Data of non-volcanic, polygenic, andic soils in the southern central Ecuadorian highlands as the result of long-lasting pedogenesis and geodynamic processes

In the high altitude (>3000 m asl) grasslands of Ecuador, the Páramo ecosystem, soils generally formed on recent volcanic ashes being 10 000 years old in the northern and central part of the cordilleras. With time these soils evolved in to non-allophanic Andisols with hydric properties such as evidenced in profiles from the CAJAS massif located in the western central Cordillera. However soils at the Fierro Urcu massif and at the Oña plateau at the eastern Cordillera formed on a non-volcanic parent material. Compared to non-allophanic Andisols from the CAJAS massif, they present similar morphological properties with a dark 50 cm thick carbon-rich (80 to 120g kg-1) topsoil with a very low bulk density ( 0.65 g cm-3) and high water retention

本研究针对厄瓜多尔海拔3000米以上的帕拉莫（Páramo）草原生态系统展开：科迪勒拉山脉（cordilleras）北部与中部的土壤，其母质为距今约1万年的近代火山灰。随着时间推移，此类土壤逐渐发育为非水铝英石型火山灰土（non-allophanic Andisols），其具备的水文特性在位于中西部科迪勒拉山脉的卡哈斯（CAJAS）地块的土壤剖面中得到证实。然而，位于东部科迪勒拉山脉的菲耶罗乌尔库（Fierro Urcu）地块与奥尼亚（Oña）高原的土壤，其母质并非火山成因物质。与卡哈斯地块的非水铝英石型火山灰土相比，二者具备相似的形态学特征：均拥有厚度达50厘米、富碳（80~120 g·kg⁻¹）的深色表层土壤，容重极低（仅0.65 g·cm⁻³）且持水能力优异。