There is a soil in the Caribbean National Forest in Puerto Rico that is a Lithic Endoaquept
(lithic contact at 18""). As presently defined in the Inceptisols, this is the only option
for these types of soils.
However, the definition of episaturation states that ""The soil is saturated with water in one or
more layers within 200 cm of the mineral soil surface and also has one or more unsaturated
layers, with an upper boundary above a depth of 200 cm, below the saturated layer . The
zone of saturation, i.e., the water table, is perched on top of a relatively impermeable layer.""
This definition implies that the relatively impermeable layer is soil, but it is not defined
as such and can be used in a Lithic situation. We are not sure this is the intent of this definition.
We propose to change the endosaturation definition to:
""The soil is saturated with water in all layers from the upper boundary of saturation to a depth
of 200 cm from the mineral soil surface OR LITHIC CONTACT ""
Comments?
