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VARIATION OF SOIL CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OVER NIGERIAN SAVANNA
Author(s) -
Jaiyeoba I.A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
singapore journal of tropical geography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9493
pISSN - 0129-7619
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9493.1995.tb00073.x
Subject(s) - colluvium , lithology , cation exchange capacity , geology , saturation (graph theory) , gneiss , altitude (triangle) , alluvium , weathering , soil science , oxisol , geochemistry , soil water , geomorphology , metamorphic rock , geometry , mathematics , combinatorics
An analysis of relationships between selected soil chemical properties and parameters of parent material, climate and relief was undertaken for the savanna of north central Nigeria. Step by step examination of individual properties and the environmental parameters reveals numerous invariably disparate relationships often explicable in terms of local conditions. However, an analysis of covariance involving all variables shows that variations in base elements and cation exchange capacity are more strongly related to lithology than climatic or relief parameters. Soil pH and base saturation percentage, on the other hand, are influenced more by rainfall than parent material, altitude and slope position. Temperature and slope gradient are relatively unimportant in the variability of all soil properties. On the whole, the soil properties show significantly greater values over basalt, shale and alluvium than gneiss, schist and colluvium which in turn show greater values than sandstone, granite, granite gneiss, aeolian and ironpan‐rich deposits. Exchangeable cations and cation exchange capacity increase with an increase in rainfall, altitude and downslope position while pH and base saturation per cent show a decreasing trend.