X-RAY DIFFRACTION STUDY ON THE CLAY FRACTION OF ERODED SOILS IN THE NORTH WESTERN COAST OF EGYPT | ||||
| Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research | ||||
| Article 1, Volume 80, Issue 4, December 2002, Page 1481-1491 PDF (2.22 MB) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejar.2002.312757 | ||||
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| Author | ||||
| SALAH EL-DIN M. ARROUG | ||||
| Water & Environment Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Continuous soil erosion along the hilly landscape of the North Western Coast of Egypt is expected to result in some changes in the mineralogical composition of the clay fraction. Therefore, surface soil samples were collected from top and bottom slopes as well as, inside and outside the main gully. X-ray diffractograms revealed that kaolinite is the major clay min-eral in the eroded soils of EL-❑mayed area. Kaolinite crystallization is ap-peared at the top slope while being dominant in the bottom slope. The dominant clay minerals in Khashm El-Eish ridge area are se-mectite (montomorillonites), hydrous mica (Mites), attapulgite and kaoli-nites. These clay minerals are almost the same at the tap and the bot-tom slopes and also inside or outside the main gully but bearing well crystallization at the lower slope and affect their crystallinity and amount. INTRODUCTION Soil erosion either by water or wind is a serious problem in the North Western Coast of Egypt. Khashm EL-Eish ridge located in El -Omayed area (77 km from Alexan-z dna) Map 1 was chosen for these studies. Three main gullies are distinguished in khashm El - Eish ridge area Fig 1. Their shape is like a delta with a depth ranges from 4 m at the gully head to l m at the gully foot, after which, several rills are widely spread-ed. Several investigations have been devoted to the study of origin, sedimentology and geomorphology of the nine main ridges parallel to the Mediterranean Coast (El - Shazly and Shata, 1969 and Hanna, 1987). El-Gabaly {1962), Gewaifel at at {1970) and Mady at al (1981) indicated that the Calcareous sandy soils contain attapulgite and 'Hite the dominants in the uncultivat-ed ones. Continuous soil erosion is expected to result in some changes in the mineralog-ical composition of the clay fraction. Therefore, surface soil samples were selected out of 4 profiles {No.3, 5, 11 and 12) at top and bottom slopes as well as inside and out- | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Clay; Characterization; Sandy soil; Green landscape | ||||
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