ABSTRACT
Apart from exhumed saprolites and laterites, most soils in Saudi Arabia are young, and to the untrained eye there seems little evidence of pedogenic development. Indeed, who would think of dune sand as a soil? To the pedologist, however, soils are simply a medium in which plants can grow. From the very moment that some alteration of the parent material takes place, perhaps by the accumulation of organic material or the removal of soluble salts during a downpour, soil development can be said to have started – no matter how slight. In the case of Saudi Arabia, soil horizon development due to the downward translocation of soluble minerals, fine particulates, and organic material is limited by the dearth of rainfall and the sparsity of vegetation cover. Even some upward translocation of salts occur because of the intense evaporation and shallow water tables in coastal areas and wadi floors. In the scorching heat of the desert, soil development is forever being halted as wind erosion and wind deposition repeatedly disturb profile development.
