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The Soils of Spain pp 145–161Cite as

Soils of the Arid Areas

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Abstract

Soils of the two driest areas of peninsular Spain are studied: the Middle Ebro Valley (in northeastern Spain), and from Tabernas-Sorbas to Alicante (in the southeast), both of which are tertiary sedimentary basins, where the lack of rainfall is combined with the frequent arrival of drying winds. The northeast basin has a mean annual temperature (MAT) of about 15 °C, a mean annual precipitation (MAP) of about 340 mm yr−1, and an evapotranspiration of reference (ETo) of 1,400 mm yr−1. The southeast basin has a MAT of about 18 °C, a MAP of 230 mm yr−1, and an ETo of 1,300 mm yr−1. The soil-forming processes are reviewed for these arid lands; with spetial attention to carbonation, gypsification, and salinization. According to these processes, reference soil groups (RSG) by WRB in the studied arid lands are mainly represented by Calcisols, Gypsisols, Regosols, and Solonchaks. Also, Phaeozems (with relatively dense pine forests in some sierras) on extremely calcareous materials are found. RSGs have a spatial distribution closely linked to the relief (catena), with Calcisols and Gypsisols on platforms, and Solonchaks in endorheic depressions. Pedogenic CaCO3 accumulation is the most characteristic age-related pedofeature in stable geomorphological surfaces. For each RSG, the main soil units found in the zone are described. Soil properties’ consequences of the effects on land use are also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias y del Medio Natural, Escuela Politécnica Superior, University of Zaragoza, Ctra. Cuarte s/n, Huesca, 22071, Spain

    David Badía-Villas

  2. Departamento de Agronomía, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, 04120, Spain

    Fernando del Moral

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  1. David Badía-Villas
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  2. Fernando del Moral
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Correspondence to David Badía-Villas .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Salamanca, Spain

    Juan F. Gallardo

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.3.

Table 4.3 Most common correlations between WRB (IUSS 2007) and Soil Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff 2014) for soils of the Spanish arid areas, cited in the text
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Badía-Villas, D., del Moral, F. (2016). Soils of the Arid Areas. In: Gallardo, J. (eds) The Soils of Spain. World Soils Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20541-0_4

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