (38% to 73%, sand fraction), high bulk density (1.15
to 1.32 Mg·m-3), low organic-C content (0.26% to 1.73%), acid soil reaction ( varied
from 4.44 to 5.52 and pHKCl from 3.57 to 4.90). Soils in all pedons
were poor in exchangeable bases and base saturation. The CEC values ranged from
9.12 cmolc·kg-1 to
14.5 cmolc·kg-1 while
ECEC varied from 1.96 to 4.78 cmolc·kg-1.
The exchangeable Al (aluminum) concentration ranged from 0.41 to 0.66 cmolc·kg-1. Exchangeable
acidity level ranged from 0.74 to 1.25 cmolc·kg-1. Exchangeable Al and aluminum saturation
increased with depth and their concentrations were below the toxic range for
tree stands. The study revealed that more young soils formed on the piedmont
sites had somewhat better properties as compared to matured hill top soils. The
variation in physico-chemical properties of the soils seemed to be influenced
by the topography to a greater extent in the studied area.