Major Soil Classification Systems Used in the Tropics:: Soils of Cameroon | 
 enlarge | Authors: Dr. Bernard P.k. Yerima, E. Van Ranst
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Category: Book
Buy New: $32.99
Sales Rank: 2274887
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 312
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 8.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1412057892
EAN: 9781412057899
ASIN: 1412057892
Publication Date: November 28, 2005
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Product Description
Given that unlike most subjects of other natural sciences, soils on the landscape are not discrete and well-defined entities, but a continuum, their identification and classification after more than 100 years of soil science has remained a contentious issue. This resulted in the development of many rival/parallel classification systems in many countries in both Europe and the Americas. Recently, in 1998 the International Union of Soil Science (IUSS) proposed a new soil correlation system: the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) which was officially endorsed by all soil scientists, which may solve this particular age old problem. In the main time in the tropics, especially Africa, and particularly Cameroon, three main soil classification systems are currently in use: the US Soil Taxonomy, FAO-Unesco Soil Legend (now the WRB) and the French CPCS systems.
Thus, a good understanding of these three systems is necessary for the correlation of the large amount of documented work in those systems for proper technology transfer in the tropics.. This book examines these three systems in great detail and arrives at a rough correlation among them. As a way forward, since a large amount of the analytical data produced in most laboratories in the developing countries have low reliability threshold for exploitation, it proposes some methods to cross-check analytical data quality before use, as this is central to any meaningful work on soil inventory.
A good synthesis is made of the interrelationships of the factors of soil formation and the main pedogenic processes and how they have helped shape the development of soils in place. Most of this data is collated into a systematic description of the soils in Cameroon, including their classification, origin, genesis, morphological, physical, mineralogical, and chemical properties and the potential management options.
This work is a good synthesis of previous studies on soils of Cameroon up to the present, prepared in a manner that, apart from the student body for whom it is targeted, will appeal to environmentalists, researchers, teachers, agronomists, farmers, policy makers, and those interested in tropical soil science.
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