Soil, land use and landform relationship in the Precambrian lowlands of northern Ethiopia Kassa Teka a, ⁎, Jan Nyssen b , Nurhusen Teha a , Mitiku Haile a , Jozef Deckers c a Department of Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection, Mekelle University, Ethiopia b Department of Geography, University of Gent, Belgium c Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium abstract article info Article history: Received 27 March 2014 Received in revised form 12 March 2015 Accepted 14 March 2015 Available online xxxx Keywords: DMSV Landform Lithology Precambrian Tigray Soil, landscape and vegetation pattern at a detailed scale (1: 20,000) is non-existent in the Precambrian dominated lowlands (500–1500 m above sea level) of northern Ethiopia. Current studies at a detailed scale in the region have focused on the basalt and Mesozoic rock (limestone and sandstone)-dominated highland (N 2300 m above sea level) areas. The aim of this research was, therefore, to explain the soil distribution as a function of lithology, land use and landform, and to develop a methodology for up-scaling to similar environments. This study was conducted at Aqushala Watershed in the Precambrian rock dominated Avergelle Lowlands. The research was done based on a discrete model of spatial variation (DMSV). Soil units identified: (1) in the meta- morphosed black limestone formation are Vertic, Endoleptic Calcisol (Humic) at the upper slope (plateau); both Vertic, Endoleptic Cambisol (Calcaric, Humic) and Vertic Leptosol (Calcaric, Humic) at the middle slope (hill); Hypercalcic Calcisol at the foot slope and Grumic Vertisol (Calcaric, Humic) at the lower slope (valley bottom). Majority of the soil units were under cultivation; (2) in the schist and slate formations are Leptosol (Calcaric, Humic) both at the upper slope and at the foot slope positions; Regosol (Calcaric) over Hypercalcic Calcisol at the mid slope position and Fluvisol (Calcaric, Humic) at the valley bottom; and (3) in the green-reddish-gray metamorphosed banded marl formation are Leptic Calcisol at the upper slope, Haplic Calcisol at the foot slope, and Fluvisol (Calcaric, Humic) at the valley bottom. The model was tested in the Taget (control) Watershed and was 73% successful. So, if this model is used, it can help a lot in every aspect of agricultural or natural resource management and planning processes. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Soil is a dominant factor of the land mainly through its effect on bio- mass production (Gessler et al., 1995; Brunner, 2012). It covers land as a continuum having properties that vary enormously and continuously with depth and with horizontal distances (Gessler et al., 1995). But this variation is not random i.e. at any given location on the landscape; there is a particular soil with a unique set of properties (Iqbal et al., 2005). For the most part, soils are the same wherever all elements of the five factors (climate, time, vegetation, topography and parent mate- rial) are the same (Jenny, 1941; Dokuchaev, 1883; McKenzie and Ryan, 1999; Chaplot et al., 2001; Phillips, 2010). This regularity permits pre- diction of the locations of many different kinds of soils. When soils are studied in small areas, the effects of topography and parent material on soil becomes apparent (Fikru, 1995; Finzi et al., 1998; Van Breemen and Finzi, 1998; Delin et al., 2000; Bohlen et al., 2001; Fitzpatrick et al., 2003; Venterea et al., 2003). The soil varies along the landscape, even within limited areas, giving rise to a succession of soil types, known as a catena (Milne, 1935; Aweto and Enaruvbe, 2010). Studies (e.g. Nizeyimana and Bichi, 1992; Eash and Sandor, 1995; Dahlgren et al., 1997) showed that soil properties and landscape posi- tion are significantly related, mainly where the movement of soil and water is considered. Landscape topography affects soil physical and chemical properties by erosion and deposition processes, which greatly influence the characteristics and distribution of the soils (Onstad et al., 1985; Nizeyimana and Bichi, 1992; Delin et al., 2000; Bohlen et al., 2001; Venterea et al., 2003; Dotterweich, 2008; Houben, 2008; Aweto and Enaruvbe, 2010; Augustsson et al., 2013; Świtoniak, 2014) in addi- tion to its effect on water table depth which can again impact soil genesis significantly. Many studies have shown that organic matter and soil nutrient levels are higher in the lower slope segment of the topography (Abrams et al., 1997; Kravchenko and Bullock, 2000). This can be due to soils in lower slope receive substantial amount of sedi- ments transported from upslope which helps improve their nutrient sta- tus (Aweto and Enaruvbe, 2010). Moreover, soils in lower topographic location hold greater quantity of water than higher slope soils and are saturated with moisture for a much longer period than upper slope soils (Lopez et al., 2003; Aweto and Enaruvbe, 2010). Studies in dry areas of Australia (Fitzpatrick et al., 2003), for example, have shown Catena 131 (2015) 84–91 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: kassateka@yahoo.com (K. Teka). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2015.03.010 0341-8162/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Catena journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/catena