Soil science: Gellap Ost


The Observatories Nabaos and the Gellap Ost Research Station cover plains and washes with shale outcrops of the Karoo Sequence (Ecca Group, Prince Albert Formation). The soil parent materials are shale (partly shattered and with thin calcareous layers) and colluvial materials (sand to loam). The main soil units are Leptosols, Cambisols and Regosols. The rocky outcrops and slopes are dominated by shallow Leptosols and epileptic Regosols whereas the plains and washes are characterized by weakly developed Regosols. Partly stronger developed Cambisols occur on parts with a loamy parent material (Paleosoils). The soils are characterised by slightly acidic to neutral pH values and a relatively low electrical conductivity of < 0.2 mS cm-1.



Box-Whisker-overview of selected soil properties in three depths (cm) on the observatory
(RS = rooting space / m3)


Map with location of soil units
on the observatory



 plot

Habitat 

Rank

 Photograph available
 Soil data available

 00

95 

 01

33 

 02

93 

 03

36 

 04

43 

 05

 06

62 

 07

52 

 08

92 

 09

10 

 10

96 

 11

98 

 12

61 

 13

 14

27 

 15

37 

 16

32 

 17

19 

 18

42 

 19

 20

53 

 21

14 

 22

71 

 23

88 

 24

63 

 25

50 

 26

81 

 27

24 

 28

13 

 29

57 

 30

56 

 31

48 

 32

40 

 33

100 

 34

74 

 35

30 

 36

68 

 37

69 

 38

66 

 39

90 

 40

67 

 41

29 

 42

76 

 43

17 

 44

45 

 45

99 

 46

 47

75 

 48

87 

 49

 50

72 

 51

22 

 52

60 

 53

97 

 54

91 

 55

64 

 56

82 

 57

55 

 58

31 

 59

85 

 60

12 

 61

46 

 62

 63

18 

 64

79 

 65

58 

 66

 67

59 

 68

21 

 69

73 

 70

38 

 71

54 

 72

15 

 73

16 

 74

70 

 75

78 

 76

35 

 77

84 

 78

49 

 79

34 

 80

10 

11 

 81

80 

 82

20 

 83

83 

 84

47 

 85

94 

 86

39 

 87

65 

 88

26 

 89

77 

 90

10 

44 

 91

10 

28 

 92

 93

23 

 94

51 

 95

25 

 96

89 

 97

86 

 98

41 

 99

Ranking of the 1ha-plots

 

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

95 33 93 36 43 2 62 52 92 10

1

96 98 61 5 27 37 32 19 42 8

2

53 14 71 88 63 50 81 24 13 57

3

56 48 40 100 74 30 68 69 66 90

4

67 29 76 17 45 99 9 75 87 3

5

72 22 60 97 91 64 82 55 31 85

6

12 46 7 18 79 58 6 59 21 73

7

38 54 15 16 70 78 35 84 49 34

8

11 80 20 83 47 94 39 65 26 77

9

44 28 1 23 51 25 89 86 41 4

Habitat types of the 1ha-plots

 

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

1 1 1 3 3 2 2 2 2 3

1

1 1 5 1 3 2 2 2 2 2

2

1 1 1 1 3 3 2 2 2 2

3

4 4 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 2

4

7 7 1 4 1 1 1 3 2 3

5

7 7 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 2

6

7 7 5 5 3 3 4 7 1 2

7

7 7 8 9 2 2 9 1 1 8

8

10 1 3 2 2 2 4 4 4 7

9

10 10 1 6 5 1 1 1 5 7