Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b95js Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-09T04:09:59.604Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Identification, Lateral Variation, and Chronology of two Buried Paleocatenas at Woodhall Spa and West Runton, England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

K.W.G. Valentine  and
J.B. Dalrymple
K.W.G. Valentine
Affiliation:
Canada Agriculture, Soil Research Institute, 6660 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver, B. C. V6T 1X2 USA
J.B. Dalrymple
Affiliation:
Department of Soil Science, University of Reading, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two buried paleocatenas were studied to determine some features and techniques by which buried soils could be recognized, and to define their pedological characteristics, their lateral variation, and their contemporary environment. At Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, a ferric podzol to sandy gley sequence was developed in sands under marine clay and fen peat. The peat was radiocarbon dated at about 4100 yr BP. The buried soil was evident from its obvious catenary character and the soil characteristics and contemporary environment were determined using sand mineralogy, micromorphology, and pollen analysis. At West Runton, Norfolk, an apparently similar ferric podzol sequence occurred in Beestonian sands and gravels under a layer of Cromerian organic muds. However, only the uppermost profile contained definite evidence of soil formation. Other lower profiles contained pseudosoil features produced by sedimentation or diagenetic subsurface iron mobilization. It is suggested that the occurrence of a paleocatena is the most important criterion for the identification of a buried soil. Sedimentation and diagenesis cannot reproduce this lateral variation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , December 1975 , pp. 551 - 590
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.)

References

Avery, B.W., (1973). Soil classification in the soil survey of England and Wales. Journal of Soil Science 24, 324–337.Google Scholar
Ball, D.F., (1964). Loss-on-ignition as an estimate of organic matter and organic carbon in non-calcareous soils. Journal of Soil Science 15, 84–92.Google Scholar
Black, C.A., (1965). Methods of Soil Analysis. Agronomy Monograph No. 9 American Soc. Agronomy Madison, Wis.Google Scholar
Bouma, A.H., (1969). Methods for the Study of Sedimentary Structures. Wiley New York.Google Scholar
Bowen, D.Q., (1966). Dating Pleistocene events in south-west Wales. Nature (London) 211, 475–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, R., (1964). Fabric and Mineral Analysis of Soils. Wiley New York.Google Scholar
Brewer, R., (1972). Use of macro- and micromorphological data in soil stratigraphy to elucidate surficial geology and soil genesis. Journal of the Geological Society of Australia 19, 331–344.Google Scholar
Butler, B.E., (1958). Depositional Systems of the Riverine Plain in Relation to Soils. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization Soil Publication 10.Google Scholar
Cornwall, I.W., (1953). Soil science and archaeology with illustrations from some British Bronze Age monuments. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 19, 129–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curray, J.R., (1956). The analysis of two dimensional orientation data. Journal of Geology 64, 117–131.Google Scholar
Dalrymple, J.B., (1957). Preparation of thin sections of soils. Journal of Soil Science 8, 161–165.Google Scholar
Dalrymple, J.B., (1958). The application of soil micromorphology to fossil soils and other deposits from archaeological sites. Journal of Soil Science 9, 199–209.Google Scholar
Damman, A.W.H., (1962). Development of hydromorphic humus podzols and some notes on the classification of podzols in general. Journal of Soil Science 13, 92–97.Google Scholar
Damon, P.E., Long, A., Wallick, E.I., (1972). Dendrochronology calibration of the carbon-14 time scale. Proceedings of the 8th International Radiocarbon Dating Conference of the Royal Society New Zealand 45–59.Google Scholar
Deelman, J.C., (1972). Recent and fossil submarine soils. Soil Science 114, 164–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimbleby, G.W., (1957). Pollen analysis of Terrestrial soils. New Phytologist 56, 12–28.Google Scholar
Dormaar, J.F., (1967). Infrared spectra of humic acids from soils formed under grass or trees. Geoderma 1, 37–45.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., Iversen, J., (1964). 2nd ed. Textbook of Pollen Analysis Blackwell Oxford.Google Scholar
Ellis, J.H., (1932). A field classification of soils for use in the soil survey. Scientific Agriculture 12, 338–345.Google Scholar
Eswaran, H., (1968). Point count analysis as applied to soil micromorphology. Pedologie (Gent) 18, 238–252.Google Scholar
Godwin, H., (1944). Age and origin of the “Breckland” heaths of East Anglia. Nature (London) 154, 6–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goh, K.M., (1972). Amino acid levels as indicators of paleosols in New Zealand soil profiles. Geoderma 7, 33–47.Google Scholar
Griffiths, J.C., (1967). Scientific Method in Analysis of Sediments. McGraw-Hill New York.Google Scholar
Guillet, B., (1970). Etude Palynologique des podzols: 1. La podzolisation sur alluvions anciennes en Lorraine. Pollen et Spores 12, 45–69.Google Scholar
Hardcastle, J., (1889). Origin of the loess deposit of the Timaru Plateau. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 22, 406–414.Google Scholar
Havinga, A.J., (1963). A Palynological investigation of soil profiles developed on cover sand. Medelingen van de Landbouwhoge-school te Wageningen, Nederland 63, 1–93.Google Scholar
Havinga, A.J., (1967). Palynology and pollen preservation. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 2, 81–98.Google Scholar
Havinga, A.J., (1971). An experimental investigation into the decay of pollen and spores in various soil types. Brooks, P., Grant, P.R., Muir, M., van Gijzel, P., Shaw, G., Sporopollenin Academic Press London.Google Scholar
Hyde, H.A., Williams, D.A., (1945). Pollen of Lime (Tilia spp.). Nature (London) 155, 457.Google Scholar
Leighton, M.M., MacClintock, P., (1930). Weathered zones of the drift-sheets of Illinois. Journal of Geology 38, 28–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leverett, F., (1898). The weathered zone (Yarmouth) between the Illinoian and Kansas till sheets. Journal of Geology 6, 238–243.Google Scholar
Mackney, D., (1961). A podzol development sequence in oakwoods and heath in Central England. Journal of Soil Science 12, 23–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackney, D., (1970). Podzols in Lowland England. Welsh Soils Discussion Group Report 11, 64–86.Google Scholar
Mehra, O.P., Jackson, M.L., (1960). Iron oxide removal from soils and clays by a dithionite-citrate system buffered with sodium bicarbonate. Clays and Clay Minerals, Proceedings of the 7th Conference 317–327.Google Scholar
Milne, G., (1935). Some suggested units for classification and mapping, particularly for East African soils. Soil Research 4, 183–198.Google Scholar
Milner, H.B., (1962). 4th rev. ed. Sedimentary Petrography George Allen and Unwin London2 vols.Google Scholar
Mitchell, G.F., Penny, L.F., Shotton, F.W., West, R.G., (1973). A Correlation of Quaternary Deposits in the British Isles. 99Geological Society of London, Special Report No. 4.Google Scholar
Polynov, B.B., (1927). Contributions of Russian scientists to paleopedology. Russian Pedological Investigations, Academy of Sciences USSR 1–33Pt. 8.Google Scholar
Prentice, J.E., (1950). Sub-surface geology of the Lincolnshire Fenland. Transactions of the Lincolnshire Naturalists Union 12, 136–139.Google Scholar
Proudfoot, V.B., (1958). Problems of soil history. Podzol development at Goodland and Tor Townlands, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. Journal of Soil Science 9, 186–198.Google Scholar
Ruhe, R.V., (1956). Geomorphic surfaces and the nature of soils. Soil Science 82, 441–455.Google Scholar
Schofield, R.K., Taylor, A.W., (1955). The measurement of soil pH. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 19, 164–167.Google Scholar
Simonson, R.W., (1941). Studies of buried soils formed from till in Iowa. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 6, 373–381.Google Scholar
Simonson, R.W., (1962). Soil classification in the United States. Science 137, 1027–1034.Google Scholar
Straw, A., (1958). The glacial sequence in Lincolnshire. East Midland Geographer 9, 29–40.Google Scholar
Vucetich, C.G., Pullar, W.A., (1963). Ash beds and soils in Rotorua District. Proceedings of the New Zealand Ecological Society 10, 65–72.Google Scholar
Weir, A.H., Catt, J.A., Madgett, P.A., (1971). Postglacial soil formation in the loess of Pegwell Bay, Kent (England). Geoderma 5, 131–149.Google Scholar
West, R.G., Wilson, D.G., (1966). Cromer Forest Bed Series. Nature (London) 209, 497–498.Google Scholar
Willis, E.H., (1961). Marine transgression sequences in the English Fenlands. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 95, 368–376.Google Scholar
Working Group on the Origin and Nature of Paleosols(1971). Criteria for the recognition and classification of paleosols. Yaalon, D.H., Paleopedology International Society of Soil Science and Israel Universities Press Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Yaalon, D.H., (1971). Soil forming processes in time and space. Yaalon, D.H., Paleopedology International Society of Soil Science and Israel Universities Press Jerusalem.Google Scholar