basin trends from east to west and is located entirely within the Middle Hills region
immediately to the north of the Kathmandu Valley (27°50’N, 85°20’E). Altitude
ranges between 600 and 1850 m, and the lithology comprises gneiss of the
Kathmandu Complex.
The gneisses are extensively weathered to depths exceeding 7 m, giving rise to a
regolith dominated by silts and fine/medium sands (Gardner, 1994). Soils and regolith
are best preserved on the flatter and younger geomorphological terraces (Gerrard &
Gardner, 2000), where soil B horizons may attain thicknesses of up to 2.5 m. Because
of extensive cultivation and a limited amount of erosion, A horizons are rarely preserved.
Most of the soils on these freely draining slopes have been mapped, by the
Soil Survey Division of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal, as cambisols and luv