International Symposium on Black Soils (ISBS18): Protect Black Soils, Invest in the Future, 10 - 12 September 2018, Harbin, China

1. Overview Of Black soils in Iraq
Kutaiba M. Hassan
Proff. of Soil Sciences, Baghdad, Iraq

2. •Contents of the Presentation
•
•1- Part one - Classification and distribution of soils in Iraq.
•2- Part Two - Black Soils in Iraq
•- Mollisols of the Foot – hills soils
•- Mollisols of the Alluvial – Fans Soils
•- Mollisols of the Alluvial – plain Soils
•- Mollisols of the Marshes area
•Part Three - Recent Work 3-
•Part Four - The Challenges 4-
•- Proper Management
•- Work Needed
•Part Five - References 5-
• 6- Part Six - Executive Summary

3. • Part one
•Classification and distribution of soils in Iraq
•
• -Iraq was known as the valley of the two rivers "Mesopotamia"
• -Soils in Iraq are different from another due to differences in soil formation
factors
• - The degree of soil development decreases from northern to southern Iraq
• - The reason is the differences in: morphological
• Physical
• Chemical
•
• Mineralogical …. Properties.
• -Most soils are of secondary origin consisting
• Of material transported from the place of weathering and accumulated
somewhere else.
• -The most common work done by Buringh P. 1960

6. •
• - Buringh proposed 18 great groups in Iraq using the old US soil
classification system
• - Upon completion of the exploratory soil map for Iraq the great groups
are as follows:
• 1- Desert 10- Solonetz
• 2- Red Desert 11- Soloth
• 3- Sierozem 12- Terra Rosa
• 4- Reddish Brown 13- Rendinza
• 5- Brown 14- Hydromorphic soils
• 6- Chestnut 15- Lithosols
• 7- Reddish Chestnut 16- Regosols
• 8- Chernozem 17- Alluwial soils
• 9- Solochack 18- Man – made soils

7. •
•

8. • (( IN 1965 ))
• -A State Board for Soil Survey and Land Reclamation was
established in order to take care of the Responsibility for
the works of soil Survey and Classification in Iraq.
• - The total area of Iraq is equal to 438317 sq.km.
• - Agriculture land = 94500 sq.km.
• - Forest land = 8230 sq.km.
• -About more than 35% from the total area has been
covered by Semi – Detail Soil Survey up to now….!!!
•

9. •
• - The second common work done by AL-Taie , F.H. in
1968.
• - AL-Taie conducted a study of the regional soil surveys,
selecting and describing ((60)) representative soil
profiles from all physiographic regions of Iraq
• - The (60) pedons were classified to (Three) soil orders
by U.S. soil Taxonomy as :
• 1- Aridisols
• 2- Entisols
• 3- Vertisols

10. • (( IN 1979 ))
• -Hussain , M.S. and others in 1986 added
other (Two) soil orders
• 1- Mollisols
• 2- Inceptisols

11. • (( IN 2014 ))
• -Muhaimeed , A.S. et al. (2014). Studied the Classification
and Distribution of Iraqi soils taking under Consideration
soil data collected from previous soil survey works, done by
abovementioned researchers:
• ( 300 pedons representing dominant climate and
physiographic regions across the Iraqi country) and found :
•
•
• Mollisoils commonly are :
• dark – colored
• base – rich mineral soils of the steppes

12. •
•
• Fig.1. : Physiographic regions of Iraq , can be
defined in to four main regions. Each region
has its specific geological, hydrological and
climatologically conditions and consequently
specific soil conditions.

14. •
•Fig. 2. :
•- The climate of the mountain region is
characterized by cool – moist winters and mild
dry summers
•- Diurnal and seasonal temperature fluctuations
are less compared to the rest of Iraq.
•- Annual rainfull is between 700 – 1200 mm.
•- Annual temp. Ranges from 10 to < 20 c.

16. •
•Fig. 3 :
•-Soil data were collected from (previous soil
survey) works done by above-mentioned workers
•- 300 pedons representing dominated climate
and physiographic regions across the Iraqi
country.
•- common soil properties including
morphological, physical and chemical were
reorganized and reclassified using U.S. Taxonomy

18. Fig. 4 :
-According to the soil properties
Five soil orders were recognized as
follows:-
1- Aridi sols 62.2%
2- Entisols 16.2%
3- Inceptisols 12.6%
4-Mollisols 3.6%
5- Vertisols 1.2%

20. •- All of these soils have ( a mollic ) epipedon
•- Many have an Argillic and Calcic horizons
•- Many of these soils developed under grass and many
apparently were forested
•- Mollisols occure in the northeastren mountain area
particularly on the foot slope plain of intermountain
valleys.
•- The following suborders of mollisols are : Xerolls and
Aquolls.
•- Som subgroups include Typic Calcixerols and and
Pachic Argixerolles

21. Fig. 5 :
Vertisols :
- They are mostly located in low – lying
depressions of central and northern areas (in
Mousil , Erbil , Kirkuk plains)
- They are associated with Mollisolis in semiarid
regions and with Ardisols in arid regions

23. •Mollisols :
•- commonly are dark – colored base – rich mineral soils of the
stepps.
•- Nearly all of these have a mollic epipdon.
•- Many have an argillic and clacic horizon
•- Many of them developed under grass and many were forested
•- Mollisols occur in the north – eastern mountain area particularly
on the foot slope plain of intermountain valleys.
•- The following suborders are : Xerolls and Aquolls
•- Some subgroups include : Typic Calcixerolls and some Pachic
Argixerolls.

24. •Part Two
•Black Soils in Iraq
•- Black Soils are soils characterized by a surface horizon
darker than the underlying mineral horizon, that is rich in organic
matter (humus) and Ca+2 + Mg+2 ions, resulting in a well –
aggregated structure.
•Most of these soils form in climatic zones of northern part of
Iraq with cold moist winters and hot dry summer.
•- Black soils in Iraq was classified by Buringh , 1960 as a
chernozems (from the Russian words "black earth" or "black soils",
from "Chernyi" "black" and zemlya "soil")
•- Some of these soils in the Shahrazur area, Sulaimaniya
Governorate in north – eastern Iraq, classified as Mollisols by
Sehgal, 1976 according to USA soil Taxonomy, 1970.

25. •- Recently, Muhaimeed, et al. 2014 mentioned that
Mollisols commonly are dark – colored, base – rich mineral
soils of the steppes, Nearly all of these have a Mollic
epipedon and many have an argillic, and clacic horizon.
•These soils occure in 3.8% of the total area of Iraq
•- Mollisols (black soils) have been developed in
northern part of Iraq on different physiographic units, i.e
Hills, foot hills , Alluvial– Fans (or gravelly uplands), and
Alluvial – plains.
•Mollisol soils of the Hilly areas have developed from
limestone and sandstone on moderately – steep hills with
slope ranging from 13-25%.

26. •The surfaces are stony and subject to slight to
moderate erosion hazards. The soils have dark –
brown color, silty clay loam to silty clay teture,
crumbly to angular block in structure, humiferous
A – horizons.
•The land is used for pasture and grazing,
because of the stony and sloping surfaces.
However , some of these soils may be brought
under forest of fruit plantation if proper
management practices are introduced.

27. •
•1-dsm0.5less than-EC:Some Soil Properties
•OM – 1.8-3.3 %
•PH – 7.4-8.0
•CEC – 15-40 meq / 100g soil
•Clay content – 30-50 %.
•grassrey: RigidNatural weed plants
•Annual darrel
•Milk thistle
•Wild safflower.
•Shahrazur area (NE Iraq) is (79350) hectares 52% of this area is
under Mollisoils ( which is equal to about (41262) hectars )

28. •
•hills soils–of the FootMollisols
•These soils, in general , are modertely shallow to
deep (50 – 150cm)and gravelly collvium on
moderately sloping land with 3 – 6% slope.
•The surfaces are fairly stony ( > 0.1% area
covered with stones) subject to slight erosion.
• The surface horizons of these soils have dark
brown color, slightly gravelly silty clay loam to
silty clay texture, crambly to angular blocky with
some prismatic structure

29. •Us–Land
•Under unirrigated conditins (rain – fed), the soils are
used for growing wheat. Range is the common use in
the summer period and or in areas not cultivated.
• These soils have a great poteatial for bringing them
under irrigation. According to the crop suitability
indices, they are moderately – suitable to suitable for
wheat , suger – beet and sunflower after the irrigation
is introduced. However, They can be used for growing
moderately –shallow rooted crops and fruits like grapes
pometgranate by using drip irrigation during summer

30. •Fans Soils–of the AlluvialMollisols
•These soils have dark – brown color, silty clay A –
horizon with more than 1.5% organic matter. In
structure from crumbly to mderately – developed
angular blocky. These alluvium – derived medium
– deep to very deep soils are slightly eroded,
show wide cracks up to (30cm) deep and have
slightly – gravelly and fairly – strong surface with
slopes ranging from 1- 3%.

31. •
•Land use and Natural Vegetation
•Under the prevailing unirrigated conditions, these soils are used for
growing wheat crop. Occasionally, small areas under irrigation are
also used for growing tobacco and sunflower during spring and
summer.
•Most of these soils can be cultivated for winter and summer crops
by introducing sprinkler or gravity irrigation system and following
proper management practices. The soils close to hills are
moderately suitable and the others suitable for most of the crops
grown in the area.
• The natural vegetation of grasses is extinct because of intensive
cultivation. However, plants like prosopis (dominant) with sur
sparge and Hoary cress are commonly observed

32. •plain Soils–of the AlluvialMollisoils
•Mollisols have developed from calcareous
alluvium in the localized low – laying land within
the flat plain with slopes of less than 1%.
• The soils are very deep with high water table (
ranging from (50 – 80 cm) of the surface ) for 4 –
6 months in a year. The soils are strongly –
calcareous, with very high amount (3 – 4%) of
organic matters, very dark grayish to brown, silty
clay surface horizons

33. •VegatationLand use and Natural
•The soils which occures in the relatively low –
lands within the plains with perched water –
table within (80cm) of the surface are cultivated
for wheat in winter and if irrigated they are
cultivaled for cotton, water melon, rice during
summer.
• According to the suitability criteria , these soils
are suitable for irrigation, they can be excellent if
some kind of drainage is provided.

34. •These soils have been found to be very suitable for
growing wheat and rice.
• Their yield can be increased by proper management
practices and by introducing drainage network. The
soils which occure in the localized depressions within
the flat – plain with high water –table ranging from (50
– 60 cm) of the surface at present are used as pasture
land. They can be brought under the ploughs for
cultivating rice and wheat by introducing irrigation and
drainage system. These soils are suitable for irrigation.

35. •Will take you back (40 years ago)

55. •
•Mollisols of the Marshes Area – Southern Iraq
•
•- Some areas of the marshes in southern Iraq lost their wetlands. They have been exposed to
wet and dry conditions because of the scaresity of water
•
•- The surface layers of these soils are "Black"and tend to be neutral to slightly alkaline.
•- They are slightly to moderately saline, rich in organic matter but defficent in macronutrient
elements, such as phosphates and potassium.
•- Black soils originated in the regions of the marshes in the south part of Iraq are due to the
accumulation of large amount of organic matter in the alluvial soils formed from the sediments of
Tigris and Euphrates rivers rich with silty and clayey materials.
•- When properly drained and fertilized, these black soils may give a good production of wheat
and rice crops.
•- Due to a long duration of drying and wetting conditions it has been found very difficult to
depend upon the data available by different Iraqi research institutions.

57. •Part Three
•
•Recent Works
•- In 2016 there was a contract between the
Ministry of water Resources (MWR) and one
Italian company to provide the MWR with a
strategic study for water and land resources of
Iraq. "They introduced a "Soil Land Unit map"
depending on the data available from the
previous studies.
•A copy of the map is attached with their legend.

60. 1. Soil Classification:
- AT: Aquic Torrifluvents
- TT: Typic Torrifluvens
- VT: Vertic Torrifluvens
- TS: Typic Saorthids
- TR: Typic Torrerts
2. Surface soil texture:
- f: Fine textured soils
- m: Moderately fine textured soils
- d: Medium textured soils
- c: Coarse textured soils
4. Soil salinity:
No symbol: Free saline soil
- a: Very slight to slight saline soils
- b: Moderately saline soils
- n: Strongly saline soils
5. Soil drainability
- no symbol: Moderately well to well
- p: Poor to imperfect
7. Soil depth:
- Very deep 61: Dominantly fine texture subsoil.
62: Dominantly moderately fine texture sub soil.
63: Dominantly medium texture sub soil.
64: Dominantly coarse texture subsoil.
The sub soil is: 25-100 cm soil depth
A UNIFIED NATIONAL SOIL LEGEND FOR IRAQI SOILS
1: USDA, SOIL SOIL CLASSIFICATION AT SUB GROUB LEVEL
2: SURFACE SOIL TEXTURE
3: SURFACE STONINESS
4: SOIL SALINITY
5: SOIL DRAINABILITY
6: TOPOGRAPHY
7: SOIL DEPTH
8: SUB SURFACE STONINESS

61. •
•- Inspite of the lack of modern information concerning the
soils characteristics of Iraq !!!
•- A very sophisticated program named ( Iraq national program
for the Preparation of Agro – Ecological Zone "AEZ" maps), has been
started since 2000.
•- The program ames to draw "The Suitability maps for 21
strategic field crops cultivated in Iraq"
•- One of its major "INPUTS" is the availability of a "National
Soil Map".
•- This means, conducting a comprehensive inventory of all the
previous work ( exploratory and semi – detail soil survey and
convert it to a computerized date base, using unified base of
classification.
•- The following slide show the working steps:

62. • 1- Convert paper soil map sheet to digital soil
map

63. •
•2- Conducting a comprehensive inventory of
all the previous work (exploratory and semi –
detail) soil survey

65. •
•3- convert it to a computerized database,
using unified base of classification
•

66. •
•
•4- Soil map samples

72. •SO FAR:
•
•- The work has been done for Irrigared
areas of Iraq ( 38 maps covered about "20"
million Iraq Donums) (one donum = 2500 Sq.
Meter)

73. •
•The work needed currently:
•1- To complete the soil survey of the
promising areas of the western desert (about 17
million dounms) and Kurdistan areas as well as
the adjacent Iraqi – Iranian borders in the middle
and south of Iraq.
•2- To train our Staff on (using geostatistics
for digital soil mapping towards the development
of a national Soil Map.

74. •
•Part Four
•
•Challenges
•
•The soils of Sharazur area have a combination of the following
limitations (challenges), which render them unsuitable for intensive
cultivations:-
•
•1- Lack of assured irrigation, especially during summer.
•2- Limitation of soils depth
•3- Moderate to steepy sloping Land – farm and strong gravelly surfaces
•4- Poor physical soil conditions, especially the craking and swelling of soils
•5- Imperfect to poor drainage condition
•6- Low amaunt of available nutrients.

75. •Proper Management
•
•1- The plain soils which occur in the relatively Low – Lands and in the
localized depressions are suitable for irrigation.
•2- These soils can may be cultivated for cotton, water melon, rice.
During summer season by introducing irrigation and drainage system and
proper management practices.
•3- The foot – hill and alluvial – fan soils, although have been
observed to be moderately – suitable because of the slope as a limiting
factor, yet thier potential suitability can be increased by introducing drip
and sprinkler types of irrigation systems.
• 4-The hilly soils, although unsuitable for irrigated farming, but can
improved pasture lands and some of these soils (and also for some soils of
foot – hill) may be brought under forest of fruit plantations (like grapes
and pomegranate) if proper management practices are introduced like
terraces and drip irrigation, if possible, during dry seasons

76. •
•Work Needed
•
•In general, the presented data show the need for the followings:-
•1- Semi Detail Soil Survey covering the total area of Iraq with a soil
map.
•2- A Complete soil survey of the promising areas of Western Desert,
Kurdstan Region and the adjacent Iraqi – Iranian borders in the
middle and south of Iraq.
•3- Training courses for the Iraqi specialists on Geostatistics for
digital soil mapping towards the development of a National SOIL
MAP.
•

77. •Part Five
•References:
•1- Al – Taie , F.H. , C.Sys, and G. Stoops (1969). Soils groups of Iraq.
Their classification and characterization. Pedologie xix 65 – 148.
•2- Buringh. P. (1960). Soils and soil conditions of Iraq. Ministry of
Agriculture, Directorate General of Agricultural Research and
projects.
•3- Hassan,K.M.(2016) Visions, Ideas and Experiences for the period
(2000 – 2016). Ministry of Agriculture, Baghdad, Iraq.
•4- Hussain, M.S. and K.G. Shali. (1979) Environmental conditions
and classification of soils in Northern Iraq. Zanco (J) 4: 79 – 110.
•5- Mansosory, Faiq . (2008). Future assessment of southern Iraqi
Marshes. A Ph.D. These. College of Agriculture, University of Basra.

78. •
•6- Muhaimeed, A.S. , A.T. Saloom, K.A.Saliem,K, A. Alani and
W.M.Mukhlef .(2014). Classification and Distibution of iraqi
soils. J. of Agri. Innovation and Research (IJAIR). Vol. 2, Issue
6 (997 – 1002).
•7- Saliem , Kassim Ahmed. (2018). Assistant Director
General, Office of Agricultural Research (Soil Scientist),
Ministry of Agriculture, Baghdad, Iraq. (Personal
Communication).
•8- Sehgal, Jawahar L. (1976). The soils of the Shahrzur area
(NE Iraq) and their suitability for land – use planning. State
Organization of soil and Land ReCLamation. Baghdad, Iraq.

79. •Thank you
•
•Very Much
•For
•Listening

80. •Executive Summary
• The most common work done by Burinhg (1960) : Soils and soil condition in Iraq.
• Buringh proposed (18) great groups in Iraq using old US classification.
• The second common work done by Al – Taie (1968). He classified (Three) soil
orders using the same classification:-
1. Aridisols 2. Entisols 3. Vertisols
• In (1979) Hussain added (Two) soil orders:-
1. Mollisols 2. Inceptisols
• In (2014) Mohaimeed found Mollisols are :-
1. Dark – colored 2. Base – rich mineral soils
• Black soils in Iraq have developed in :-
1. Mollisols of the Foot – Hills soils
2. Mollisols of the Alluvial – Fans soils
3. Mollisols of the Alluvial – Plain soils
4. Mollisols of the Marshes Areas
[with an area equals to 41262 hectars]

81. • Recent
Work:- 1. In (2016) an Italian Company
introduced [Soil Land Unit Map] depending upon the available data
2. A sophisticated National program for the Preparation [Agro – Ecological Zone "AEZ" Map has started since
2000, to draw the "Suitability Maps of the Strategic Crops"
 Its major "INPUTS" is the "National Soil Map"  By (2018) The
program conducted a comprehensive inventory of all previous work (exploratory and semi – detail soil survey
and convert them from paper maps to digital soil map to be used in the "Suitability Models"
• Challenges:
1. Lack of assured irrigation
2. Limitation of soil depth
3. Moderate to steepy slopping
4. Poor physical soil conditions (cracking and swelling)
5. Imperfect to poor drainage
6. Low amount of available nutrients
• Urgent Needs:
1. Introducing irrigation and drainage system and proper management practices
2. Semi detail soil survey covering the total area of Iraq with map
3. A complete soil survey of the promising areas of the middle and south of Iraq as well as Kurdstan Region
4. Training the Iraqi specialists on Geostatistcs for digital mapping towards the developing of a National SOIL
MAP
•