Abstract
Rainfall is an important climatic factor influencing soil formation in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the major soil types are initially grouped to soils of the Wet, Intermediate, and Dry zones according to major climatic regions. Subsequently, the soils of the Wet and Intermediate zones are grouped according to the elevation, soils occurring in the up, mid and low countries. The Dry zone consists of only the low country and therefore, grouped under soils derived from erosional surfaces, coastal plains, and the flood plains. Near the coastal areas of Dry zone, the landscape is flat and changes to undulating toward Intermediate zone. Sketches showing such landscapes have been included in the chapter. Out of 118 soil series identified and mapped 54 soil series occur in the Dry zone. As the soil maps are too large to include in this book, one page from soil maps is included with references for further reading. Each soil series is classified according to Soil Taxonomy and World Resource Base (WRB-FAO) legend depending on the availability of data. More detail classification was done using the WRB classification as it does not demand detail information as soil moisture regimes which are needed for Soil Taxonomy. The local name used from the 1972 classification which are named as Great Soil Groups are also given in the tables. For each of the physiographic grouping occurring in the given climatic zone one characteristic (benchmark) soil series is described in detail with the color photographs of the landscape and soil profile .
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anonymous (2003) The national Atlas of Sri Lanka. 2nd edn. Survey Department of Sri Lanka
Cooray PG (1984) Geology of Sri Lanka. 2nd Revised Edition. National Museum of Sri Lanka Publication
Dassanayake AR, de Silva GGR, Mapa RB, Kumaragamage D (2007) Fact sheets. Benchmark soils of the major soil series of Dry zone of Sri Lanka. Soil Sci Soc Sri Lanka. 113Â pp
Dassanayake AR, De Silva GGR (2010a) Soils of the coastal plains of the Dry zone. In: Mapa RB, Somasiri S, Dassanayeke AR (eds) Soils of the Dry zone of Sri Lanka. Survodaya Vishva Lekha Publishers, Sri Lanka, pp 79–177
Dassanayake AR, De Silva GGR (2010b) Soils of the flood plains of the Dry zone. In: Mapa RB, Somasiri S, Dassanayeke AR (eds) Soils of the Dry zone of Sri Lanka. Survodaya Vishva Lekha Publishers, Sri Lanka, pp 177–213
de Alwis KA, Panabokke CR (1972) Handbook of the soils of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Soil Sci Soc Sri Lanka 2:1–97
de Alwis KA, Pluth DJ (1976) The red latosols of Sri Lanka 1. Micro-Morphological, physical and chemical properties, genesis and classification II. Mineralogy and weathering. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 40:912–928
De Silva GGR, Dassanayake AR (2010) Dry zone soils derived rom erosional surfaces. In: Mapa RB, Somasiri S, Dassanayeke AR (eds) Soils of the Dry zone of Sri Lanka. Survodaya Vishva Lekha Publishers, Sri Lanka, pp 118–149
FAO (1998) World reference base for soil resources. World Soil resources reports No: 84. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
FAO (2006) Guidelines for soil description, 4th edn. Food and Agriculture Organization of the Unites Nations. Rome and International Soil Reference Information Center
FAO (2008) World reference base for soil resources. World Soil Resources Reports No: 84. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Hughes T (1887) Ceylon coffee soils and manures, Colombo
Hunting Survey Corporation (1963) Report of the soil survey of the Kalani-Aruvi Aru area of Ceylon. Hunting Survey Corporation Ltd., Toronto, Canada. Canada-Ceylon Colombo Plan Project, Government press, Colombo
Hunting Survey Corporation (1968) Report of the soil survey of Walawe Basin of Ceylon. Hunting Survey Corporation Ltd., Toronto, Canada. Canada-Ceylon Colombo Plan Project, Government press, Colombo
Hunting Survey Corporation (1979) Feasibility study of system B. Mahaweli Development Project. Hunting Survey Corporation Ltd., Toronto, Canada. Canada-Ceylon Colombo Plan Project, Government Press, Colombo
Joachim AWR (1955) The soils of Ceylon. Trop Agric 111:161–172
Klute A (1986) Methods of soil analysis. Part I. Physical and mineralogical methods, 2nd edn. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Mahaweli System B Feasibility Report (1978) Feasibility study of system B. Mahaweli Development Project. Hunting Technical Services Ltd., Borehanwood, Herts, England
Mapa RB, Somasiri S, Nagarajah S (1999) Soils of the Wet zone of Sri Lanka. Morphology, characterization and classification. Special publication No. 1. Soil Science Society of Sri Lanka. Survodaya Publishers, 184Â pp
Mapa RB, Dassanayake AR, Nayakekorale HB (2005) Soils of the intermediate zone of Sri Lanka. Morphology, characterization and classification. Special Publication No. 4. Soil Science Society of Sri Lanka. Survodaya Publishers, 241Â pp
Mapa RB, Somasiri S, Dassanayake AR (2007) Soils of the Dry zone of Sri Lanka. Morphology, characterization and classification. Special Publication No. 7. Soil Science Society of Sri Lanka. Survodaya Publishers, 288Â pp
Newhall F, Berdanier CR (1996) Calculation of soil moisture regimes from the climatic record. Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 46, National Soil Survey Center, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Lincoln, NE
Page AL (1982) Methods of soil analysis. Part II. Physical and mineralogical methods, 2nd edn. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Panabokke CR (1996) Soils and agroecological environments of Sri Lanka. Natural Resources Series No. 2, Natural Resource, Energy and Science Authority of Sri Lanka, Colombo, 220Â pp
Soil Survey Staff (1998) Keys to soil taxonomy, 8th edn. USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC
Soil Survey Staff (2006) Keys to soil taxonomy, 10th edn. USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC
Survey of Uda Walawe Soil (1967) Report of the soil survey of Walawe basin of Ceylon. Hunting Horizons could be identified Government Press, Sri Lanka
World Soil Resource (1991) Soils and climatic resources (Chapter 4). In: World soil resources report 66. FAO, Rome
Soil Survey Staff (2003) Keys to soil taxonomy, 9th edn. USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC
Somasiri LLW, Nadarajah N, Amarasinghe L, Gunathilaka HAJ (1994) Land suitability assessment of coconut growing areas in the coconut triangle. Occasional Publication Series No. 3, Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka, Lunuwila, Sri Lanka
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dassanayake, A.R., De Silva, G.G.R., Mapa, R.B. (2020). Major Soils of the Dry Zone and Their Classification. In: Mapa, R. (eds) The Soils of Sri Lanka. World Soils Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44144-9_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44144-9_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-44142-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-44144-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)