Significance of the presence of potassium bearing feldspars and micas in some soils of Puerto Rico

Abstract

According to Meyerhoff the island of PR can be broadly divided into five main formations: 1).Quarternary and Recent uncosolidated deposits occuring mainly along the northeast and southern coasts; 2) Tertiary limestone occurring mainly near the northwestern and southwestern coastes; 3) Upper Cretaceous rocks, mostly andesitic tuffs and shales occupying the central core of the island; 4) Lower Cretaceous rocks, mainly serpentine, occuring in western Puerto Rico; and 5)Igenous rocks of Cretaceous age, mainly quartz diorites, occurring in the Utuado and the San Lorenzo Patillas area. This variety of geologic formations, combined with climatic, geomorphic and vegetation differences, is responsible for varied dynamic soils-formin processes. Accordingly, nine of the ten orders described in the new soil classification system are recognized in Puerto Rico.