Soil from the Coastal Plane

Abstract

The coastal plain is a region with high agricultural potential, since 43% of the land is suitable for production of a wide range of tropical crops such as cocoa, coffee , banana , oil palm , sugarcane , rice, corn, soybean, cassava, and numerous tropical fruits. The existence of a very fertile plain between Quinindé and the border with Peru permits the development of a highly profitable agriculture. Within this great plain are located the only Ecuadorian soils without limitations for agriculture; soils located on the old plain with volcanic protrusions, Andisols in the humid zone and Mollisols in the drier zone, occupying 13 million ha. There are several landscape units at the Ecuadorian coastal plain characterized for having similar climate and parent material conditions over which different soil types have developed contributing to the great diversity of the country soils. The main factor of soil formation on the Ecuadorian coastal plain, in addition to geological and topographical factors, was climate, especially precipitation. In general, there exist three broad sets of conditions grouping the diversity of soils from this region. (a) Soils developed from old rocks (sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous) comprising the majority of soils in the western part of the coastal plain, particularly those developed from sedimentary rocks ; (b) Soils from the old coastal plain which received volcanic ash depositions, material over which soils of high agronomic interest were developed; and (c) Alluvial soils developed over recent sedimentary materials grouped into soils from the fluvial-marine environment located on the beaches, littoral stripes and mangroves, and soils from the river surroundings corresponding to almost all of the alluvial soils of the region.