GELISOLSPERMAFROST SOIL

1. Permafrost within 100 cm of the soil surface

2. Gelic materials within 100 cm of the soil surface and permafrost within 200 cm of the soil surface.

3. Must be frozen for at least two years.

Gelisols must:

A dark organic layer with a mineral layer. These layers are usually mixed due to cyroturbation.

Slow decomposition. Store large amounts of organic carbon. They can form in any parent material. There is no limitation in relief. Takes a long lime to form. Likely vegetation is lichens, mosses, and

grasses.

Characteristics

A typical diagnostic feature is permafrost. Argillic.

Diagnostic horizons

United States Gelisols Coverage

Gelisol Suborders

cyroturbation- frost churning

Likely Gelisol Environments

Found in high altitude or polar environments.

Global coverage of Gelisols

Baby SoilsEntisols Soils

Entisols are soils of recent origin. The central concept is soils developed in unconsolidated parent material with usually no genetic horizons except an A horizon. All soils that do not fit into one of the other 11 orders are Entisols. Thus, they are characterized by great diversity, both in environmental setting and land use.

Many Entisols are found in steep, rocky settings. However, Entisols of large river valleys and associated shore deposits provide cropland and habitat for millions of people worldwide.

Entisols are defined as soils that do not show any profile development other than an A horizon. An entisol has no diagnostic horizons, and most are basically unaltered from their parent material, which can be unconsolidated sediment or rock

Globally Entisols are the most extensive of the soil orders, occupying ~18% of the Earth's ice-free land area. In the US, Entisols occupy ~12.3% of the land area.

•Unweatherable parent materials sandiron oxide, aluminum oxide, kaolinite clay.•Erosion - common on shoulder slopes; other kinds also important.•Deposition - continuous, repeated deposition of new parent materials by water, wind, colluvium, mudflows, other means.•Flooding or saturation.•Cold climate - must not be sufficiently cold in winter for permafrost.•Dry climate.•Shallow to bedrock - may be rock resistant to weathering, such as quartzite or ironstone.•Toxic parent materials – serpentine soils, mine spoils, sulfidic clays

Reasons for Entisols

Enttisols are Divided into 6 suborders

Wassents - are submerged for more than 21 hours every dayAquents – have a water table at or near the surface for much of the year formed on river banks, tidal mudflats etc. Here, general wetness limits developmentArents - have been disturbed and contain fragments of diagnostic horizons that are not arranged in any discernible order diagnostic horizons cannot develop because of deep mixing through plowing, spading, or other methods of moving by humans.

Orthents - common Entisols that don't meet criteria of other suborders Found on recent erosional surfaces or very old landforms completely devoid of weatherable minerals.

Psamments - very sandy layers where development is precluded by the impossibility of weathering the sand. Formed from shifting or glacial sand dunes.

Distribution of Entisol Subgroups in the USA

Suborder Diagram

Udipsamment landscapenorthern Michigan

This glacial outwash plain in northern Michigan is dominated by sandy soils. Mean annual precipitation is ~30" (760 mm). Low fertility is a severe limitation to use of these soils. Native vegetation consists of Jack Pine, white oak, and scrub oak. Where cleared, successful agricultural production requires lime and fertilizer inputs.

Typic Udipsamment

This soil occurs in glacial outwash on outwash plains in northern Michigan. The B horizon has a slight accumulation of illuvial sesquioxides and thin coatings of illuvial organic matter, but not sufficient quantities to qualify as a Spodosol. The sand textures also prevent the Bw horizon from qualifying as a cambic diagnostic horizon in Soil Taxonomy..

Inceptisols

General• Inceptum - Latin

for 'beginning'o aka 'Teenage' soils

• Min. horizon development

• Support 20% of world population

General Location Characteristics• Humid & subhumid climate

o NOT arid• Fairly steep slopes

• Young geomorphic features

• Resistant parent materials

• Low temp./ low precip.

• Most develop under forests

Diagnostic Horizons• Shallow solum

• Few horizons: AC, AR, ABC

• Orchic or umbric horizono Histic horizon where poorly drainedo Some plaggen

• Cambic subsurface horizono No spodic, argillic, kandic, natric, or oxic horizon

Northern Michigan

West Virginia

Processes• Slow weathering

• High erosiono Colluvium formation

• Poorly drained areas= RMF's & high bases

Central Idaho

Central Idaho

Bibliography

Cooper, Terry. Unit 5, Chap. 3 The Soil Suborders of Minnesota.http://www.swac.umn.edu/classes/soil2125/doc/s5chp3.htm

Grunwald, Sabine. Soil & Water Science Department. Inceptisols.http://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/faculty/grunwald/teaching/eSoilScience/

inceptisolss.shtml

McDaniel, Paul. The Twelve Soil Orders. University of Idaho, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/soilorders/inceptisols.ht

National Resources Conservation Services. Inceptisols.http://soils.usda.gov/technical/classification/orders/inceptisols.html

Oxisols & MollisolsAndrew Ruona & Nick Deutsch

OxisolsOxisols (From French oxide, "oxide.")

Oxisols are highly weathered soils of tropical and subtropical regions. They are dominated by low activity minerals, such as quartz, kaolinite, and iron oxides. Tend to have indistinct horizons.

Oxisols

7.5% of the global ice-free land area. In the US, they only occupy .02% of the land area and are restricted to Hawaii

OxisolsCharacteristics:- Soil formation

* Weathering* Humification

- Always Red, or yellowish due to high concentration of Iron & AluminumOxides. - Contain: 1:1 type clays, quartz, Kaolin and other OM.

Diagnostic HorizonOchric epipedon:

- Wimpy A- Paler

Chroma >3.5Value >3.5

- Low OM- Hard, massive when dry

OxisolOxic Horizon:

- Tropical Horizons- Highly weathered layer of only Fe and Al oxides and 1:1 clay minerals- Low Ph (Acidic)- Low fertility

Processes

Hydrolysis, hydration, dissolution, oxidation, leaching, desilication, and acidification are very common in Oxisol soils.

This means that the soils contain few weatherable minerals, low pH, deep profiles and high levels of Al.

OxisolTypical environments:

- Tropical and subtropical regions

- Best known for occurrence in the tropical rain forest

- 15 to 25 degrees north and south of the Equator

Mollisols- Derived from Latin "mollis", soft

- Soils of grassland ecosystems

- Mollisols occur in the middle latitudes, and are extensive prairie regions

Characteristics of Mollisols• Thick, Dark surface horizons

o A horizon ~60 - 80 cm• High in mineral concentrations• Formation due to:

o Long-term additions of organic mattero Decomposition, Humification

• Mollisols are very productive soils and used heavily for agriculture throughout the world (economically important)

• Developed from calcareous parent material• Globally the occupy 7% of ice free land area• In US, Mollisols are the most extensive soil order,

they cover about 21.5% of the land area

Global Distribution of Mollisols

Distribution of Mollisols in US

Mollisols in the Great State of Minnesota

Typical environments of Mollisols• Mollisols develop in Subhumid to Semiarid

climateso 30 - 55 degrees N and So Large range in temperatures o 10 inches of rain to 32 inches of rain

• Winters very cold, Summer are warm to hot

Diagnostic Horizon• Nearly all Mollisols have a Mollic Epipedon

o Softo Thick (>18 cm)o Dark (Chroma <3.5)o > 1% Organic Materialo Grasslandso Strong Structureo 50% Base Saturation

• May also have Argillic, Natric, or Calcic horizons

More pictures

Alfisols & Ultisols

Characteristics Alfisols UltisolsFertile forest soils Ochric and argillic - lowOchric and Argillic base saturation <35%Saturation >35% 8.5% of world land 7% of the world 0% MN cover27% MN cover 9.2% US land cover14% US land cover

Characteristics Alfisols Ultisols -Moderately leached soils that have -strongly leached, acid forest soilsRelatively high native fertility with relatively low native fertility -Mainly formed under forest and have - found in humid temperate andSubsurface horizon in which clays tropical areasHave accumulated - much Ca, Mg, and K has been -Found in temperate, humid and leached from soilSubhumid regions - 8.1% global ice free land cover-10.1% global ice free land cover - forest soils of warm regions-Hardwood forests

Suborders Alfisols UltisolsAlf= from pedalfer (1938) Ult= Last “latin orgin”Aqualfs= water Aquults= waterCryalfs= cold Humults= humisUstalfs= semi arid/humid Udults= humidXeralfs= dry summer moist Ustults= semi arid/humidWinter Xerults= dry summer moist Udalfs= Humid winter

Suborders

Alfisols Ultisols

Global distributions Dominant in Ohio river basin, southern/Western Europe, Baltic region, drierParts of peninsular India, Sudan, and Much of south America

Dominant in south eastern United States, South America, and China.

Latitudinal soil distribution

US distribution Alfisols distribution

Ultisols distribution

Minnesota soils No Ultisols present

in Minnesota to date

Soil Horizons

Formation processes Alfisols UltisolsInclude O, A, E, B include A, E, BtMineral soil Mineral soil Older than Alfisols

Alfisol

Ultisol

Andisols- Formed in Volcanic Ash- High content of volcanic glass - Soils with more than 60% volcanic material- Dominated by short-range-order minerals- Relatively young soil

Low Bulk Density Moderately rapid permeability Very high Nutrient-holding

and water-holding capacity High Phosphorus fixation Usually very fertile (except in cases where

Phosphorus is easily fixed, making it unavailable to plants – Tropics)

Exist in all climatic regions, especially cool areas with high precipitation

Soil distribution roughly follows the geographic distribution of Volcanoes◦ Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’◦ Rift Valley (Africa)◦ Volcanic regions of Mediterranean countries◦ Hawaii

Globally, andisols are the least extensive soil order

Account for less than 1% of ice-free land area on Earth

Occupy about 1.7% of land area in the U.S.◦ None in MN◦ Mostly in the Pacific NW, where andisols supports

very productive forests

Can occupy any position on the landscape, and can occur at any elevation

Usually have a dark A- horizon

Sources http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/soilorders/andis

ols.htm

http://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/faculty/grunwald/teaching/eSoilScience/andisols.shtml

http://soils.usda.gov/technical/classification/orders/andisols.html

Vertisols

Definition Vertisols (verto, “to turn”) are clay-rich

soils that shrink and swell with changes in moisture content.

Soil volume shrinks with decreasing moisture and expands with increasing moisture.

Shrink/swell causes engineering problems and generally leads to indistinct horizons.

Global Distribution

Vertisols occupy 2% of the U.S.

Suborders Aquerts: Vertisols with a water table at or

near the surface for much of the year Cryerts: Vertisols of cold climates Xererts: Temperate vertisols with very dry

summers and moist winters. Torrerts: Vertisols of dry climates. Usterts: Vertisols of semiarid and subhumid

climates. Uderts: Vertisols of humid climates.

Suborder Distribution

Horizons Very deep A horizon Rarely B (due to mixing), usually A/C Often an Ap layer. The B horizon will also often have a Bss

layer

Ap-

Bss-

2C-

SPODOSOLSspodos: ash Cool, humid, needeleaf forests or sand in

humid climates acidic low in nutrients albic and spodic horizons

Podzolization process Cool, moist climate low temps inhibit decomposition needle litter : slightly acidic, slow to

decompose acidic soil solution (lots of leaching)

removes base cations ALBIC surface horizon which is ash-

colored; coarse; all but Si has been removed

these materials accumulate in the SPODIC HORIZON

SPODOSOL = ALBIC + SPODIC

Humic cryorthod (albic at 10 cm)

Kalkaska, Michigan State Soil

ARIDISOLSaridos: dry not enough moisture to carry soluble

materials out of profile layers of accumulated calcium carbonate or

gypsum or soluble salts or sodium can be fertile if managed

ARIDISOLS = OCHRIC + CAMBIC, ARGILLIC, SALIC, GYPSIC, NATRIC, CALCIC

Casa Grande, Arizona State Soil

The End