Sisay, M.G.; Tsegaye, E.A.; Tolossa, A.R.; Nyssen, J.; Frankl, A.; Van Ranst, E.; Dondeyne, S. Soil-Forming Factors of High-Elevation Mountains along the East African Rift Valley: The Case of the Mount Guna Volcano, Ethiopia. Soil Syst.2024, 8, 38.
Sisay, M.G.; Tsegaye, E.A.; Tolossa, A.R.; Nyssen, J.; Frankl, A.; Van Ranst, E.; Dondeyne, S. Soil-Forming Factors of High-Elevation Mountains along the East African Rift Valley: The Case of the Mount Guna Volcano, Ethiopia. Soil Syst. 2024, 8, 38.
Sisay, M.G.; Tsegaye, E.A.; Tolossa, A.R.; Nyssen, J.; Frankl, A.; Van Ranst, E.; Dondeyne, S. Soil-Forming Factors of High-Elevation Mountains along the East African Rift Valley: The Case of the Mount Guna Volcano, Ethiopia. Soil Syst.2024, 8, 38.
Sisay, M.G.; Tsegaye, E.A.; Tolossa, A.R.; Nyssen, J.; Frankl, A.; Van Ranst, E.; Dondeyne, S. Soil-Forming Factors of High-Elevation Mountains along the East African Rift Valley: The Case of the Mount Guna Volcano, Ethiopia. Soil Syst. 2024, 8, 38.
Abstract
The soils of the high-altitude mountains along the East African Rift Valley are poorly understood. Understanding the potential of soils for agriculture, climate change mitigation, and environmental functioning necessitates an understanding of their relationship to soil-forming factors. Therefore, this study focuses on the volcanic soils of Mount Guna. Eighty-five soil profiles, between 3000 and 4120 m a.s.l., were described and sampled along seven topographic transects. The samples were analyzed for physicochemical characteristics using standard methods and classified according to WRB 2022. The clay mineralogy of six profiles was analyzed with X-ray diffraction. The first four-factor axes, which are related to elevation, parent material, climate, and land use were found by factor analysis, explaining more than 60% of the total variation. The clay portions are primarily composed of trioctahedral chlorite, trioctahedral mica (phlogopite or biotite), vermiculite, kaolinite, some quartz, some amorphous silicates (most likely pyroclastic glass), and minor feldspar. The presence of weatherable minerals (biotite, amphibole, feldspars, and so on) suggests that these soils have not been weathered extensively. The dominant Reference Soil Groups found in the study area are Andosols, Phaeozems, Leptosols, Regosols, Cambisols, Luvisols, and Vertisols. As a result, our findings suggest that altitudinal variation, climate, lithology, and their contributions to the variability of soil characteristics and development along the toposequence cannot be separated in this study; more similar studies in other high-elevation/altitude mountains are required. There have been no other studies of high-altitude mountains in East Africa where so many soil profiles have been examined.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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