Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-19T01:52:39.863Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Red soils developed from Quaternary deposits on the Linkuo terrace, northern Taiwan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

Ping Hua Shao ,
Kai-Shuan Shea ,
Ming Kuang Wang ,
Yen Hong Shau ,
Kai Yin Chiang  and
Tsung Ming Tsao
Ping Hua Shao
Affiliation:
Central Geological Survey, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taipei, Taiwan 235
Kai-Shuan Shea
Affiliation:
Central Geological Survey, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taipei, Taiwan 235
Ming Kuang Wang*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 106
Yen Hong Shau
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 804
Kai Yin Chiang
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 106
Tsung Ming Tsao
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 106
*
*E-mail: mkwang@ntu.edu.tw
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Linkuo terrace, situated to the west of the Taipei Basin in NW Taiwan, has thick red soils that have been little studied. This paper aims to interpret the development of these soils through chemical and micromorphological investigations, and relate the soils to their palaeo-environments. The soil samples were air dried, crushed and passed through a 2 mm sieve, and then subjected to conventional soil chemical and physical analyses, together with clay mineralogical and morphological characterization. Pedons I and II were clay with low base saturation (BS), cation-exchange capacity (CEC), and exchangeable cations. The pH of pedons I and II ranged from 3.80 to 5.26. The low magnetic susceptibility of these soils indicates that no magnetite (Fe3O4) or maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) are present. X-ray diffraction patterns of the magnetic clay fraction showed lepidocrocite, goethite and hematite, the amounts of which may relate to water fluctuation in the soil environments. Illite, kaolinite and quartz are major clay minerals in the red soil clay fractions. The micromorphology of all horizons showed a great accumulation of Fe-oxides. The upper horizon showed darkened isotropic Fe-oxide materials, and lower horizon showed a black to reddish dense plasma with soil matrix. The groundmass of the oxic horizon is generally characterized by a homogeneous distribution of the different coarse and fine constituents. The thick (4 m depth) and homogeneous red soils of the Linkuo terrace were developed from fine sediments after the gradual subsidence of the Taipei Basin. Alarge amount of gravel was flushed from the Xindian River before the Taipei Basin subsided. The Linkuo red soils can be classified as mesic, Typic Kandiudox. From the chemical compositions of clay fractions and the red soil features, these red soils can be considered as lateritic red earths or red earths that do not reach the criteria for laterite.

Keywords

illitehematitekaolinitelateritemicromorphologyred soilsterraceTaiwan
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 371 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexiades, C.A. & Jackson, M.X. (1965) Quantitative determination of vermiculite in soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 29, 522-527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernas, B. (1967) A new method for decomposition and comprehensive analysis of silicates by atomic absorption spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry, 40, 1682–1683.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, R. (1976) Fabric and Mineral Analysis of Soils. Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company, New York. 482 pp.Google Scholar
Brindley, G.W. (1980) Quantitative X-ray minerals analysis of clays. Pp. 411–438 in: Crystal Structure of Clay Minerals and their X-ray Identification. (Brindley, G.W. & Brown, G., editors). Mineralogical Society Monograph, 5, Mineralogical Society, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buol, S.W. & Sanchez, P.A. (1986) Red soils in the Americas: morphology, classification and management. Pp. 14–43 in: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Red Soil. (Institute of Soil Science, Academia Sinica). Science Press, Beijing. The Peoples’ Republic of China.Google Scholar
Buol, S.W., Hole, F.D. & McCracken, R.J. (1973) Soil Genesis and Classification. The Iowa State University Press, Ames. 360 pp.Google Scholar
Bullock, P., Fedoroff, N., Jongerius, A., Stoops, G., & Tursina, T. (1985) Handbook for Soil Thin Section Description. Waine Research Publications, Wolverhampton, UL. 152 pp.Google Scholar
Chen, W.F. & Teng, L.S. (1990) Depositional environment of Quaternary deposits of the Linkou terrace, northwestern Taiwan. Proceedings of Geological Society of China, 33, 39–63.Google Scholar
Chiang, H.C., Wang, M.K., Houng, K.H., White, N. & Dixon, J.B. (1999) Mineralogy of B horizons in alpine forest soils of Taiwan. Soil Science, 164, 111–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiu, H.T. (1968) The Hsinchuang fault in the Taoyuan area, northern Taiwan. Proceedings of Geological Society of China, 11, 50–73.Google Scholar
Chou, S.W. & Teng, L.S. (1998) Study of Chilung River capture. Ti-Chih. 18(2), 1–16.Google Scholar
Coffman, C.B. & Fanning, D.S. (1974) Vermiculite determination on whole soils by cation-exchange capacity method. Clays and Clay Minerals, 22, 271–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornell, R.M. & Schwertmann, U. (1996) The Iron Oxides: Structure, Properties, Reactions, Occurrence and Uses. VCH Publishers, New York, NY. 573 pp.Google Scholar
Eswaran, H., Ikawa, H. & Kimble, J.M. (1986) Oxisols of the world. Pp. 90–123 in: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Red Soil. (Institute of Soil Science, Academia Sinica). Science Press, Beijing. The Peoples’ Republic of China.Google Scholar
Gong, Z.T. (1986) Biogeochemistry of red weathering crust in China. Pp. 124–158 in: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Red Soil. (Institute of Soil Science, Academia Sinica). Science Press, Beijing. The Peoples’ Republic of China.Google Scholar
Ho, C.S. (1988) An Introduction to the Geology of Taiwan-Explanatory Text of the Geologic May of Taiwan. 2nd edition. Central Geological Survey. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taipei, Taiwan. 192 pp.Google Scholar
Hwang, W.T. & Lo, H.J. (1986) Chronological aspects and the petrogenesis of the Kuanyinshan volcanic rocks, northern Taiwan. Ada Geological Taiwanica, 24, 123–148.Google Scholar
Jackson, M.X. (1979) Soil Chemical Analysis. Advanced Course, 2nd edition. University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. 497 pp.Google Scholar
Jeanroy, E., Rajot, J.L., Pillon, P. & Herbillon, A.J. (1991) Differential dissolution of hematite and goethite in dithionite and its implication on soil yellowing. Geoderma, 50, 79–94.Google Scholar
Lin, C.C. (1963) Quaternary in Taiwan: Taiwan Wen-Chih. Nos. 1-2, 1092 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
McKeague, J.A., Bryson, J.E. & Miles, N.M. (1971) Differentiation of form of extractable iron and aluminum in soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 35, 33–38.Google Scholar
Mehra, O.P. & Jackson, M.X. (1960) Iron oxides removed from soils and clays by a dithionite-citrate system buffered with sodium bicarbonate. Clays and Clay Minerals, 7, 317–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohr, E.C.J., Baren, F.A. & Van Schuylenborg, J. (1972) Tropical Soils. 3rd ed. Monton-Ichitor, Baru, Van Hoeve. The Hague-Paris-London.Google Scholar
Pai, C.W., Wang, M.K., Wang, W.M. & Houng, K.H. (1999) Smectites in iron-rich calcareous soil and black soils of Taiwan. Clays and Clay Minerals, 47, 389–398.Google Scholar
Sanchez, P. (1976) Properties and Management of Soils in the Tropics. A Wiley Interscience Publication, John Wiley & Sons, New York. 618 pp.Google Scholar
Schulze, D.G., & Dixon, J.B. (1979) High gradient magnetic separation of iron oxides and other magnetic minerals from soil clays. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 43, 793–799.Google Scholar
Schwertmann, U. & Taylor, R.M. (1989) Iron oxides. Pp. 379–438 in: Minerals in Soil Environments. (Dixon, J.B. & Weed, S.B., editors). 2nd edition. Soil Science Society of America Book Series no.l, Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI.Google Scholar
Singh, B. & Gilkes, R.J. (1992a) Properties and distribution of iron oxides and their association with minor elements in the soils of south-eastern Australia. Journal of Soil Science, 43, 77–98.Google Scholar
Singh, B. & Gilkes, R.J. (1992b) Properties of soil kaolinites from south-western Australia. Journal of Soil Science, 43, 645–667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soil Survey Staff. (1999) Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpretation Soil Surveys. 2nd edition. Agriculture Handbook, #436, Published by United States Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff. (2003) Keys to Soil Taxonomy. 9th edition. United States Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Stoops, G.J. & Buol, S.W. (1985) Micromorphology of oxisols. Pp. 105–119 in: Soil Micromorphology and Soil Classification. (Douglas, L.A. & Thompson, M.L., editors). SSSA Special Publication, no. 15, Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI.Google Scholar
Walkley, A. & Black, C.A. (1934) An experimentation of the Detjareff method and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Science, 37, 29–39.Google Scholar
Wan, H.M. & Chen, S.H. (1988) The relationship between laterization, chemical and mineralogical characterizations, and weathering of gravels in Linkuo terrace. Ti Chih. 8(1-2), 27–47 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wang Lee, C. (1969) Petrology and origin of the Linkuo gravel in Taipei, Taiwan. Proceedings of Geological Society of China. 12, 49–64.Google Scholar
Wang, M.K., Chang, C.M., Cheng, Y.W., Houng, K.H. & Chiang, H.C. (1999) Comparison of synthetic and soil Al-substituted lepidocrocite. Soil Science, 164, 311–321.Google Scholar
Shelley, D. (1985) Optical Mineralogy. 2nd edition. Elsevier, New York.Google Scholar
Zhao, Q.Q. & Shi, H. (1986) On the genesis, classification and characteristics of the soils in tropical and subtropical China. Pp. 197–228 in: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Red Soil. (Institute of Soil Science, Academia Sinica). Science Press, Beijing. The Peoples’ Republic of China.Google Scholar