Characteristics of magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry of paddy soils in Malang City, East Java

Abstract

Paddy soils are a typical anthropogenic soil resource that has a wet-dry cycle and plays an important role almost all over the world, mainly in Indonesia. Along with the development of the current area of rice farming, the changes of many environmental from natural areas has undergone to settlements area and influenced by human activities. This study examines the magnetic properties and element content in special soils of paddy farming areas in the city of Malang. In this study magnetic susceptibility measurement was conducted on 60 samples taken from 3 locations, using Bartington susceptibilitymeter MS2B. The element determination was conducting by XRF (X-Ray fluorescence) on 3 representative samples. The result showed that the average of magnetic susceptibility low frequency (χlf) of paddy soils was 3.66 ×10-6 m3kg-1. The chemical elements in paddy soils are dominated by Fe, that is around 41.2 % then followed by Si about 36.7%, Al about 12%, Ca about 10.5% and Ti is the lowest value, that is about 2.13%.