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Chemical Properties of the Coastal Alluvial Soils of the Republic of Guinea¹

ABSTRACT

Tides along the coast of the Republic of Guinea in West Africa and in estuaries, have influenced most coastal soils by salt water intrusion. The soils are mostly clays and poor drainage is general. Some leaching of salts from surface layers occurs during wet seasons in higher-lying soils while in lower areas fresh-water flooding causes surface flushing or dilution of saline ground water. Laboratory studies of 129 samples representing 34 soil profiles show wide ranges in salinity (electrical conductivities of < 1 to > 50 mmhos/cm). Acid-sulfate or "cat-clay soils" occur that have pH values of 2.6 to 4.0, and up to more than 500 ppm KCl-extractable Al. Their subsoils contain segregations of a yellowish Fe-S compound (identified as a mixture of jarosite and natrojarosite). High organic matter and S contents combined with low Ca contents in some unreclaimed soils point to potentially severe acidity upon drainage.

¹ Contribution from the Department of Agronomy, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and Harza Engineering Co., Chicago, Ill. Approved for publication by the Director of the Arkansas Agr. Exp. Sta. The studies described in this paper were, in part, financed by the United States Agency for International Development and sponsored by the Ministry of Rural Economy of the Republic of Guinea. Presented before Div. S-5, Soil Science Society of America, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1965.

² Associate Agronomist, Assistant Agronomist, and Research Assistant, respectively, Department of Agronomy, Univ. of Ark., and Agronomist, Harza Engineering Co., Chicago, Ill. Mr. Hall is now with Ford Foundation, New Delhi, India; and Mr. Chapman is now Graduate Research Assistant in Soils, Univ. of Wis., Madison.

Received for publication January 14, 1966. Accepted for publication September 12, 1966.