Latosols from the lobo creek basin (Brotas, Itirapina-SP): II. Mineralogy

Abstract

Four distrophic latosol profiles from the Lobo creek basin, located in the region of the municipalities of Brotas, Itirapina and São Carlos, were sampled and studied by using the very fine sand fraction: mineralogy of the heavy residue and roundness of the high fraction. The objetive of this research work was to establish parameters for studying the soil genesis, uniformity of the material of origin and similarities between profiles as previously determined by morphology. Qualitatively the four profiles showed similarities and exhibited a simple mineralogical composition which, in conjunction with the chemical stability of the minerals, imparts a high mineralogical maturity character to the soils, indicating total depletion of the plant mineral nutrient reserves. Quantitatively, one of the profiles showed a higher content of heavy minerals - 3 to 4 times that of the other profiles. These are mostly opaque minerals, indicating an important contribution of basalts which outcrop near this profile. The mineralogical composition reveals sandstones of the Botucatú Formation and basalts of the Serra Geral Formation, both of the Jurassic-Cretaceous period as origin material, reworked to from these latosols. The zirconite-turmaline ratio shows a high variation in two profiles. However, other parameters such as roundness, granulometry, and variations in zirconite and turmaline types do not confirm nor suggest the presence of lithological discontinuities but rather a high uniformity of the profiles.