GELISOLS

1. GELISOLS PERMAFROST SOIL

2. Gelisols must: • 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.

3. Characteristics • 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.

4. Diagnostic horizons • A typical diagnostic feature is permafrost. • Argillic.

5. United States Gelisols Coverage

6. Gelisol Suborders cyroturbation- frost churning

7. Likely Gelisol Environments Found in high altitude or polar environments.

9. Global coverage of Gelisols

10. Entisols Soils Baby Soils

11. 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.

12. Reasons for Entisols • 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

15. Enttisols are Divided into 6 suborders Wassents - are submerged for more than 21 hours every day Aquents– 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 development Arents - 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.

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

17. Distribution of Entisol Subgroups in the USA

18. SuborderDiagram

19. 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.

20. 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..

21. Inceptisols

23. General • Inceptum - Latin for 'beginning' • aka 'Teenage' soils • Min. horizon development • Support 20% of world population

24. General Location Characteristics • Humid & subhumid climate • NOT arid • Fairly steep slopes • Young geomorphic features • Resistant parent materials • Low temp./ low precip. • Most develop under forests

28. Diagnostic Horizons • Shallow solum • Few horizons: AC, AR, ABC • Orchic or umbric horizon • Histic horizon where poorly drained • Some plaggen • Cambic subsurface horizon • No spodic, argillic, kandic, natric, or oxic horizon

29. Northern Michigan

30. West Virginia

31. Processes • Slow weathering • High erosion • Colluvium formation • Poorly drained areas= RMF's & high bases

32. Central Idaho

33. Central Idaho

34. 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

35. Oxisols & Mollisols Andrew Ruona & Nick Deutsch

36. Oxisols Oxisols (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.

37. 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

38. Oxisols Characteristics: - Soil formation * Weathering * Humification - Always Red, or yellowish due to high concentration of Iron & Aluminum Oxides. • Contain: 1:1 type clays, quartz, Kaolin and other OM.

39. Diagnostic Horizon Ochric epipedon: - Wimpy A - Paler Chroma >3.5 Value >3.5 - Low OM - Hard, massive when dry

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

41. 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.

42. Oxisol Typical environments: - Tropical and subtropical regions - Best known for occurrence in the tropical rain forest - 15 to 25 degrees north and south of the Equator

43. Mollisols - Derived from Latin "mollis", soft - Soils of grassland ecosystems - Mollisols occur in the middle latitudes, and are extensive prairie regions

44. Characteristics of Mollisols • Thick, Dark surface horizons • A horizon ~60 - 80 cm • High in mineral concentrations • Formation due to: • Long-term additions of organic matter • 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

45. Global Distribution of Mollisols

46. Distribution of Mollisols in US

47. Mollisols in the Great State of Minnesota

48. Typical environments of Mollisols • Mollisols develop in Subhumid to Semiarid climates • 30 - 55 degrees N and S • Large range in temperatures • 10 inches of rain to 32 inches of rain • Winters very cold, Summer are warm to hot

49. Diagnostic Horizon • Nearly all Mollisols have a Mollic Epipedon • Soft • Thick (>18 cm) • Dark (Chroma <3.5) • > 1% Organic Material • Grasslands • Strong Structure • 50% Base Saturation • May also have Argillic, Natric, or Calcic horizons

50. More pictures