Quantitative parameters for assessing susceptibility to erosion in tropical Dominican soils

Abstract

The topsoil layers (0-20 cm) of different types of wet and dry tropical forests of the Pedernales province (Dominican Republic), both natural and cultivated, were assessed in terms of different parameters related to the erosion processes: particle size, silt/clay ra­tio, and an estimate of the possible soil loss. Some of the soils of the most valuable eco­systems are threatened by the introduction of coffee and hence the interest and objec­tive of this work.

We present these data for 79 soil samples according to the corresponding landscape units (forests) along with their dominant lithologies (crystalline limestones, carbon­ated limestones on alterites and coral lime­stones). The novelty of this study is that it uses quantitative variables to describe ed­aphic processes linked to erosion in this re­gion, that had never been quantitatively studied the soils. Another relatively new fact is the methodology uses of the laser for par­ticle size analysis.