Edaphic indicators for assesment of soil erosion in karst regions, province of Havana, Cuba

Abstract No sustainability indicator reports have as yet been published reflecting the dynamics of morphogenetic processes in red ferralitic soils (Ferralsol Rhodic in the World Reference Base) in the karstic regions of Havana Province, which have led to sequential degradation of the most productive soils of Cuba. This article proposes an edaphic indicator system, through which the sustainability threshold of these soils are specified for reference localities based on research carried out over more than two decades by means of a combination of qualitative and quantitative data in three key time periods of Cuban agriculture. These indicators generally show a trend towards degradation of soil properties, especially in 1980s, due to the indiscriminate use of agricultural machinery, overgrazing and intensive farming practices that have led to dense compaction with thresholds of apparent density exceeding 1·34 Mg m −3 , at 0–30 cm levels in soil. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.