Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T02:08:44.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The soil clays of Great Britain: II. Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

M. J. Wilson ,
D. C. Bain  and
D. M. L. Duthie
M. J. Wilson
Affiliation:
Department of Mineral Soils, The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB9 2QJ, Scotland
D. C. Bain
Affiliation:
Department of Mineral Soils, The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB9 2QJ, Scotland
D. M. L. Duthie
Affiliation:
Department of Mineral Soils, The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB9 2QJ, Scotland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The soils of Scotland are relatively young, being developed mainly on glacial drift deposited some 10 000 years ago. Only a small number of genetic soil types are represented, but this is more than compensated for by the wide variety of parent materials from which the drift ultimately derives. The major parent materials include granite and granitic gneiss, gabbro, basalt/andesite, mica-schist and related metamorphic rock types, Lower Palaeozoic greywackes and shales, Old Red Sandstone sediments, Carboniferous sediments, fluvioglacial sands and gravels, and estuarine silts and clays. The clay mineralogy of the soil associations developed on these parent materials is described and the origin of the clay minerals is interpreted. It is concluded that the influence of inheritance is predominant, but that the effects of pre-glacial weathering and Holocene pedogenesis can also be discerned. Inheritance has contributed a wide variety of clay minerals to the soils, including illite, kaolinite, chlorite, smectite and a number of interstratified minerals, pre-glacial weathering has resulted in the widespread formation of kaolinite and halloysite, irrespective of soil parent material or drainage class, and recent pedogenesis has brought about the transformation of inherited layer silicates by vermiculitization processes, with concomitant interlayer alumination, particularly in surface horizons.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 19 , Issue 5 , December 1984 , pp. 709 - 735
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1984

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.)

References

References and Bibliography

Adams, W.A. & Kassim, J.K. (1983) The origin of vermiculite in soils developed from Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks in mid-Wales. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 47, 316–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, H.A., Berrow, M.L., Farmer, V.C., Hepburn, A., Russell J.n. & Walker, A.D. (1982) A reassessment of podzol formation processes, J. Soil Sci. 33, 125–136.Google Scholar
Bain, D.C. (1970) Plumbogummite-group minerals from Mull and Morvern. Mineral. Mag. 37, 934–938.Google Scholar
Bain, D.C. (1972) Oxidation of chlorites in soil clays and effect on DTA curves. Nature phys. Sci. 238, 142–143.Google Scholar
Bain, D.C. (1974) The weathering of layer-silicate minerals, with special reference to chlorite, in some Scottish soils. PhD thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Bain, D.C. (1976) A titanium-rich soil clay. J. Soil sci. 27, 68–70.Google Scholar
Bain, D.C. (1977a) The weathering of chloritic minerals in some Scottish soils. J. Soil Sci. 28, 144–164.Google Scholar
Bain, D.C. (1977b) The weathering of ferruginous chlorite in a podzol from Argyllshire, Scotland. Geoderma 17, 193–208.Google Scholar
Bain, D.C., Ritchie, P.F.S., Clark, D.R. & Duthie, D.M.L. (1980) Geochemistry and mineralogy of weathered basalt from Morvern, Scotland. Mineral. Mag. 43, 865–872.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bain, D.C. & Russell, J.D. (1980) Swelling minerals in a basalt and its weathering products from Morvern, Scotland: I. Interstratified montmorittonite-vermiculite-itlite. Clay Miner. 15, 445–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bain, D.C. & Russell, J.D. (1981) Swelling minerals in a basalt and its weathering products from Morvern, Scotland: II. Swelling chlorite. Clay Miner. 16, 203–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, D.F. (1964) Saponite and lizardite veins on the Island of Rhum. Clay Miner. Bull. 5, 434–442.Google Scholar
Basham, I.R. (1968) Deeply weathered rock and associated soils of the lnsch and Bogancloeh Masses. PhD thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Basham, I.R. (1974) Mineralogical changes associated with deep weathering of gabbro in Aberdeenshire. Clay Miner. 10, 189–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berrow, M.L., Wilson, M.J. & Reaves, G.A. (1978) Origin of extractable titanium and vanadium in the A horizons of Scottish podzols. Geoderma 21, 89–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabrera, D.E. (1976) A study of the soils and their underlying deposit at Cruden Bay, Grampian. MSc thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Cabrera, P.R. (1976) A study of soils developed on serpentinite: Beauty Hill and Blackwater, Grampian. MSc thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Chew, K.J. (1978) Crystalline manganese oxides in till from Bridge of Don, Aberdeen. Scott. J. Geol. 14, 329–334.Google Scholar
Curtis, C.D., Brown, P.E. & Somogyi, V.A. (1969) A naturally occurring sodium vermiculite from Unst, Shetland. Clay Miner. 8, 15–19.Google Scholar
Dare-Edwards, A.J. (1972) The pedogenesis of soils formed on basic igneous rocks in the Strathdon area. MSc thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Dare-Edwards, A.J. & Livesey, N.T. (1976) Regolith development and modification on the Morven-Cabrach basic intrusion, Grampian Region. Scott. J. Geol. 12, 147–152.Google Scholar
Farmer, V.C., Russell, J.D. & Berrow, M.L. (1980) Imogolite and proto-imogolite allophane in spodic horizons: evidence for a mobile alttminium silicate complex in podzol formation. J. Soil Sci. 31, 673–684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farmer, V.C. (1982) Significance of the presence of allophane and imogolite in podzol Bs horizons for podzolization mechanisms: a review. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr. 28, 571–578.Google Scholar
Farmer, V.C. & Fraser, A.R. (1982) Chemical and colloidal stability of sols in the Al2O3-Fe2O3-SiO2-H2O system: their role in podzolization. J. Soil Sci. 33, 737–742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, E.A. (1963) Deeply weathered rock in Scotland, its occurrence, age and contribution to the soils. J. Soil Sci. 14, 33–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, W.J., Hasson, M.D. & Westcott, J.E. (1977) A celadonite-vermiculite series from the volcanic rocks of the Ochils, Stirlingshire. Mineral. Mag. 41, 481–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, T.N. (1965) The geological growth of Scotland. Pp. 1–48 in: The Geology of Scotland (Craig, G.Y., editor). Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh and London.Google Scholar
Glentworth, R. (1954) The soils of the country round Banff, HuntIy and Turriff HMSO, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Glentworth, R., Mitchell, W.A. & Mitchell, B.D. (1964) The red glacial drift deposits of northeast Scotland. Clay Miner. Bull. 5, 373–381.Google Scholar
Glentworth, R. (1966) Soils of Scotland. Conf. Progr. Meeting Comm. II & IV Int. Soe. Soil Sci. Aberdeen. Google Scholar
Godard, A., Paquet, H. & Millot, G. (1961) Contribution a l'etude de quelques paleosols du Nord de l'Ecosse. Bull. Serv. Carte Geol. Als. Lorr. 14, 111–128.Google Scholar
Godard, A. (1965) Recherches de geomorphologie en Ecosse du Nord-ouest. Masson, Paris.Google Scholar
Hall, A.M. (1983) Weathering and landform evolution in north-east Scotland. PhD thesis, Univ. St. Andrews, UK.Google Scholar
Hargitt, R. (1975) Chemical and mineralogical studies of soils derived from serpentinite, Greenhill, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire. PhD thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Hargitt, R. & Livesey, N.T. (1976) Mineralogical and chemical properties of serpentine soils in north-east Scotland. P. 655 in: Proc. Int. Clay Conf., Mexico City (Bailey, S.W., editor). Applied Publishing Ltd, Illinois.Google Scholar
Ismail, F.T. (1969) Role of ferrous iron oxidation in the alteration of biotite and its effect on the type of clay minerals formed in soils of arid and humid regions. Am. Miner. 54, 1460–1466.Google Scholar
Jones, L.H.P. & Milne, A.A. (1956) Birnessite, a new manganese oxide mineral from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Mineral. Mag. 31, 283–288.Google Scholar
Kirkman, J.H., Mitchell, B.D. & Mackenzie, R.C. (1966) Distribution in some Scottish soils of an inorganic gel system related to ‘allophane'. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. 66, 393–418.Google Scholar
Koppi, A.J. (1977) Weathering of Tertiary gravels, a schist and a recta-sediment in north-east Scotland. PhD thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Koppi, A.J. & Fitzpatrick, E.A. (1980) Weathering in Tertiary gravels in N.E. Scotland. J. Soil Set 31, 525–532.Google Scholar
MacEwan, D.M.C. (1944) Identification of the montmorillonite group of minerals by X-rays. Nature, Lond. 154, 577–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacEwan, D.M.C. (1946) The identification and estimation of the montmorillonite group of minerals, with special reference to soil clays. J. Soe. Chem. Ind. 65, 298–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacEwan, D.M.C. (1948) Les mineraux argilleux de quelques sols ecossais. Verre Silic. ind. 13, 41–46.Google Scholar
MacEwan, D.M.C. (1954) ‘Cardenite', a trioctahedral montmorillonoid derived from biotite. Clay Miner. Bull. 2, 120–126.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, R.C., Walker, G.F. & Hart, R. (1949) Illite occurring in decomposed granite at Ballater. Mineral. Mag. 28, 704–713.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, R.C. (1956) Differential thermal analysis and its use in soil-clay mineralogy. Geol. For. Stoekh. Forh. 78, 508–525.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, R.C. (1957a) Illite in some Old Red Sandstone soils and sediments. Mineral. Mag. 31, 681–689.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, R.C. (1957b) Saponite from Allt Ribhein, Fiskavaig Bay, Skye. Mineral. Mag. 31, 672–680.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, R.C. (1965a) Clay minerals of Scottish soils. Soviet Soil Sci. 4, 396–406.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, R.C. (1965b) The origin of clay minerals in soils. Proc. Ussher Soc. 1, 134–151.Google Scholar
Milne, A.A. (1952) An investigation of the mineralogical changes involved in the weathering of granites in the vicinity of Aberdeen. PhD thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B.D. & Mackenzie, R.C. (1954) The removal of free iron oxide from clays. Soil Sci. 77, 173–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, B.D. & Mitchell, W.A. (1956) The clay mineralogy of Ayrshire soils and their parent rocks. Clay Miner. Bull. 3, 91–97.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B.D. (1962). The influence of soil forming factors on clay genesis. Pp. 139–147 in: Genese et Synthese des Argiles. CNRS, Paris.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B.D. & Farmer, V.C. (1962) Amorphous clay minerals in some Scottish soil profiles. Clay Miner. Bull. 5, 128–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, B.D., Farmer, V.C. & McHardy, W.J. (1964) Amorphous inorganic materials in soils. Advan. in Agron. 16, 327–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, B.D., Bracewell, J.M., de Endredy, A.S., McHardy, W.J. & Smith, B.F.L. (1968) Mineralogical and chemical characteristics of a gley soil from North-East Scotland. Trans 9th Int. Congr. Soil sci., Adelaide III, 67–79.Google Scholar
Mitchell, W.A. (1955) A review of the mineralogy of Scottish soil clays. J. Soil Sci. 6, 94–98.Google Scholar
Mitchell, W.A. (1963) Mineralogical aspects of soil formation on a granitic till. Pp. 131–138 in: Proc. Int. Clay Conf., Stockholm (Rosenqvist, I.Th. and Graff-Petersen, P., editors) I. Pergamon Press, London.Google Scholar
Nakai, M. & Yoshinaga, N. (1980) Fibrous goethite in some soils from Japan and Scotland. Geoderma 24, 143–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perez-Rodriguez, J.L. & Wilson, M.J. (1969) Effects of pretreatment on a 14 Å swelling mineral from Gartly, Aberdeenshire. Clay Miner. 8, 39–45.Google Scholar
Phemister, J.C. & Simpson, S. (1949) Pleistocene deep weathering in north-east Scotland. Nature, Lond. 64, 318.Google Scholar
Radcliffe, D.J. (1972) Studies on the genesis of a soil developed from basic igneous rocks near Insch, Aberdeenshire. MSc thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Sabine, P.A., Rye, S.T. & Skelhorn, R.R. (1972) Calcium-montmorillonite clay from Mull, Argyllshire. Trans. Inst. Mining Metall. (Sect. B: Appl. Earth Sci.) 81, 49–50.Google Scholar
Smith, W.W. (l958) A study of the weathering of some basic igneous Scottish rocks and their derived soils. PhD thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Smith, W.W. (1959) Structural relationships within pseudomorphs after olivine. Mineral. Mag. 32, 324–331.Google Scholar
Smith, W.W. (1960) Some interstratified clay minerals from basic igneous rocks. Clay Miner. Bull. 4, 182–190.Google Scholar
Smith, W.W. (1962) Weathering of some Scottish basic igneous rocks with reference to soil formation. J. Soil sci. 13, 202–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith Aitken, W.W. (1965) An occurrence of phlogopite and its transformation to vermiculite by weathering. Mineral. Mag. 35, 151–164.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Of Scotland (1982) 250 000 Handbook series Nos 1-7. The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Stevens, J.H. & Wilson, M.J. (1970) Alpine podzol soils on the Ben Lawers Massif, Perthshire. J. Soil Sci. 21, 85–95.Google Scholar
Tait, J.M., Yoshinaga, N. & Mitchell, B.D. (1978) The occurrence of imogolite in some Scottish soils. Soil sci. PI. Nutr. 24, 145–151.Google Scholar
Us Department Of Agriculture (1951) Soil Survey Manual, U.S.D.A. Handbook No. 18, Washington: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Walker, G.F. (1947) The mineralogy of some Aberdeenshire soil clays. Clay Miner. Bull. 1, 5–8.Google Scholar
Walker, G.F. (1948) The clay mineralogy of some Aberdeenshire soils. PhD thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Walker, G.F. (1949) The decomposition of biotite in the soil. Mineral. Mag. 28, 693–703.Google Scholar
Walker, G.F. (1950) Trioctahedral minerals in the soil clays of north-east Scotland. Mineral. Mag. 29, 72–84.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.D. (1969) Pedological studies on soils derived from serpentinite in north-east Scotland. MSc. thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Wilso, M.J. (1966) Weathered biotite from Strathdon, Aberdeenshire. Nature, Lond. 210, 1188–1189.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. (1966a) The weathering of biotite in some Aberdeenshire soils. Mineral. Mag. 35, 1080–1093.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. (1967b) The clay mineralogy of some soils derived from a biotite-rich quartz-gabbro in the Strathdon area, Aberdeenshire. Clay Miner. 7, 91–100.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J., Bain, D.C. & Mitchell, W.A. (1968) Saponite from the Dalradian meta-limestones of North-East Scotland. Clay Miner. 7, 343–349.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. (1969) A gibbsitic soil derived from the weathering of an ultrabasic rock on the island of Rhum. Seott. J. Geol. 5, 81–89.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. (1970) A study of weathering in a soil derived from a biotite-hornblende rock. I. Weathering of biotite. Clay Miner. 8, 291–303.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. & Farmer, V.C. (1970) A study of weathering in a soil derived from a biotite-hornblende rock. II. The weathering of hornblende. Clay Miner. 8, 435–444.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. & Bain, D.C. (1970) The clay mineralogy of the Scottish Dalradian meta-limestones. Contr. Min. Petr. 26, 285–295.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J., Bain, D.C. & McHardy, W.J. (1971) Clay mineral formation in a deeply weathered boulder conglomerate in north-east Scotland. Clays Clay Miner. 19, 345–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, M.J. (1971) Clay mineralogy of the Old Red Sandstone (Devonian) of Scotland. J. sedim. Petr. 41, 995–1007.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. & Cradwick, P.D. (1972) Occurrence of interstratified kaolinite-montmorillonite in some Scottish soils. Clay Miner. 9, 435–437.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J., Bain, D.C., McHardy, W.J. & Berrow, M.L. (1972). Clay mineral studies on some Carboniferous sediments in Scotland. Sediment. Geol. 8, 137–150.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. (1973) Clay minerals in soils derived from Lower Old Red Sandstone till: effects of inheritance and pedogenesis. J. Soil sci. 24, 26–41.Google Scholar
Wmson, M.J. (1976) Exchange properties and mineralogy of some soils derived from lavas of Lower Old Red Sandstone (Devonian) age. II. Mineralogy. Geoderma 15, 289–304.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. & Bown, C.J. (1976) The pedogenesis of some gibbsitic soils from the Southern Uplands of Scotland. J. Soil Sci. 27, 513–522.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. & Tait, J.M. (1977) Halloysite in some soils from north-east Scotland. Clay Miner. 12, 59–66.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. & Berrow, M.L. (1978) The mineralogy and heavy metal content of some serpentinite soils in north-east Scotland. Chemie Erde 37, 181–205.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J., Russell, J.D., Tait, J.M., Clark, D.R., Fraser, A.R. & Stephen, I. (1981) Swelling hematite/layer silicate complex in weathered granite. Clay Miner. 16, 261–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zauyah, D.S (1976) Mineralogical and chemical changes in the deeply weathered Helmsdale granite. MSc thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar