Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-j7cmm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-10T16:18:53.154Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Quantitative Comparison of Soil Development in Four Climatic Regimes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jennifer W. Harden  and
Emily M. Taylor
Jennifer W. Harden
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, MS 75, Menlo Park, California 94025 USA
Emily M. Taylor
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, MS 75, Menlo Park, California 94025 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A new quantitative Soil Development Index based on field data has been applied to chronosequences formed under different climatic regimes. The four soil chronosequences, developed primarily on sandy deposits, have some numeric age control and are located in xeric-inland (Merced, Calif.), xeric-coastal (Ventura, Calif.), aridic (Las Cruces, N. Mex.), and udic (Susquehanna Valley, Pa.) soil-moisture regimes. To quantify field properties, points are assigned for developmental increases in soil properties in comparison to the parent material. Currently ten soil-field properties are quantified and normalized for each horizon in a given chronosequence, including two new properties for carbonate-rich soils in addition to the eight properties previously defined. When individual properties or the combined indexes are plotted as a function of numeric age, rates of soil development can be compared in different climates. The results demonstrate that (1) the Soil Development Index can be applied to very different soil types, (2) many field properties develop systematically in different climatic regimes, (3) certain properties appear to have similar rates of development in different climates, and (4) the Profile Index that combines different field properties increases significantly with age and appears to develop at similar rates in different climates. The Soil Development Index can serve as a preliminary guide to soil age where other age control is lacking and can be used to correlate deposits of different geographical and climatic regions.

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , November 1983 , pp. 342 - 359
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adam, D.P. 1967 Late Pleistocene and Recent palynology in the central Sierra Nevada, California Cushing, E.J. Wright, H.E. Jr. Quaternary Paleoecology Yale Univ. Press New Haven, Conn 275–301 Google Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. 1974 Pedology, Weathering and Geomorphic Research Oxford Univ. Press New York Google Scholar
Bockheim, J.G. 1980 Solution and use of chronofunctions in studying soil development Geoderma 24 71–86 Google Scholar
Buol, S.W. Hole, F.D. McCracken, R.J. 1973 Soil Genesis and Classification Iowa State Univ. Press Ames Google Scholar
Clayton, J.L. 1972 Salt spray and mineral cycling in two California coastal ecosystems Ecology 53 74–81 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croft, M.G. 1968 Geology and Radiocarbon Ages of Late Pleistocene Lacustrine Clay Deposits, Southern Part of San Joaquin Valey, California U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 600-B Google Scholar
Dembroff, G.R. Johnson, D.L. Keller, E.A. Rockwell, T.K. 1982 The Soil Geomorphology and Neotectonics of the Ventura River and Central Ventura Basin, California: A Field Guide for the Soil-Geomorphology Tour, Dec. 2–3, Annual Meeting of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA ceAnaheim, California Google Scholar
Gile, L.H. Grossman, R.B. 1979 The Desert Project Soil Monograph: Soils and Landscapes of a Desert Region Astride the Rio Grande Valley near Las Cruces, New Mexico U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service Google Scholar
Gile, L.H. Hawley, J.W. Grossman, R.B. 1981 Soils and geomorphology in the basin and range area of southern New Mexico-Guidebook to the desert project New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Memoir 39 Google Scholar
Gile, L.H. Peterson, F.F. Grossman, R.B. 1966 Morphological and genetic sequences of carbonate accumulation in desert soils Soil Science 101 5 347–360 Google Scholar
Harden, J.W. 1982a A quantitative index of soil development from field descriptions: Examples from a chronosequence in central California Geoderma 28 1–28 Google Scholar
Harden, J.W. 1982b A Study of Soil Development Using the Geochronology of Merced River Deposits, California Ph.D. thesis University of California Berkeley Google Scholar
Harden, J.W. Marchand, D.E. 1977 The soil chronosequence of the Merced River Singer, M.J. Soil Development, Geomorphology and Cenozoic History of the Northeastern San Joaquin Valley and Adjacent Areas, California: Guidebook for Joint Field Sessions, Soil Science Society of America, and Geological Society of America Univ. of California Press Davis 22–38 Google Scholar
Hawley, J.W. Bachman, T.O. Manley, K. 1976 Quaternary stratigraphy in the basin and range and Great Plains provinces, New Mexico and western Texas Mahaney, W.C. Quaternary Stratigraphy of North America Dowden, Hutchinson, & Ross Stroudsburg, Pa 235–274 Google Scholar
Hingston, M.S. Gailitis, V. 1976 The geographic variation of salt precipitated over western Australia Australian Journal of Soil Science 14 319–335 Google Scholar
Janda, R.J. 1965 Quaternary alluvium near Friant, California International Association of Quaternary Research, VII Congress, Guidebook for Field Conference I; Northern Great Basin and California Nebraska Acad. of Sci. Lincoln Nebraska 128–133 Google Scholar
Janda, R.J. 1966 Pleistocene History and Hydrology of the Upper San Joaquin River, California Ph.D. thesis University of California Berkeley Google Scholar
Janda, R.J. Croft, M.G. 1967 The stratigraphic significance of a sequence of noncalcic brown soils formed on the Quaternary alluvium of the northeastern San Joaquin Valley, California Morrison, R.B. Wright, H.E. Quaternary Soils. Int. Assoc. Quaternary Research 9-V11, Reno 158–190 Google Scholar
Jenny, H. 1941 Factors of Soil Formation McGraw-Hill New York Google Scholar
Jenny, H. 1980 The Soil Resource: origin and behavior Springer-Verlag New York Google Scholar
Kaufman, A. Borecker, W.S. Ku, T.L. Thurber, D.L. 1971 The status of U-series methods of mollusk dating Geochemica et Cosmochemica Acta 35 1155–1183 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lajoie, K.R. Kern, J.P. Wehmiller, J.F. Kennedy, G.L. Mathieson, S.A. Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M. Yerkes, R.F. McCrory, P.F. 1979 Quaternary marine shorelines and crustal deformation, San Diego to Santa Barbara, California Abbott, P.L. Geological Excursions in the Southern California Area Department of Geological Sciences, San Diego State University 3–15 Google Scholar
Lajoie, K.R. Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M. Yerkes, R.F. 1982 Quaternary geology and rates of crustal deformation in the Ventura area, California Cooper, J.D. Neotectonics in Southern California. Geological Society of America, guidebook for 78th Annual Meeting Cordilleran Section, San Diego State University 43–51 Google Scholar
Machette, M.N. 1982 Morphology, age, and rate of accumulation of pedogenic CaCO3 in calcic soils and nedogenic calcretes of the southwestern United States (abs.) Geological Society of America, 78th Annual Meeting, Cordilleran Section Program with Abstract 182–18314-4Google Scholar
Marchand, D.E. 1977 The Cenozoic history of the San Joaquin Valley and the adjacent Sierra Nevada as inferred from the geology and soils of the eastern San Joaquin Valley Singer, M.J. Soil Development, Geomorphology, and Cenozoic History of the North-eastern San Joaquin Valley and Adjacent Areas, California: Guidebook for Joint Field Sessions, Soil Science Society of America and Geological Society of American Univ. of California Press Davis 39–50 Google Scholar
Marchand, D.E. 1978 Preliminary Surficial Geologic Maps Showing Quaternary Deposits in Parts of Union and Snyder Counties, Pennsylvania U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-1025, scale 1:24,000 (14 quadrangles)Google Scholar
Marchand, D.E. Allwardt, A. 1981 Late Cenozoic stratigraphic units, northeastern San Joaquin Valley, California U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 1470 Google Scholar
Marchand, D.E. Ciolkosz, E.J. Bucek, M.F. Crowl, G.J. 1978 Quaternary Deposits and Soils of the Central Susquehanna Valley of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University, Agronomy Series Number 52 Google Scholar
Muhs, R.D. 1980 Quaternary Stratigraphy and Soil Development, San Clemente Island, California Ph.D. thesis University of Colorado Boulder Google Scholar
Putnam, W.C. 1942 Geomorphology of the Ventura region, California Geological Society of America, Bulletin 53 691–754 Google Scholar
Rosholt, J.N. 1980 Uranium-Trend Dating of Quaternary Sediments U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-1087 Google Scholar
Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M. Williams, K.M. Yerkes, R.F. 1976 Geology of the Ventura Fault, Ventura County, California U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-781, scale of 1:6000, 3 sheets Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. Opdyke, N.D. 1972 Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial pacific core V28-238: oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 year and 106 year scale Quaternary Research 3 39–55 Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff 1951 Soil Survey Manuals: Handbook No. 18 U.S. Department of Agriculture Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff 1975 Soil Taxonomy, a Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys: Handbook, No. 436 U.S. Department of Agriculture Google Scholar
Strain, W.S. 1966 Blancan mammalian fauna and Pleistocene formations Hudspeth County, Texas. Texas Memorial Museum, Bulletin 10 University of Texas Austin Google Scholar
Walker, P.H. Green, P. 1976 Soil trends in two valley fill sequences Australian Journal of Soil Research 14 291–303 Google Scholar
Wehmiller, J.F. Lajoie, K.R. Kvenvolden, K.A. Peterson, E. Belknap, D.F. Kennedy, G.L. Addicott, W.O. Vedder, J.G. Wright, R.W. 1977 Correlation and Chronology of Pacific Coast Marine Terrace Deposits of Continental United States by Fossil Amino Acid Stereochemistry—Technique, Evaluation, Relative Ages, Kinetic Model Ages and Geologic Implications U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-680 Google Scholar
Wehmiller, J.F. Lajoie, K.F. Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M. Yerkes, R.F. Kennedy, G.L. Stephens, T.A. Kohl, R.F. 1978 Amino-acid racemization dating of Quaternary mollusks, Pacific Coast, United States Zartman, R.E. Short Papers of the Fourth International Conference; Geochronology, Cosmochronology, Isotope Geology 445–448U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-701Google Scholar
Yaalon, D.H. 1975 Conceptual models in peogenesis: Can soil-forming functions be solved? Geoderma 14 189–205 Google Scholar
Yaalon, D.H. Lomas, J. 1970 Factors controlling the supply and chemical composition of aerosols in a near-shore and coastal environment Agricultural Meterology 7 443–454 Google Scholar