Dechel soil and landscape
Soil profile: A profile of Dechel silty clay, 0 to 2 percent slopes. This is a bottom-land soil with a high water table. Wet soil conditions are indicated by the gray soil matrix and the oxidized (rust-colored) root channels. This site is in the Ngerikiil Valley, Airai State, Babeldaob Island. (Soil Survey of the Islands of Palau, Republic of Palau. by Jason L. Nemecek and Robert T. Gavenda, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Dechel silty clay, 0 to 2 percent slopes, on bottom land. This soil is relatively fertile and is well suited to wetland taro. It is one of the principal agricultural soils in Palau. The hillsides in the background are mapped as Palau silty clay loam, 6 to 12 percent slopes (map unit 636). This landscape is located in Airai State, Babeldaob Island.
The Dechel series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils on swamps, marshes, backswamps, and flood plains of valley floors located on volcanic islands. These soils formed in formed in organic deposits and alluvial sediments derived from basalt, andesite, dacite, marine deposits, volcanic breccias, tuff, bedded tuff, or schist. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the subsoil and in the underlying material. Slope is 0 to 2 percent. The mean annual rainfall is about 3685 millimeters (145 inches), and the mean annual temperature is about 27 C (81 F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, mixed, semiactive, acid, isohyperthermic Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are in wetland taro (Crytosperma and Colocasia) patches or swamp forest plant communities and are used for production of taro, watershed, and wildlife. Native vegetation includes; Campnosperma brevipetiolata, Horsfieldia amklaal, Stemmonorus ammui, Samadera indica, Callophyllum pelewense, Inocarpus fagifer, Hibiscus tiliaceous, Pandanus kanehirae, Crudia cynometroides, Dolichandrone, Barringtonia racemosa, Donax canneformis, Hanguana malayana
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 193 Volcanic Islands of Western Micronesia; Republic of Palau; Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia. These soils of this series are of small extent; about 1,100 acres in the Republic of Palau; about 1,100 acres in Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia. They are mapped on the islands of Babeldaob, Republic of Palau and Yap, Federated States of Micronesia.
The Dechel series had an O horizon when originally mapped in 1980 but due to changes in management practices such as; drainage ditches, fluctuating water table, lack of organic inputs, and turning over the soil. Over time, the organic matter has been oxidized and removed from the system. Now much of the Dechel series with O horizons can only be found in native vegetation. Dechel soils that formed in alluvium derived from soils that formed from schist typically have a higher pH value and base status than Dechel soils derived from soils on volcanic parent material. Dechel soils in Yap are classified as Fluvaquents and derived from schist. These soils have a high water table, are susceptible to subsidence, and have poor engineering properties.
The traditional system of agriculture included intensive taro cultivation. The soil is first dug out down to the fresh water lens, tall grasses and sedges, weeds, and young trees are removed or pushed into the mud as fertilizer. The soil is turned over and work, which requires the Palauans to dig down deep as far as they can with their hands and lift the mud and organic matter to turn it over. Wood ashes, twigs, grasses, and leaves are added below the mud to keep insects, fungus, and bacteria away and for fertilizer.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/pacific_basin/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DECHEL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#dechel
Dechel soil and landscape
Soil profile: A profile of Dechel silty clay, 0 to 2 percent slopes. This is a bottom-land soil with a high water table. Wet soil conditions are indicated by the gray soil matrix and the oxidized (rust-colored) root channels. This site is in the Ngerikiil Valley, Airai State, Babeldaob Island. (Soil Survey of the Islands of Palau, Republic of Palau. by Jason L. Nemecek and Robert T. Gavenda, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Dechel silty clay, 0 to 2 percent slopes, on bottom land. This soil is relatively fertile and is well suited to wetland taro. It is one of the principal agricultural soils in Palau. The hillsides in the background are mapped as Palau silty clay loam, 6 to 12 percent slopes (map unit 636). This landscape is located in Airai State, Babeldaob Island.
The Dechel series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils on swamps, marshes, backswamps, and flood plains of valley floors located on volcanic islands. These soils formed in formed in organic deposits and alluvial sediments derived from basalt, andesite, dacite, marine deposits, volcanic breccias, tuff, bedded tuff, or schist. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the subsoil and in the underlying material. Slope is 0 to 2 percent. The mean annual rainfall is about 3685 millimeters (145 inches), and the mean annual temperature is about 27 C (81 F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, mixed, semiactive, acid, isohyperthermic Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are in wetland taro (Crytosperma and Colocasia) patches or swamp forest plant communities and are used for production of taro, watershed, and wildlife. Native vegetation includes; Campnosperma brevipetiolata, Horsfieldia amklaal, Stemmonorus ammui, Samadera indica, Callophyllum pelewense, Inocarpus fagifer, Hibiscus tiliaceous, Pandanus kanehirae, Crudia cynometroides, Dolichandrone, Barringtonia racemosa, Donax canneformis, Hanguana malayana
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 193 Volcanic Islands of Western Micronesia; Republic of Palau; Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia. These soils of this series are of small extent; about 1,100 acres in the Republic of Palau; about 1,100 acres in Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia. They are mapped on the islands of Babeldaob, Republic of Palau and Yap, Federated States of Micronesia.
The Dechel series had an O horizon when originally mapped in 1980 but due to changes in management practices such as; drainage ditches, fluctuating water table, lack of organic inputs, and turning over the soil. Over time, the organic matter has been oxidized and removed from the system. Now much of the Dechel series with O horizons can only be found in native vegetation. Dechel soils that formed in alluvium derived from soils that formed from schist typically have a higher pH value and base status than Dechel soils derived from soils on volcanic parent material. Dechel soils in Yap are classified as Fluvaquents and derived from schist. These soils have a high water table, are susceptible to subsidence, and have poor engineering properties.
The traditional system of agriculture included intensive taro cultivation. The soil is first dug out down to the fresh water lens, tall grasses and sedges, weeds, and young trees are removed or pushed into the mud as fertilizer. The soil is turned over and work, which requires the Palauans to dig down deep as far as they can with their hands and lift the mud and organic matter to turn it over. Wood ashes, twigs, grasses, and leaves are added below the mud to keep insects, fungus, and bacteria away and for fertilizer.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/pacific_basin/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DECHEL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#dechel