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Iveconnaissance Soil Survey of Liberia

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(i ¿^J¿J- iveconnaissance Soil Survey of Liberia sm.^ '^'^^^ f L, -"^i.. 5 "•"'*-«^*. é "4 ■ v^ ? ' _ %- ■ ' i f-/ U ¡^ ■' / ^ X 1 i .^5) - Î Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 66 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations and UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE Technical Cooperation Administration For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C—Price 25 cents Washington, D. C. June 1951 Preface A soil survey of a country is a scientific inventory of its soil resources. It includes classification, mapping, and a study of factors that determine the uses for which soils are best suited. It supplies information that is especially useful for research programs on crops, soils, fertilizers, and land use planning. The use of such a sur- vey may prevent many mistakes and much waste of soil resources. This report presents the results of just such an inventory of the soils of Liberia, one of the several fact-finding surveys carried out by the United States Economic Mission to Liberia in 1944-48. It was the first work of its kind in that area. As the title suggests, it was not a detailed survey ; however it yielded much information that will be useful in developing the general agriculture of the country. Grateful acknowledgement is made of the advice and cooperation of Dr. Charles E. Kellogg, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, United States Department of Agricul- ture, and other members of the Bureau staff, all of whom gave generously of their time and knowledge to the preparation of the manuscript. CONTENTS Pa^e General information 1 General physiography and geology. 1 Climate : 2 Vegetation 2 Methods used in conducting the survey... 6 Classification of soils , 7 Latosols—. : 10 Kakata association ....10 Sálala association 12 Suakoko association 12 Gbarnga association 12 Ganta association :.. 13 Zorzor association 13 Voinjama association 14 Lithosols - : 22 Regosol^... 25 Soils not shown on map but included with Latosols, Lithosols, and Regosols: Alluvial soils..... 25 Gray Hydromorphic soils 20 Half-Bog soils - .29 Mangrove Swamp soils 29 Agriculture and soil management; Agriculture .32 Soil fertility. .33 Effect of fertilizers 43 Need for lime .46 Green-manure and cover crops 48 Soil erosion ..49 Land capability 49 Policies for future land use 50 Appendix 53 Reconnaissance Soil Survey of Liberia William E. Reed* Agricultural Research Specialist General Information The Republic of Liberia lies on the west coast of Africa, between 4^32' and 8^50' north latitude and 7°32^and 11°32^ west longi- tude. Its boundaries are Sierra Leone on the west, French Guinea on the north, the Ivory Coast on the east, and the Atlantic Ocean on the south. The area of the country is about 38,000 square miles and its population is estimated to be between 1 and IV2 million. General physiography and geology Liberia for the most part is a rolling country. The coastal area is a narrow strip of level land more or less cut up by lagoons, tidal creeks, and marshes. Included in this area are several promontories. Extending from the coastal area inland about 50 miles, the country is rolling, interspersed with a few hills from 400 to 600 feet high. Beginning at 50 to 80 miles inland and extending for about 20 miles farther is a steeply rolling and hilly escarpment area, in which the elevation rises from about 200 feet to 600 to 1,000 feet. From this point and on, into French Guinea at the northern boundary, the topography is gently rolling to rolling. This part of the country has some resemblance to a dissected plateau. Low mountains ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 feet occur inter- mittently throughout Liberia. Somewhat higher are Mt. Nimba in the Central Province, with an altitude of 4,200 feet, and Mt. Walo in the Western Province, with an altitude of 4,500 feet. Liberia is well-drained by six large rivers and several smaller ones, all of which run nearly perpendicular to the coast and empty into the Atlantic Ocean. The average fall in the channel of the rivers ranges from 5 to 10 feet per mile, a variation that means they are poorly graded. All of the rivers flow almost entirely on bedrock and over rapids. There are no well-developed valleys and flood plains in Liberia. ^ The author, who during the survey was a foreign staff officer for the U. S. Department of State, is now dean of the School of Agriculture, Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina, Greensboro, N. C. 2 INFORMATION BULLETIN 66, Ü. S. DEFT. OF AGRICULTURE The native bedrock of Liberia is entirely of Pre-Cambrian age. Rocks of the same age occur also in Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast, the southern part of French Guinea, and the southwestern part of the Gold Coast It consists of an older series of granitic gneisses, gneissic sandstones, and schists, and a younger series of intrusive rocks consisting of massive granites, pegmatites, and diorites. The diorites are less extensive and occur largely in the coastal belt. Climate The climate of Liberia is tropical and humid (tables 1-3), Tem- perature remains uniformly high throughout the year : it probably never exceeds 100°F,, nor does it fall below 50°; and the average is about 80"^ for all sections of the country. Diurnal small changes average about 12° in the coastal belt, increasing to about 20° at the extreme northern boundary. Rainfall averages 150 to 180 inches a year along the coast and decreases to about 70 inches in areas farthest inland. Most of the rain falls between the months of April and November, thus making definite wet and dry seasons. Along the coast the average relative humidity is about 82 during the wet season and about 78 during the dry. During the harmattans —dry, heavily dust-laden winds from the Sahara Desert that occur between December and March—the relative humidity may occa- sionally fall below 30. Vegetation The vegetation of Liberia may be classifiexi roughly into four types.^ Type 1 is the coastal forest and mangrove swamps occurring in a narrow strip of land from 1 to more than 9 miles in width, running parallel to the seacoast and extending up along the rivers for short distances. Red and white mangrove, associated with a few other species, occurs on the land that extends to the level of high tide. Sparse stands of oil palms and scrubby bush, and occa- sional plantings of coconut palms, occur on the level coastal sandy soils that are not subjected to flooding by the tides. Type 2 is the evergreen rain forest that begins on the highland near the seacoast and extends inland about 30 miles, in the rainfall belt of 100 to 200 inches. This forest consists of hardwood, or broadleaf, trees with no definite seasonar leaf-fall. In undisturbed forest the trees form a closed canopy from 100 to 200 feet high. Underneath is a fairly dense stand of scrubby and herbaceous vegetation. Much of the original evergreen rain forest has been destroyed, and the subsequent growth of secondary bush is periodically cut and burned in preparation for farming. The Kakata and Sálala soils were developed under this type of vegetation. Type 3 is the deciduous forest that begins 40 to 50 miles inland 1 Mayer, Karl R., Forest Resources of Liöerm, Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 67, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1951. TABLE 1.—Rainfall, temperature^ and relative humidity at United States Navy Station, Camp Johnson, Monrovia, Liberia, by months, November 1944- to April 19^7 Temperature (degrees Fahrenheit) Relative humidity (percent) Rainfall (inches) Month Maximum, ave. Minimum, ave. Average Maximum, ave. Minimum, ave. Average id 1944 1945 1946 1947 1944 1945 1946 1947 1944 1945 1946 1947 1944 1945 1946 1947 1944 1945 1946 1947 1944 1945 1946 1947 1944 1945 1946 1947 o o January.. 1.02 0.24 81 72 > m February. .25 .20 73 m March... 1.53 2.61 72 > April 4.30 5.11 85 74 a ta May... 14.7 21.9 85 June... 39.5 30.2 July... 18.7 21.1 August. 4.6 10.7 September. 18.4 32.5 October... 15.9 41.4 November. 9.5 7.5 6.2 87 o December. 2.1 3.02 .68 Total. 129.19 172.84 td TABI^E 2.—Rainfall at Research Department} Harhel Group, Firestone Plantations Co., Liberia, hy months, 1936-46 [In inches] Total, Average, Month 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1936-46 1936-46 5; O Jan .. 0.2 0.00 0.28 2.91 0.90 2.08 2.24 0.74 1.70 1.07 11.94 1 19 Feb. 3.61 .10 3.94 .51 .36 1.44 2.39 .28 2.04 .37 15.04 1 50 'A Mar i.. o 4.17 1.30 7.05 8.18 4.56 2.27 3,31 3.59 9.17 4.30 6.64 54.54 4 88 "^ Acr.. 8.04 4.25 8.59 4.00 5.93 7:28 4.79 7.99 3.00 6.39 9.82 70.08 6.37 w May. 11.65 9.58 13.41 18.34 8.31 16.15 9.50 10.39 5.89 7.85 13.47 124.54 11 32 d June. 17.69 10.93 11.85 19.43 13.60 17.31 10.44 17.15 20.39 14.51 14.51 167.82 15-26 t-i July.... 9.28 18.27 13.36 20.93 17.86 9.95 24.07 4.85 30.07 17.00 9.89 175.53 15-96 Aug 16.23 15.26 15.92 20.27 26.86 26.94 15.41 21.66 19.00 13.76 16.17 207.98 18 91 n Sept.
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