Properties,Formation and Fertility of Vertisols in Fujian Province

The zonal soils in the south subtropical zone of Fujian are lateritic red soils.A type of dark clayey soils.which was historically defined as lateritic red soils,derived from weathering products of the basalts was indicated by the investigation results to be markedly different from lateritic red soils and could be classified as Typical Hapluderts.They are distributed as complex zones with the lateritic red soils.The vertisols in this region were considered as a type of lithogenic soils and the vertic characteristics delay and inhibit the soils from allitic processes and then formed an independent soil type.The vertisols have higher fertility and better agricultural production characters than the lateritic red soils.The different ways in utilizing and managing these soils according to their properties and fertility are also suggested.