Soil color is one of the central attributes in soil classification because it is related to the organic matter content and iron oxide mineralogy. The objective of this study was to make an evaluation of the predictive capacity of soil color, as determined by diffuse reflectance techniques, to quantify hematite and goethite in different Brazilian latosols (Oxisols). The spectroscopy technique allowed separating yellowish and light colored samples from dark and red ones, indicating an increase in reflectivity with decreasing hematite and organic matter contents. The spectroscopic technique obtained more precise hue values than those established by the Munsell color charts, which only provide data at intervals of 2.5 yr. The presence of hematite and goethite in the soil samples was easily identified by using the second derivative of the Kubelka-Munk function. The similarity in spectra of this function obtained for the total soil (diameter < 2 mm), soil treated with sodium hypochlorite, and clay fraction, points out to a small effect of organic matter on the derivative curves. The results indicate that this technique can be used without a textural separation of the clay fraction, as is routinely performed in other techniques of mineralogical characterization require. Furthermore, the second Kubelka-Munk function derivative allowed an adequate estimation of goethite and, particularly, hematite concentrations in different samples.
soil mineralogy; color; hematite; goethite
