Approximately 6,200 square miles (16,000 square kilometers) of Sarawak, Malaysia, were mapped at 1:125,000 scale, the Area including portions of the coastal swamp plain, the interior highlands, and the intervening lower upland zone in which population and development are largely concentrated. Red-Yellow Podzolic Soils (mainly Dystropepts or Cambisols, and their shallow associateB) are dominant in the uplands and are mainly derived from sedimentary rocks. Terrace Podzols (Humods; Podzols) are important in many swamp fringe tracts. Deep Organic Soils (Fibrists; Dystric Histosols) mantle much of the coastal swamp zone with Gley Soils (Aquents; Fluviso1s) in estuarine and delta tracts. Silication and loss of clay from the upper subsoil are among the processes evident in upland soils but clay il1uviation is slight in most profiles examined. Other soil processes involved in upland areas include layering of subsoil materials' through slope creep and homogenisation through faunal disturbance. The difficulties of applying quantitative classifications to such soils is discussed and the continued use of traditional genetic groupings is supported. Correlations are made with the USDA and FAO classifications and with others regional systems. A proposed classification is developed for the Area's soils, using Groups based on the Thorp and Smith divisions (with some redefinition) and employing Families and Series defined with the requirements of a practical operational classification in mind. These requirements in a Sarawak context are discussed. The study is supported by soil and other maps, by data on sample profiles representing the main Soil Series of the Area, and by discussions of the soil pattern in relation to landform history in the Area and to the agricultural landscape now developed on it
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:471858 |
| Date | January 1979 |
| Creators | Scott, Ian M. |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=185819 |
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