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Holocene Soil Development on Till and Outwash Inferred from Lake-Sediment Geochemistry in Michigan and Wisconsin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Holly A. Ewing  and
Edward A. Nater
Holly A. Ewing
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108
Edward A. Nater
Affiliation:
Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108
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Abstract

Two geochemical techniques from soil mineralogy were used with lake sediment to reconstruct soil development in the catchments of two lakes—one on outwash and the other on till—in the Great Lakes region. A sodium pyrophosphate extraction provides information about leaching of exchangeable and organically complexed cations from terrestrial sources, while an acidified ammonium oxalate extraction removes mineral materials without well-developed crystalline structure that are indicative of podzolization. More evidence of pedogenesis is preserved in sediment of the lake on outwash—likely a result of greater retention of material within the soil profile in the catchment on till. This difference between the records suggests that excessively well-drained (leaky) catchments may provide better records of soil development than those with higher water-holding capacity. Evidence of acidification and podzolization appeared first at the lake on till and 4500 years later at the lake on outwash. Both records reveal a late Holocene intensification of weathering that coincided with a regional climatic change to greater moisture availability. The variability in weathering rates observed presents a more complex picture of weathering than the simple exponential functions often assumed in chronosequence studies. Use of lake sediment records provides better temporal resolution of significant events in soil formation than could be achieved using a chronosequence approach.

Keywords

acidified ammonium oxalatebiogeochemistryecosystem leakinessMichiganpaleoecologypodzolizationsodium pyrophosphatesoil developmentWisconsinweathering
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , March 2002 , pp. 234 - 243
Copyright
University of Washington

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