THE ORIGIN OF THE RED MEDITERRANEAN SOILS IN EPIRUS, GREECE

Abstract

Summary To determine the contribution of limestone weathering to soil formation the insoluble residues of six samples of the Pantokraton limestone were separated by treatment with 2M acetic acid at pH 3. The mean insoluble residue content is only 0.15% and to produce a soil depth of 40 cm it has been calculated that about 130 m of limestone would have to be weathered. No correspondence was found between the particle size distribution of the residues and of the overlying red soils, and the high siltrclay ratios of the soils do not indicate prolonged subtropical weathering. The particle size distribution of the soils is akin to that of aerosolic dusts. The dust loading of the atmosphere in the eastern Mediterranean is among the highest recorded, and it is proposed that the soils have developed on dust blown by sirocco winds from the deserts of N. Africa.