Alisol | FAO Soil Group - Encyclopedia Britannica

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• International Society of Soil Sciences - World Soil Information - Alisol

Alisol FAO soil group Ask Anything Homework Help Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors History Britannica AI Ask Anything Homework Help Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything

Alisol, one of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Alisols are highly acidic, poorly drained soils prone to aluminum toxicity and water erosion. Liming and fertilization are essential to their agricultural use—primarily for growing oil palm, corn (maize), and cotton. Their extent has not been established definitively, but they are believed to occupy less than 1 percent of the total land area on Earth, predominately in the southeastern United States (in soil zones currently classified as Acrisols) and Malaysia.

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Alisols are characterized by the presence of a dense subsurface layer of accumulated clay of mixed mineralogy (mostly kaolinitic) containing a significant amount of readily soluble aluminum ions bound to soil particles and by the lack of an extensively leached layer below the surface horizon (uppermost layer). They occur under the same topographic conditions as Acrisols but in climates with greater precipitation and higher temperatures. Alisols are also related to the Lixisol and Nitisol groups in the FAO classification system and to the Ultisol order of the U.S. Soil Taxonomy.