Soil science: Cape of Good Hope


According to the WRB (1998), the reference groups Podzol and Leptosol are found. The latter are restricted to the shallow outcrop regions of the arenite sandstone whereas all the other profiles are classified as Podzols. The most frequent soil unit is the episkeletic Podzol mainly found in the central and southwestern part of the observatory, followed by the gleyic Podzol in the eastern part of the observatory. Here, the basin like structure of underlying sandstone impedes drainage and deeper percolation of the water. As a result, seasonal gleyic conditions occur during the winter months. These conditions are found on wider areas in the eastern part of the observatory, but infrequently also occur in other parts of the observatory where similar microtopographic features are evident on a smaller scale.



Box-Whisker-overview of selected soil properties in three depths (cm) on the observatory
(RS = rooting space / m3)


Map with location of soil units
on the observatory



 plot

Habitat 

Rank

 Photograph available
 Soil data available

 00

84 

 01

60 

 02

 03

 04

62 

 05

20 

 06

75 

 07

71 

 08

43 

 09

66 

 10

55 

 11

25 

 12

77 

 13

30 

 14

83 

 15

22 

 16

56 

 17

88 

 18

79 

 19

81 

 20

19 

 21

44 

 22

57 

 23

26 

 24

47 

 25

35 

 26

33 

 27

94 

 28

64 

 29

 30

27 

 31

76 

 32

85 

 33

54 

 34

73 

 35

99 

 36

67 

 37

11 

 38

32 

 39

49 

 40

63 

 41

 42

93 

 43

82 

 44

45 

 45

39 

 46

37 

 47

16 

 48

100 

 49

95 

 50

89 

 51

14 

 52

70 

 53

51 

 54

21 

 55

24 

 56

52 

 57

 58

96 

 59

15 

 60

 61

80 

 62

68 

 63

17 

 64

87 

 65

38 

 66

92 

 67

18 

 68

97 

 69

90 

 70

12 

 71

31 

 72

74 

 73

 74

59 

 75

46 

 76

29 

 77

86 

 78

58 

 79

28 

 80

53 

 81

48 

 82

72 

 83

34 

 84

36 

 85

78 

 86

10 

 87

13 

 88

41 

 89

98 

 90

40 

 91

 92

91 

 93

65 

 94

61 

 95

42 

 96

 97

69 

 98

50 

 99

23 

Ranking of the 1ha-plots

 

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

84 60 1 7 62 20 75 71 43 66

1

55 25 77 30 83 22 56 88 79 81

2

19 44 57 26 47 35 33 94 64 3

3

27 76 85 54 73 99 67 11 32 49

4

63 2 93 82 45 39 37 16 100 95

5

89 14 70 51 21 24 52 5 96 15

6

9 80 68 17 87 38 92 18 97 90

7

12 31 74 6 59 46 29 86 58 28

8

53 48 72 34 36 78 10 13 41 98

9

40 4 91 65 61 42 8 69 50 23

Habitat types of the 1ha-plots

 

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

5

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

6

2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

7

2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

8

2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

9

2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1