Characteristics and Geomorphic Relationships of Some Representative Aridisols in Southern Iran

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Abstract
The morphology, genesis, and classification of three soils, each located on different physiographic positions, were investigated in southern Iran. These soils were: pedon 1, Beyza series on the Piedmont Alluvial Plain; pedon 2, Takht‐E‐Jamshid (Persepolis) series on the Upland Alluvial Plain; and pedon 3, Kooshkak (Jamalabad) series on the Lowland Alluvial Plain. These series represent 57% of the total study area (77 000 ha). The soils are calcareous throughout with carbonate concretions, nodules, and powdery pockets present in pedons 2 and 3. Clay skins are indicated in the B horizons of pedon 2. Soil pH rises from the Piedmont to the Lowland Alluvial Plain whereas organic matter decreases. Electrical conductivity does not show a regular trend from the Piedmont to the Lowland Alluvial Plain. Results of X‐ray diffraction analyses of < 2 µm clay indicate that the soils contain regularly interstratified smectite‐vermiculite and/or chlorite, clay mica‐vermiculite or chlorite, and some discrete vermiculite, chlorite, clay mica, kaolinite, and quartz. Evidence for attapulgite is also suggested. Tentatively, pedon 1 is classified as a Fluventic or Xerollic Camborthid; pedon 2a Xerollic or Typic Calciorthid; and pedon 3 a Xerollic Haplargid or Calciorthid.

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