Utilization for agriculture and forestry of Graulehme,Tertiary paleosols in central Europe

The Graulehme (grey loams) are relict soils or paleosols formed during the Tertiary or earlier but persisting locally on land surfaces. Thus, for example, the Permotriassic peneplain of the Rhinish Massif in Germany was mantled by deep soils during most of the Tertiary, but these were largely removed during a period of uplift and dissection in the Late Tertiary and the Pleistocene. Graulehme remained on the parts of the massif that lagged behind in the general uplift and therefore suffered little erosion. These paleosols now occupy the flat and low-lying positions in the landscape. Other components of the soil pattern are Rankers, acid brown earths and Rotlehme, the last also being paleosois but of limited extent.The Graulehme are high in silt and clay, plastic, virtually impermeable and low in base saturation and plant nutrients. Consequently, the soils are not suitable for cultivation generally. Exceptions are local bodies of the paleosols where materials from acid brown earths have been mixed with or mantle the Graulehme. The paleosols are suitable for pasture without drainage but require lime, complete fertilizer and modern management. The Graulehme are also suitable for forestry. Spruce is the best adapted species, but beech and oak can also be grown.     

Paleosols of kurgans of the Early Iron Age in the Transural steppe zone

Paleosol studies of archaeological monuments of different ages have been conducted on the Transural Plateau. The morphological and physicochemical properties of paleosols under burial mounds (kurgans) of the Early Iron Age (the fifth and fourth centuries BC) were compared with the properties of background surface soils. A paleosol of the Savromat epoch (2500 BP) is characterized by high contents of gypsum and soluble salts. The presence of humus tongues in its profile attests to the aridity and continentality of the climatic conditions during that epoch. Paleosols buried under kurgans of the Late Sarmatian epoch and the Hun epoch (about 1600 BP) are characterized by a higher content of humus and greater depth of the carbonate horizon, which attests to the humidization of climatic conditions. The evolution of soils as related to climate dynamics in the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD is characterized.     

Note on local applications of paleopedology in central North Island,New Zealand

Paleosols at the land surface and others that are buried are formed almost entirely from tephra parent materials. Current information on nutrient uptake by trees, on highway construction, pipe corrosion, and construction of earthworks is summarized briefly in this paper.     

Paleosol studies of burial mounds in the Ilovlya River valley (the Privolzhskaya Upland)

Paleosols buried under kurgans of the Bronze (end of the fourth and the third millennia BC), Early Iron (1st–3rd centuries AD), and Medieval (13th century AD) epochs have been studied on the Ilovlya River (a tributary of the Don River) terrace. The evolution of chestnut soils in the south of the Privolzhskaya Upland during the last 5000 years has been traced. It is shown that the mean weighted contents and distribution of soluble salts, gypsum, and carbonates in the soil profiles have been subjected to cyclic changes. The total microbial biomass and its trophic structure in the A1, B1, and B2k horizons of paleosols of different ages have been determined. A comparative analysis of the morphological, chemical, and microbiological data on the paleosols of different ages has been used to reconstruct the climatic dynamics for the last 50 centuries. The aridity of the climate in the studied region increased at the end of the third-the beginning of the second millennia BC and in the second and third centuries AD. The humidization of the climate took place in the 1st and in the 12th–13th centuries AD.     

Origin and nature of halloysite in Ando soils from Towada tephra,Japan

The origin and nature of halloysite in Ando soils from Towada tephra were investigated. These soils were formed from five tephras: Towada-a (1,000 years old), Towada-b (2,000 years old), Chuseri (4,000 years old), Nanbu (8,600 years old) and Ninokura (10,000 years old).Formation of halloysite took place only in the buried soils from Nanbu and Ninokura tephras occurring in an “accumulating zone”, where thicknesses of overburden tephra deposits were mostly 2.5 m or greater and silica enrichment of the clay fractions could occur.The amounts of halloysite were greater in (1) the soils from Ninokura tephra than in those from Nanbu tephra, and greater in (2) the humus horizons as compared to the nonhumus horizons of these same soils. The mean sizes of spheroidal halloysite particles and the ratios of numbers of tubular to spheroidal forms differed with differences in soil horizons and age.High-resolution electron micrographs of glycerol-solvated spheroidal halloysite particles had lattice images of 11 Å due to (001) from the exterior to the interior and had no indications of layer separation. Moreover, the central core of spheroidal halloysite with a diameter of 150 Å showed neither layer structure nor allophane spherules.Results obtained in this study thus indicate that spheroidal and tubular forms of halloysite were formed concurrently in these Ando soils.     

Geomorphic implications of Pre-Wisconsin soils on the White River Plateau erosion surface of northwestern Colorado

The White River Plateau erosion surface (Miocene-Pliocene) at an elevation of approximately 2850 m (9500 ft) is dominated by weakly developed Holocene soils which commonly possess simple A-C horizonation. However, Pre-Wisconsin soils occur on the surface in isolated areas at both high and low topographic sites, most notably in Triangle Park. These Pre-Wisconsin soils consist of composite, polygenetic profiles having truncated, clayey subsoils which are overlain by stone or pebble lines, colluvium, soil creep, and probable local eolian deposits Truncation of the paleosols preceded development of the Holocene soils, which have formed on bedrock surfaces and have been superposed on the truncated, buried paleosols Soil distribution and character, in relation to structure of bedrock on the erosion surface, indicate that the surface as it now exists is structurally controlled and has a topography generated in late Tertiary to Pre-Wisconsin time.     

白垩纪钙质古土壤的发生学特征及古环境意义

古土壤形成于过去环境,是揭示环境变化历史的重要材料。新近纪(23.03 M a)以前形成的古土壤,年代久远、埋藏深、受成岩作用改造强烈,其发生学特征研究是古环境重建的基础。本文通过对白垩纪时期不同地点的钙质古土壤的发生学研究,拟恢复研究区域古环境。研究表明,古土壤剖面中的A层和B层形态分别产生变化,但层次差异依然明显,且表层土壤有机质含量一般高于表下层,钙积层(Bk)普遍发生并富含碳酸盐结核。可以观察到古土壤中方解石沿根孔淀积特征以及具滑擦面。钙质古土壤质地偏粗,为壤质砂土和砂质壤土。古土壤Bk层中的Ca、Mn、Sr相对富集,其余常量元素与Ba、Sc、Nb、Th、U、Cr、V、Co、N i等元素降低;δCe和δEu负异常以及相对富集重稀土元素。分别按照中国土壤分类系统和美国土壤系统分类两种分类体系进行了古土壤分类。由古土壤类型和特征可以推断白垩纪不同时期,在四川盆地梓潼—巴中地区、辽宁金岭寺—羊山盆地和松辽盆地出现过半湿润至半干旱的气候环境。     

Buried vertic paleosols of the North Caucasus in the third millennia BC

Paleosols buried under kurgans dating back to the Yamnaya, Catacomb, and Post-Catacomb cultural epochs of the Bronze Age (4600–3900 BP) on the territory of the Stavropol Upland (the North Caucasus) in the area occupied by vertic chernozems were studied. It was found that solonchakous and deeply solonchakous and solonetzic chestnut soils and solonetzes proper predominated in the study area during the Bronze Age. The solonetzic process was the leading pedogenetic process in the automorphic paleosols of the second half of the third millennium BC. The vertic features were weakly developed in the automorphic paleosols; they were better manifested in the paleosols developed on the floodplains. The paleosol data were used to reconstruct the environmental conditions in the region during the Bronze Age. The climatic conditions of that period were more arid and with less sharp contrasts between wet and dry seasons in comparison with the modern climate.     

Paleosol and paleoenvironmental conditions in the Lower Volga steppes during the Golden Horde period (13th–14th centuries AD)

Paleosols buried under steppe kurgans of the Golden Horde period (13th–14th centuries AD) in the Lower Volga basin are characterized by an increased humus content, lower salinity and gypsum content, and higher magnetic susceptibility of the soil material in comparison with the paleosols buried in the preceding period and the background surface soils. A comparative analysis of the morphological, chemical, and magnetic properties of the buried and surface soils allows us to conclude that an increase in climatic humidity within this dry region took place in the period of the high Middle Ages, with a peak in the 13th–14th centuries AD. The climatic change was manifested in the soil evolution at the taxonomic levels of soil genera and soil subtypes (in the ecotone zones). On the basis of measured magnetic susceptibility values, the mean annual precipitation levels in the Golden Horde period have been reconstructed. According to our estimates, the mean annual precipitation in the Lower Volga basin in that time was 30–80 mm higher than at present. The favorable paleoenvironmental and paleosol conditions of the Golden Horde period were important factors that affected the ethnic and political situation in the Lower Volga region.     

Soils, vegetation, and climate of the southern Transural region in the Middle Bronze Age (by the example of the Arkaim fortress)

Paleosols of the unique fortress of Arkaim located in the steppe zone of the southern Transural region (Chelyabinsk oblast) were investigated. The dating of the buried soils was performed using the radiocarbon method. The time of building this archeological monument is the Middle Bronze Age (the Sintashta culture; the calibrated dating with 1σ confidence is 3700–4000 years ago). Seven pits of paleosols and ten pits of background ordinary chernozems were studied. The soils are loamy and sandy-loamy. The morphological and chemical properties of the buried and background ordinary chernozems are similar; they differ by the lower content of readily soluble salts in the paleosols as compared to the background ones. The sporepollen spectrum of the Arkaim paleosol is transitional from the steppe to the forest-steppe type. During the existence of this settlement, pine forests with fern ground cover grew, and hygrophytic species (alder and spruce) that nowadays are not recorded in the plant cover occurred. The main feature of the paleosols is the presence of pollen of xerophytic and halophytic herbaceous plants there. The few pollen grains of broad-leaved species testify to a higher heat supply as compared to the current one. Judging by the results of the spore-pollen and microbiomorphic analyses, the climate during the time of building the walls of the settlement was somewhat moister and warmer (or less continental) than the present-day climate. The duration of this period appeared to be short; therefore, soil properties corresponding to the changed environment could not be formed. They reflect the situation of the preceding period with the climatic characteristics close to the present-day ones.     

Buried late holocene paleosols of the nienshants cultural-historical monument in St. Petersburg

Buried Late Holocene paleosols of the Nienshants historical monument at the junction of the Neva and Okhta rivers (St. Petersburg) have been studied. These soils developed from estuary deposits of the Littorina basin with abundant artifacts of the Neolithic and Early Iron ages (7–2 ka BP). The soil cover of the area consists of the mature dark-humus profile-gleyed soils on elevated elements of the mesotopography (3.0–3.5 a.s.l.) and dark-humus gley soils in the local depressions (2.0–2.6 m a.s.l.). The soils are characterized by the low to moderate content of humus of the fulvate-humate type. The beginning of humus formation in the dark-humus gley soil on the slope facing the Neva River is estimated at about 2600 yrs ago; for the darkhumus profile-gleyed soils of the studied paleocatena, at about 2000 and 1780 yrs ago; and for the darkhumus gley soil, at about 1440 years ago. Judging from the spore-pollen spectra, the development of these soils took place in the Subatlantic period under birch and pine-birch forests with the admixture of spruce and alder trees. The gleyed horizons of the buried soil at the depth of 1.6–1.2 m on the Neva-facing slope date back to the Late Subboreal period (2500–2600 yrs ago), when pine-birch-spruce forests were widespread in the area. The new data contribute to our knowledge of the environmental conditions during the Neolithic and Iron ages.     

Comparative characterization of microbial communities in kurgans,paleosols buried under them,and background surface soils in the steppe zone of the Lower Volga region

A comparative analysis of the state of microbial communities in kurgans, paleosols buried under them, and background surface soils in the dry steppe zone of the Lower Volga region has been performed. It is shown that the population density of microorganisms of various trophic groups in the kurgans is an order of magnitude lower than that in the A1 horizon of the corresponding buried paleosols and background surface soils within the areas of chestnut, light chestnut, and solonetzic soils. The respiration activity of the microbial communities in the upper layer of the kurgans is comparable with that in the A1 horizons of the background surface soils; it decreases in the deeper layers of the kurgans. In the A1 horizon of the buried paleosols, the respiration activity is approximately the same as in the deep layers of the kurgans. In the buried paleosols, the spatial variability in the numbers of soil microorganisms is approximately the same or somewhat higher than that in the background surface soils. The spatial variability in the respiration activity of the buried paleosols is two to four times higher than that in the background surface soils.     

The biomass of fungal mycelium in buried paleosols and surface soils of the steppe zone

The contents of fungal mycelium have been studied in paleosols of ancient archeological monuments and in surface soils within the steppe, dry steppe, and desert zones of European Russia, on the Stavropol, Privolzhskaya, and Ergeni uplands. The buried paleosols date back to the Bronze Age (4600–4500 and 4000–3900 BP), the Early Iron Age (1900–1800 BP), and the early 18th century (1719–1721). The fungal mycelium has been found in all these paleosols. The biomass of fungal mycelium varies from 2 to 124 μg/g of soil. The distribution patterns of fungal mycelium in the profiles of buried paleosols and surface soils have been identified. It is shown that the dark-colored mycelium is typical of the ancient paleosols. In some cases, the content of the dark-colored mycelium in them may reach 100% of the total mycelium biomass.     

A micromorphological index of soil development for the Quaternary geology research

Profile development indices of Harden [Harden, J.W., 1982. A quantitative index of soil development from field: examples from a chronosequence in Central California. Geoderma 285, 1–98] and Ferrari and Magaldi [Ferrari, G., Magaldi, D., 1983. Significato ed applicazioni della paleopedologia nella stratigrafia del Quaternario. Boll. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Verona 10, 315–340] have shown their utility for comparative dating of some paleosols during geomorphological and geological surveys. In Italy and other countries, pedostratigraphic methods have been commonly applied to soil profiles formed in continental formations. Unfortunately, buried and relict paleosols are very scarce or badly preserved in some areas of Italy due to past and recent tectonic activity and to strong human impact dating back to prehistoric times.In order to use relict paleosols for correct chronostratigraphic interpretation of relict paleosols and in order to correlate them with old landscape forms for the reconstruction of Quaternary sequences, a new micromorphological index (MISODI) for assessing soil development and degree of weathering was devised. The index was tested in the extensional tectonic basin of L'Aquila-Scoppito (Abruzzi, Central Italy) where some chronostratigraphic information is available.Results demonstrate that there is a good relationship between presumed relative age of paleosols and degree of weathering and pedogenesis in B and B/C horizons as assessed by this index. The index has the potential to be adapted for application to other paleosol types in other countries.     

Age and activation of microbial communities in soils under burial mounds and in recent surface soils of steppe zone

Chestnut paleosols buried under steppe kurgans about 4800, 4000, and 2000 years ago and their background analogues were studied in the dry steppe zone on the Volga-Don interfluve. Morphological, chemical, microbiological, biochemical, and radiocarbon studies were performed. Paleoclimatic conditions in the region were reconstructed on the basis of paleosol data. The ages of microbial fractions isolated from the buried and surface soils were determined using the method of ¹⁴C atomic mass-spectrometry. It reached 2100 years in the A1 horizon of the buried paleosol, which corresponded to the archaeological age of the kurgan (1st century AD). The ages of microbial biomass isolated from the B2 horizons of the buried paleosol and the background surface soil comprised 3680 ± 35 and 3300 ± 30 years, respectively. The obtained data confirmed our assumption about preservation of microorganisms of the past epochs in the paleosols buried under archaeological monuments. It is ensured by various mechanisms of adaptation of soil microbial communities to unfavorable environmental conditions (anabiosis, transformation of bacteria into nanoforms, etc.). The possibility to stimulate germination of the ancient dormant microbial pool isolated from the buried paleosols by 2–3 orders of magnitude with the use of β-indolyl-3-acetic acid as a signal substance was demonstrated.     

Anthropogenic sediments and soils of tells of the Balkans and Anatolia: Composition,genesis, and relationships with the history of landscape and human occupation

Soils and sediments composing Tell Körtik Tepe (Epipaleolithic, Turkey) and Tell Yunatsite (Chalcolithic (Eneolithic), Bulgaria) have been studied with the aim to gain a better insight into their microfabrics, determine the composition of anthropogenic artifacts, and, on this basis, to analyze similarities and distinctions between these objects and the modern soils of urban areas. The methods of micromorphology, scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray microanalyzer, X-ray fluorometry, and other techniques to determine the chemical and physical properties of the soils and sediments have been applied. Two paleosols have been identified in Tell Yunatsite with a total thickness of 9 m: the paleosol buried under the tell and the paleosol in its middle part. Sediments of Tell Körtik Tepe have a total thickness of up to 5 m; their accumulation began at the end of Pleistocene over the surface of buried paleosol. The cultural layer of the tells consists of construction debris mainly represented by a mixture of clay and sand and of domestic wastes with the high content of phosphorus. The major source of phosphorus is calcium phosphate (apatite) of bone tissues. The abundance of various anthropogenic materials in the sediments is clearly seen in thin sections. Even in the paleosols developed within the cultural layer (the mid-profile paleosol in Tell Yunatsite), the amount of microinclusions of bone fragments, charcoal, and burnt clay (ceramics) is very high. Micromorphological data indicate that up to 50% of the layered material filling an Epipaleolithic construction in Tell Körtik Tepe consists of the anthropogenic inclusions: bone fragments, charcoal, etc. The features of pedogenic transformation are present in the sediments. Such sediments can be classified as synlithogenic soils similar to the modern Urbic Technosols. It is shown that the formation of paleosols and sediments of Tell Körtik Tepe took place under extreme environmental conditions—arid climate of the latest Pleistocene climate cooling phase (the Younger Dryas, Tell Körtik Tepe)—and intensive anthropogenic loads (tells Körtik Tepe and Yunatsite).     

Specificity of the morphology of interglacial and interstadial paleosol complexes of the middle and late Pleistocene in the center of the East European Plain

Paleosol studies were conducted on the Moskva-Oka interfluve in the center of the East European Plain. Three paleosol complexes were distinguished in the sequence of soil-loess deposits: the Mezin complex of the Late Pleistocene age and the Kamensk and Inzhavin complexes of the Middle Pleistocene. Each of them consisted of the paleosols of two phases: the earlier interglacial phase and the later interstadial phase. In some cases, the paleosols of these two phases were separated by a thin layer of sediments with distinct features of cryoturbation. Paleosols of the interstadial phases are represented by the dark-colored humus-rich meadowchernozemic and chernozem-like prairie soils. During the interglacial periods in the Middle and Late Pleistocene, the soils with pronounced eluvial-illuvial differentiation of their profiles were developed under forest cenoses. Data on the morphology of paleosols; their physical, chemical, and physicochemical properties (particle-size distribution, pH, humus, carbonates, amorphous and crystallized iron oxides, etc.); and their micro-morphological features studied in thin sections prepared from undisturbed soil monoliths make it possible to judge the character of the pedogenesis during different epochs.     

Studies on genesis and classification of soils in warm-temperate region of southwest Japan

In the previous paper (1), it was shown that the soil distribution pattern on Pleistocene terraces and hilly areas in the vicinity of Lake Ramana in Tokai region along the Pacific Coast of Southwest Japan has a close correlation to the cyclic development of topography caused by glacio-eustatic movement of sea level during Pleistocene. And it was inferred that in the area Red-Yellow soils occur as relict or buried soils on the older ground surfaces of the higher terraces and foothills which are considered to have been formed before Shimosueyoshi transgression (Riss-Würm interglacial), whereas YellowBrown (Forest) soils develop on the younger ground surfaces of the middle and the lower terraces or upper hillslopes which are considered to have begun to develop after the transgression.