Characteristics of the soils developed under broad-leaved evergreen forests in okinawa prefecture and the kinki district with special reference to their pedogenetic processes

Abstract

Properties of sesquioxides, clay mineralogical composition, and charge characteristics of the soils developed under broad-leaved evergreen forests in Okinawa Prefecture (subtropical climate) and the Kinki District (warm temperate climate) were studied with special reference to their pedogenetic processes in order to reexamine the corresponding parameters of Brown Forest soils and related soils in Japan.

The soils in Okinawa Prefecture were characterized by a higher degree of weathering as compared to the soils in the Kinki District. Major differences involved the values of the Fed/Fet ratio for the soil samples throughout the profile, and those of the ratios of (Fed-Feo)/Fet, CEC/clay, and (Feo + Alo)/ clay and the content of CaO plus Na₂O for the B horizon. The soils in the Kinki District did not show andic soil properties, nor Al translocation in the profile and, both of which were characteristic of Brown Forest soils developed under cool temperate climatic conditions at high altitudes in the same District.

The difference in the degree of weathering were reflected on the charge characteristics at the very surface of the soils, i.e., the surface of the particles of the soils in Okinawa Prefecture exhibited a lower reactivity as compared with those of the soils in the Kinki District.