Plate 4.1Red bauxite-bearing oxisol (ferralsol) overlying Tertiary limestone (white) in south Jamaica. The soil
is piped into solution-enlarged hollows of the limestone surface. Cliff face approximately 6 m high. Photograph
courtesy of J. Andrews.
(a) (b) (c)
Plate 4.2Field photographs contrasting three soil profiles. (a) An alfisol (luvisol) with an argillic horizon. Clay
material has been washed downward from the E to the B master horizon. Subordinate categories are indicated
by lower case letters: the ‘b’ indicates an eluvation of clay from the E horizon, hence ‘Eb’; the ‘t’ indicates a
clay-rich or argillic horizon in master horizon B, hence Bt. (b) A spodosol (podzol), where subordinate ‘h’
indicates illuval accumulation of organic matter, subordinate ‘a’ indicates highly decomposed organic matter,
and subordinate ‘s’ indicates illuvial accumulation of Fe and Al oxides. (c) A mollisol where subordinate ‘g’
indicates evidence of gleying (see Fig. 4.25). Notice the presence of groundwater in the bottom of the soil pit.
Soil master horizons are typically centimetres to tens of centimetres thick (see also Fig. 4.21).