THE MORPHOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF TWO MOUNDS OF MACROTERMES BELLICOSUS (SMEATHMAN) COMPARED WITH SURROUNDING SOILS IN SIERRA LEONE

The mounds are situated in the Makeni Area, Northern Province, Sierra Leone. Seventy five percent of this area consists of clayey upland soils that belong to the Makeni series (Typic Paleudult), which contain about 80 per cent of gravel-sized hardened plinthite glaebules. The upland is dissected by numerous streams along which gravel-free fine-loamy terrace soils occur that belong to the Masuba series (‘Plin thic’Udoxic Dystropept) occupying about 15 per cent of the area. Mound 1 is a young inhabited mound on a Masuba soil, whilst mound II is an old abandoned mound on a Makeni soil. A trench was dug from the centre of the mounds into the surrounding soils. Profiles were described and samples were analyzed for organic carbon, CEC, exchangeable Ca, Mg, K, Na, and pH, and for particle size analysis with 5 sand fractions. The material used to build the mounds is derived from the subsoil (between 30 and 100 cm depth). Termite channels extended laterally for at least 10 m for mound I, but could not be traced so clearly for mound II. Mound I and the nest of mound II contain a higher percentage of particles less than 250 μm than the surrounding subsoil. Material over 2 mm is not carried by termites. Both mounds show a higher base saturation and higher values of exchangeable Ca, Mg and K, compared to the surrounding subsoil. Increased CEC and pH are noted in mound I and the nest part of mound II, the latter also showing increased values of exchangeable Na. Organic carbon values are equal to those of the surrounding subsoil. Accumulation of mineral elements from organic matter collected as food, including small contributions from the fungus combs and termite bodies, is primarily responsible for the observed differences. In view of the water analyses no contribution is expected from the fluctuating groundwater table.