Amazonian Soil Composition and Structure Across Five Research Sites

Soil composition and structure data are reported for five Amazonian research sites in Brazil and Colombia, collected between 1992 and 1995. The dataset includes cation concentrations, percentages of carbon and nitrogen, organic matter, texture, color, pH, and land use history. It was produced by the ORNL_CLOUD organization.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between soil cation concentrations (H, Al, Mg, K, Na, S) and soil pH across different Amazonian soil types.
• Comparing soil carbon storage (tons of carbon/ha) and bulk density among the three sites where this data is reported: Altamira, Bragantina, and Tome-Acu.
• Studying the variation in soil texture, composition, and organic matter content across sites with different land use histories and settlement patterns.
• Correlating soil nutrient levels and classification (Oxisols, Ultisols, Spodosols) with the type of agricultural practice employed, such as slash-and-burn or mechanized agriculture.

Strengths

• Covers five distinct research sites across the Amazon basin, representing a range of soil fertilities and land uses typical of the region.
• Provides a detailed set of soil characteristics including chemistry, physical structure, and land use history for comparative analysis.
• Includes data on soil bulk density and carbon per hectare for three sites, enabling carbon stock calculations.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact file size are not provided by any source platform.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one listing 1993-12-31 and another listing 2026-03-13, casting doubt on data currency.
• Soil bulk density and tons of carbon per hectare are only reported for three of the five study sites, limiting full-basin comparisons for these metrics.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

Field measurements and laboratory analysis from five specific Amazonian research sites.

Time Range

1992-1995

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:13:25.451408

Geography

Five sites: Altamira, Bragantina, Tome-Acu, and Ponta de Pedras in Para, Brazil; and Yapu, Colombia.