Caracterização, gênese, classificação e aptidão agrícola de uma sequência de solos do terciário na região de Campos, RJ

Abstract

A study was made on five soil profiles in order to understand its genesis, classification, and potencials for agricultural development. These soils are originated from clayey or sandy-clay sediments of the Barreiras Group in the area of Campos-RJ. The profiles were chosen according to its qeneral relationships to landscape. The soils used in this study, although of low productivity from an agricultural standpoint, are heavily used for the culture of sugarcane. The morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics of the profiles were described, analysed, and compared to each other. A close relationship was found between the solum and the materials that originated it. Outstanding among then was the remarkable mineralogical homoqeneity of its clay fractions. This, and the weak differentiation among horizons suggest, to the B horizon, a dominance of inherited characteristics from parent material on pedogenetic ones. Agricultural productivity is low due to the low natural fertility, low water holding capacity and mechanical impediments of these soils restricting root growth.