In spite of modern and sophisticated techniques, procedures of selective dissolution are still of considerable value for soil characterization and to the understanding of the pedogenetic process, especially environments and soils poorly studied, as the coastal plain regions and Spodosols of Brazil. The application of these techniques commonly used for characterization of spodic horizons and soil profiles for large amount horizons and soils studied in cronossequences are rare for those environments and become possible to establish comparisons with those intensively studied under boreal and temperate climatic. In spite of the recognized limitations of all selective dissolution techniques these used procedures were relatively selective and become possible (a) the differentiation of the horizons, (b) deduce mineralogical components of soil, and (c) deduce pedogenetic process. The studied soils are situated in Bertioga, Cananeia and Ilha Comprida counties, São Paulo State, where were opened, make the morphological descriptions and sampled thirty-one pedons. The main results reached are: cold 0,5 M NaOH extracted in average 22 to 30 % more Al than dithionite-citrate (Al d), oxalate ammonium (Al o) and Na pyrophosphate (Al o) for all group of samples. In some well drained spodic horizons (Bs, Bhs and Bsm) the chemical properties (pH) and the relationship among the different techniques (Al n-Al o; Al o-Al p; Al p/Al o; Al p/Al d) allowed to deduce about the formation and maintenance of low cristallinity Al minerals to the detriment of this element bounded to soil organic matter. This last form of Al predominates in the hidromorphic Spodosols.
dithionite-citrate; oxalate ammonium; Na pyrophosphate; Cold 0,5 mol L-1 NaOH; restinga; podzolization
