Soils from the Galapagos Islands

Abstract

The Galapagos Islands were formed by the rise of magma to the surface trough the faults and fractures of the Nazca Plate, lava flowed freely forming large sheet or coiled blankets, which received pyroclastic contributions from the active volcanos. Even at the moment, the Galapagos archipelago is one of the sites with the greatest volcanic activity in the world. Due to its environmental importance, the Galapagos Islands require special and careful management, for this reason, human activities are allowed only in four islands and in areas that are not included within the National Park. Therefore, soil studies were conducted only in areas with human intervention, where surveys are important for soil management and land evaluation. This chapter presents the information for the Santa Cruz and San Cristobal Islands, because these islands have the largest soil area with human intervention, and for being the islands that have the highest population concentration. Themain characteristics of the Galapagos soils come from the alteration of relatively recent pyroclastic deposits in different conditions of altitude, climate, and vegetation. Soil orders present in areas under agricultural use in Santa Cruz Island are Alfisols, Andisols, Entisols, Inceptisols, and Mollisols, while soil orders present in areas under agricultural use in San Cristobal Island are Alfisols, Entisols and Inceptisols.