Abstract
THIS authoritative account of soil conditions in Palestine, the outcome of thirteen years uninterrupted work at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, is opportune. Part of the book is devoted to a description of soil formation within the framework of the Mediterranean type of weathering. The intense summer insolation destroys most of the soil organic matter and causes a predominantly upward movement of water containing silicic acid, ferric oxide and alumina. It is maintained that the colloidal silicic acid exerts a peptizing effect on the latter, and this accounts for their translocation in the presence of calcium during the formation of terra rossa on limestone. Terra rossa profiles are described, and theories of their formation with reference to rock weathering under different climatic conditions are discussed.
The Soils of Palestine
Studies in Soil Formation and Land Utilization in the Mediterranean. By Dr. A. Reifenberg. Translated by Dr. C. L. Whittles. Pp. viii + 131 + 8 plates. (London: Thomas Murby and Co., 1938.) 14s. net.
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L., A. Agriculture and Horticulture. Nature 144, 1075 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/1441075b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1441075b0