QUANTIFYING DEVELOPMENT OF SOME EGYPTIAN SOILS FROM MICROMORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES AND MICROMORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS

The computation of micromorphological index is a recent approach to
quantifying soil development from micromorphological features and
micromorphometric analysis, where, few studies were conducted on this approach. In
the current study, five soil profiles with different mode of formation were selected i.e.,
sandy, alluvial, calcareous, lacustrine and delta fringes to identify and quantifying the
micromorphological features, using micromorphometric analysis and determine the soil
development using micromorphological index on the basis of micromorphological
features and micromorphometric data. The micromorphological index was helpful for
quantitative determination of soil development of the studied soils especially alluvial
and lacustrine ones. The index value is less than expected for calcareous soil. The
micromorphological index can be equally useful for soils developed under different
factors of soil formation. But, quantification of the micromorphological properties used

for calculating the micromorphological index needs specific modification for particular
situations.