Method of Evaluating Cementation in Indurated Horizons of Coastal Plain Soils

Indurated layers resembling fragipans commonly occur in association with plinthite. Reliable methods to distinguish fragipans and other cemented horizons being not available, an investigation was conducted to evaluate a procedure to determine the degree of cementation in indurated layers. Oven-dry fragments of different size from the horizons containing the pans were slaked in water and after recording the oven-dry weight of nonslaked fragments, these were washed with a fine jet of water. The method may be adopted to effectively separate plinthite from fragipan for the purpose of identification and classification by following Soil Taxonomy. Soil fragments larger than 6 mm in diameter may be used for evaluation of cementation by the proposed method.