Using the pedogenic oxide ratio in distinguishing volcanic soil weathering intensity in subtropical region

Abstract

Pedogenic oxide ratio (POR) helps identify and understand pedogenic processes. However, POR is seldom used to study and distinguish the weathering intensity of volcanic soils that are moderately weathered in the subtropical region. The research was conducted by collecting thirty-three subtropical volcanic soils from the northeastern Tatung Volcanic Group (TVG) region in Yangmingshan National Park, near Taipei, located in northern Taiwan. These volcanic soils could be grouped into two groups with different weathering intensities based on three weathering indices, pedogenic Fe-oxides ratios (PORs) - Fe_o/Fe_d, ((Fe_d-Fe_o)/Fe_t), and total reserve in bases (TRB): the highly weathered (HW) group and the lower weathered (LW) group. The two PORs show significant differences between the two groups, but not for TRB, which indicates the PORs are a good indicator for providing quantitative measurements of weathering intensity. Except for the soil bulk density (BD) meeting andic soil properties, the soils of the HW group have a lower content of Al plus 1/2 Fe content (by ammonium oxalate) (Al_o + 1/2Fe_o) and phosphorus (P) retention, and soils of the LW group only have a lower P retention. Within those soil physicochemical properties and selective dissolution analysis results and index values, Al_o + 1/2Fe_o, pyrophosphate extractable C (C_p), P retention, and dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate (DCB) extractable aluminum (Al_d) are four critical factors for the discrimination of the soils. The soils in the study area still have relict volcanic soil properties after moderately weathered. Our research results indicate that the PO and POR are good indicators of moderately weathered volcanic soils in the subtropical region, allowing for a more precise assessment of the soil weathering process, in addition to quantitative measurements of weathering intensity.