RELATION OF SOIL GENESIS AND UNIFORMITY OF SAND FRACTION TO SOIL EROSION IN THE NORTH WESTERN COAST OF EGYPT

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Water and Environment Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre. Giza, Egypt

Abstract

Microscopic examination of the sod of Khashm El-fish ridge, the north western coast of Egypt, revealed that the light mineral fraction was about 96% quartz. Opaque heavy minerals ranged from 55.6% to 71.6% in all samples. Non opaques consisted mainly of meta-stable min-erals (pyroxines, st aureate and garnet) whereas little ultra-stable miner-als (zircon, tourmaline and rutle) were detected. Strong evidence is pressented that the soils of Khashm El-Fish ridge are weakly weathered, and their original sediments are mainly transported by surface flowing water action. and not by wind. There-fore, the soils are considered young order Entisols, according to USDA classification (1992). 
 

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