Soils of the central Orange River basin

[摘要] The work reported in this thesis is based on a reconnaissence soil surveyof the Central Orange River' Basin with the object to identify and selectsoils suitable for irrigation under the Orange River Development Project.The demarcated area constitutes 3,1 million hectares and is situated between latitudes 28° 45' and 30°, 45 and Iongitudes 22° 37' and 25° 15' in, theSouth Western Orange Free State and Northern Gape. Province , This is anarid to semi-arid region according to climatic classification.During the soil survey particular attention was paid to those factors of theenvironment which have a bearing on soils found in this area, and especiallyon their morphology genesis and distribution. The environment, apartfrom the soils, is dominated by the general aridity Iow relief with isolatedhilly features and Karroe System rocks. Soils identified, fall in, two generalclasses, viz. clayey soils of colluvial , alluvial and sedentary origin andsandy soils of aeolian origin. The former are mostly of a saline nature andhave poor physical properties with respect to irrigability. The sandy soilscontain little or no soluble salts, are well, drained and well suited towardsirrigation.Identification and mapping of the soils were carried out in accordance witha current classification system of the Soil and Irrigation Research Institute.Seventeen soil series of six soil forms and various land classes andcomplexes were identified and mapped. A soil map on a scale ofapproximately 1:320 000 accompanies this thesis.Soil samples of representative profiles were collected and analysed in orderto further characterize soils. Chemical analyses substantiated fieldobservations that the clayey soils were, in most cases, highly saline and thesandy soils non-saline. Clayey soils were furthermore alkaline inreaction, and rich in-exchandeable cations, notablyCa++,Mg ++ andNa+. High CEC values indicated a dominance of 2:1. clay minerals,whereas X-ray diffractograms gave evidence of mixed layering of these minerals.The aeolian sands generally had lower pH values low clay contents andhence Iow CEC and exchanqeable cations. Clay mineral suites appeared tobe of a similar nature to those of the clayey soils.The prominence of large Aeolian deposits in the landscape and their importance towards irrigation prompted an investigation on the origin of the Aeolian sandy parent materials. Morphological and mineralogical studies proved that two types of Aeolian sandy deposits, distinctly different in origin, occur. It is postulated that the yellowish sands were blown from the Orange River bed in situations favourable for westerly winds. The red sands are of Vaal River origin and were blown from the river bed towards the east and south-east by westerly to north-westerly winds.

[发布机构] University of the Free State