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Model of a Rising Nitrogen Profile in Nile Valley Alluvium, and Its Agronomic and Pedogenic Implications¹

ABSTRACT

Nitrogen-depth functions in Nile Valley alluvium appear similar to those of Brunizems, but their genesis must be entirely different. Since fresh Nile mud is very rich in total nitrogen, it is proposed that the annual depositional layers, 1 mm. in thickness, undergo nitrogen losses as a result of microbial decomposition, and that for each layer the losses continue in the buried state, though at reduced rates. This model predicts quantitatively the N-depth function actually observed. In comparison to residual soils, the Nile Valley profiles—in fact many young alluvial and loessial profiles—are inverted, the youngest horizon being on top, the oldest at the base.

¹ Contribution from the University of California, Berkeley. Presented before Div. V., Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 30, 1961, at St. Louis, Mo.

² Professor of Soil Chemistry and Morphology, University of California, Berkeley.

Received for publication January 18, 1962. Accepted for publication March 27, 1962.