Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T21:45:19.345Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Profile distribution of iron sesquioxide contents in selected Nigerian soils

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

E. J. Udo
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Summary

Total, dithionite-extractable (‘free’) and oxalate-extractable (amorphous) Fe as Fe2O3 forms were determined in eight Nigerian soil profiles selected to include four major parent materials and different drainage conditions.

Total Fe ranged from 1·98 to 15·01 % Fe2O3, the average contents being 4·40, 8·62, 12·59 and 13·49 Fe2O3 for soils derived from the coastal plain sands, basement complex rocks, shale and basalt, respectively. ‘Free’ Fe ranged from 0·08 to 12·28% Fe2O3, the basaltic soils having the highest content, and those on shale the least. Generally the poorly drained soils had low contents, the free Fe oxide constituting about 61 % of total Fe in well-drained soils, and only about 9% in poorly drained soils.

The oxalate-extractable or non-crystalline Fe oxide ranged from 0·04 to 1·21% Fe2O3. The proportion of amorphous iron oxide, indicated by the ‘active’ ratio ‘oxalate-Fe/DCB-Fe’, was higher in poorly drained than in well-drained soils.

The clay/DBC-Fe ratio remained constant in the well-drained soils but increased with depth in the poorly drained profiles, indicating a co-migration of free Fe oxide and clay in the former but not in the latter soils.

In general, the relative distribution of the different Fe forms appeared influenced by both the parent materials and the drainage of the soils.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aleksandrova, L. N. (1960). The use of sodium pyrophosphate for isolating free humid substances and their organic-mineral compounds from soil. Soviet Soil Science 2, 190197.Google Scholar
Arca, M. N. & Weeds, S. B. (1966). Soil aggregation and porosity in relation to contents of free iron oxides and clay. Soil Science 101, 164170.Google Scholar
Ashaye, T. I. (1969). Sesquioxide status and particlesize distribution in twelve Nigerian soils derived from sandstones. African Soils 14, 8596.Google Scholar
Bascomb, C. L. (1968). Distribution of pyrophosphate extractable iron and organic carbon in soils of various groups. Journal of Soil Science 19, 251268.Google Scholar
Black, C. A. ed. (1967). Methods of Soil Analysis. ASA Monograph 11. Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Bouyoucos, G. H. (1951). A calibration of the hydrometer method for making mechanical analysis of soils. Agronomy Journal 43, 434438.Google Scholar
Deshpande, T. L., Greenland, D. J. & Quirk, J. P. (1968). Changes in soil properties associated with the removal of iron and aluminium oxides. Journal of Soil Science 19, 108122.Google Scholar
Gamble, E. E. & Daniels, R. B. (1972). Iron and silica in water, acid ammonium oxalate and dithionite extracts of some North Carolina Coastal Plain soils. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 36, 939943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, M. L. (1964). Chemical composition of soils. In Chemistry of the Soil (ed. Bear, F. E.), 1st edn, pp. 71141. New York: Reinhold.Google Scholar
Juo, A. S. R., Moormann, F. R. & Maduakor, H. O. (1974). Forms and pedogenetic distribution of extractable iron and aluminium in selected soils of Nigeria. Geoderma 11, 167179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krauskoff, K. B. (1972). Geochemistry of micronutrients. In Micronutrients in Agriculture (ed. Dinauer, R. C.), 1st edn, pp. 740. Madison, Wisconsin: Soil Science Society of America.Google Scholar
McIntyre, D. S. (1956). Effect of free ferric oxide on the structure of some terra rossa and rondzina soils. Journal of Soil Science 7, 302306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKeague, J. A. (1967). An evaluation of 0·1 M pyrophosphate and pyrophosphate-dithionite in comparison with oxalate as extractants of the accumulation products in podzols and some other soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 47, 9599.Google Scholar
McKeague, J. A., Brydon, J. E. & Miles, N. M. (1971). Differentiation of forms of extractable Fe and Al in soils. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 35, 3338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKeague, J. A. & Day, J. H. (1966). Dithionite and oxalate-extractable Fe and Al as aids in differentiating various classes of soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Sciences, 1322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehra, O. P. & Jackson, M. L. (1960). Iron oxide removal from soils and clays by a dithionite-citrate system buffered with sodium bicarbonate. Clays and Clay Minerals 7, 313327.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. D., Farmer, V. C. & McHardy, W. J. (1964). Amorphous inorganic materials in soils. Advances in Agronomy 16, 327383.Google Scholar
Mohr, E. C. J. & Van Baren, F. A. (1959). Tropical Soils. New York: Interscience Publications.Google Scholar
Sherman, G. D., Matsaka, Y., Ikawa, H. & Uehara, G. (1964). The role of amorphous fraction in the properties of tropical soils. Agrochimica 7, 146163.Google Scholar
Stonehouse, H. B. & Arnaud, R. J. H. (1971). Distribution of iron, clay and extractable iron and aluminium in some Saskatchewan soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 51, 283292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Summer, M. E. (1963). Effect of iron oxides on positive and negative charges on clays and soils. Clay Mineral Bulletin 5, 218226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Udo, E. J. (1976). Clay mineralogy of five surface soils under different drainage conditions. Nigerian Journal of Science 11, 315337.Google Scholar