Applied and Environmental Soil Science

Research Article

Genesis and Classification of Termite-Mediated Soils along Toposequences in a Semiarid Area of Southeast Ethiopia

Table 5

Exchangeable cations and available micronutrients of the termite mounds (TM, n = 3, ± standard deviation) and reference profiles across toposequences in Ilala-Sara and Silala, southeast Ethiopia.


Horizons	Sampling depth (cm)	Exchangeable cations				Available micronutrients
		Ca²⁺	Mg²⁺	K⁺	Na⁺	Fe	Mn	Zn	Cu
		cmol_c kg⁻¹				mg kg⁻¹

Profile D01, Ilala-Sara, ∼ gently undulating summit
A	0–12	0.47	0.40	0.19	0.14	7.08	10.30	0.94	0.50
AB	12–30	0.91	0.77	0.19	0.12	10.53	9.27	1.39	0.71
Bw	30–73	0.65	0.48	0.16	0.13	5.77	5.82	1.39	0.64
BC	73–140	1.37	0.46	0.26	0.11	6.51	5.39	1.22	0.57
Cr	140–200+	1.01	0.75	0.27	0.12	10.95	1.75	0.14	0.36
TM		6.61 ± 0.64	0.47 ± 0.12	0.13 ± 0.03	0.13 ± 0.04	—	—	—	—

Profile D02, Ilala-Sara site, ∼ gently undulating back slope
A	0–7	1.68	0.51	0.11	0.15	11.27	5.36	0.27	0.38
AB	7–95	1.21	0.61	0.15	0.15	9.46	6.73	0.09	0.31
Bw	95–140	1.42	0.46	0.12	0.16	2.89	1.02	0.79	0.33
BC	140–170	1.24	0.69	0.16	0.13	11.33	1.82	0.42	0.36
Cr	170–200+	1.31	0.53	0.19	0.14	9.44	2.02	0.22	0.36
TM		19.15 ± 1.31	0.72 ± 0.14	0.13 ± 0.02	0.10 ± 0.00	—	—	—	—

Profile D03, Ilala-Sara site, ∼ nearly levelled toe slope
A	0–10	1.78	1.08	0.38	0.10	13.65	9.95	0.52	0.40
AB	10–40	1.67	1.13	0.21	0.06	18.20	15.98	0.53	0.45
Bg	40–70	1.19	0.87	0.29	0.07	25.38	5.47	0.23	0.54
Bt	70–200+	12.22	3.20	0.22	0.19	20.08	1.94	0.63	0.97

Profile M01, Silala site, ∼ very gentle foot slope
A	0–10	3.93	0.33	0.18	0.15	32.86	1.93	2.07	0.72
AB	10–55	2.36	0.25	0.15	0.12	42.60	9.26	1.74	1.23
Bt	55–90	4.35	1.30	0.17	0.17	37.28	6.69	1.58	1.13
Bo	90–200+	5.53	1.72	0.15	0.14	31.28	3.43	1.24	0.78
TM		8.69 ± 0.79	1.17 ± 0.27	0.23 ± 0.02	0.14 ± 0.04	—	—	—	—

Profile M02, Silala site, ∼ levelled bottom slope
A	0–18	51.14	1.50	0.15	0.13	30.70	5.19	1.87	0.50
AB	18–42	51.47	0.70	0.17	0.17	20.26	2.75	1.32	0.42
Bk	42–70	54.65	1.71	0.15	0.12	29.32	5.11	1.72	0.43
Ck	70–120	47.12	4.48	0.15	0.10	21.30	4.49	0.29	0.46
Ckm	120–200+	31.46	4.75	0.10	0.09	27.24	6.11	1.38	0.41
TM		70.24 ± 2.15	3.38 ± 0.12	0.23 ± 0.03	0.07 ± 0.03	—	—	—	—