The geology of Mauritius is mainly composed of basaltic lavas, which

originate from volcanic origin. The Food and Agriculture

Organisation (FAO) and Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute
(MSIRI) Land Resources and Agricultural Suitability Map of
Mauritius identifies the site for proposed development as a
combination of the land complexes characterised by primarily late
lava coastal plains and also found in inland slopes. The
FAO/MSIRI map classifies the different regions into land units. The
proposed site consists of one single land unit namely 5.4 as indicated
in Figure 1.

1
Soils of Land Complex 1 and 5 generally make up almost half
of the total land surface covering 28 840 hectares and
represents the land of geographically recent lava flows.

Land unit 5.4 comprises almost flat and gently undulating land
with comparatively less strongly-marked terrain features.
Hummocks are of low relief and have smooth form resulting
from the moderate degree of weathering on Late Lavas of
intermediate age and more readily weatherable scoriaceous
basalts extruded in thin flow. The soils are mostly moderately
shallow to shallow Latosolic Brown Forest which in places trend
in having greater depth and lower content of rock fragments. At
the other extreme they become quite stony and boulder. Most of
this land unit was under cultivation to tea and sugar cane
and particularly on the south eastern inland slopes. The soil
stratigraphy will be revealed by
trial pits excavated in consultation with Wastewater management
Authority.