Selected soil properties as indicators of soil water regime in the Cathedral Peak VI catchment of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

The morphological features and physicochemical properties of 14 soil profiles, representing the major soil types, were studied in the Cathedral Peak VI catchment of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The soils are characterised by a high organic carbon content in the topsoil, red and yellow freely drained subsoils, and some signs of water saturation in the deep subsoil and saprolite. The lack of variability in the morphology of the soils is probably a result of deep weathering of the chemically homogeneous basaltic parent material. Shelving controls the development of return flow on the slopes, feeding into the two prominent wetlands. The freely drained nature of the subsoil horizons are reflected in the red colour and low pH values of these horizons. The iron and manganese redoximorphic features, occurring in the lower horizons, are indicative of periodic short periods of water saturation.

Keywords: cation exchange capacity, clay, iron, manganese

South African Journal of Plant and Soil 2013, 30(1): 1–6