Characteristics of the contrasting soils on Kahayan River banks in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper reported the characteristics of the contrasting soils occurring on the west (right) and east (left) banks of the middle reaches of Kahayan River in Central Kalimantan. On the west bank, a flat riparian forest was used for agriculture by local Dayak villagers. Totally 20 sites were studied, including rice-cropping fields, fallow forests and rubber gardens. The soils were classified as Oxyaquic Dystrudepts or Typic Dystrudepts. The soils were primarily characterized by high clay contents. While differences in soil properties were not appreciably observed in terms of land uses, pH, CEC, ECEC, and exchangeable Al were highly correlated with clay contents, indicating that clay content was a determinant factor for soil acidity and cation retention capacity of soils. The T-C contents were relatively high. Bulk density was significantly correlated with T-C content at the 0-10 cm and with T-C and clay contents at the 30-40 cm layer. Lepidocrocite was detected as a clay mineral component in spite of higher contents of exchangeable Al. Meanwhile, on the east bank, heath forest extended on the sandy alluvial terrace. The soils were very sandy and quite low in CEC and nutrients and were classified into Spodic Quartzipsamments. The soils at fire-degraded sites were less acidic than at logged-over sites. However, statistical difference was found only in exchangeable Ca, indicating that most of the nutrients derived from ash were lost away due to sandy soil texture.

Influence of agricultural activity on soil morphological and physicochemical properties on sandy beach ridges along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia

“…To avoid rapid decomposition of organic matter in sandy soil under udic and hyperthermic conditions, using biochar in addition to or instead of common organic materials such as compost might be effective because of its durability as well as alkalinity (Manickam et al 2015). Otherwise, increasing land-use pressure for agriculture and intensification in cropping systems may exacerbate the reduction in organic matter and the concomitant loss of nutrients and moisture in soil systems, resulting in serious soil degradation and poor vegetation recovery, as found for Spodosols in other Southeast Asian regions (Tanaka et al 2004(Tanaka et al , 2013Kendawang et al 2007;Seki et al 2010).…”

“…Because of their quite sandy texture and concomitant infertility, it is believed that tropical Spodosols are unsuitable for agriculture. They are also susceptible to serious degradation by forest fire and logging activities (Seki et al 2010;Tanaka et al 2013).…”

Preventing saltwater intrusion in the Coastal of Terengganu, can BRIS soil system help?

“…As the BRIS soil formation is presence due to the fine sea sand sedimentation by wave and wind, some spodosols are contain of ortstein, with clay texture that make the structure become crumpled and fluffy [51]. It also distributed on the ridges and this soil is susceptible to the forest fire [52]). Moreover, as a sandy dominated soil, the excessive rain and high temperature have exacerbated the leaching process and increase the soil erosion [53].…”