Nitisol

A nitisol in the FAO World Reference Base for Soil Resources is a deep, red, well-drained soil with a clay content of more than 30% and a blocky structure. Nitisols correlate with the kandic alfisols and ultisols of the USDA soil taxonomy.

These soils are found in the tropics and subtropics; there are extensive areas of them in the tropical highlands of Ethiopia, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon. Nitisols form from fine-textured material weathered from intermediate to basic parent rock and kaolinite, halloysite and iron oxides dominate their clay mineralogy.