Historical Development of Soil and Weathering Profile Concepts from Europe to the United States of America
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In the 1870s, agricultural geologists (pioneer pedologists) in Germany, Denmark, and Russia conceived of the soil profile. In more than a century since, pedologists have generally agreed on the reasons and purpose for using symbols such as A‐B‐C for the designations, but not on the definitions themselves or the assigned significance of the designations. In this paper, we submit that two seemingly conflicting classes of profile concepts evolved in the USA from European roots. The conflict stems historically from arbitrarily defined thin and thick profile concepts, often referred to as the soil or geologic weathering profiles, respectively. The pedologic or thin profile concept is depth‐restricted when compared with the geologic thick weathering profile. The geologic profile concept was developed as a homologue of the pedologic profile and is considered to be the full or complete profile of weathering. Throughout the 20th century many variations of the concept of profile appeared, and all seem to have pedo–geo conflicts, exemplified by the myriad C horizon definitions by soil scientists. Recent concepts, such as the pedoweathering profile, have integrated the terminology used by pedologists and geologists into a functional and useful classification for all horizons of complete profiles. Full 21st century understanding of soils beyond the historic 20th century needs of agriculture, increasingly requires a knowledge of soil properties to greater depth than merely the historic solum and upper C horizon, and makes understanding subsolum properties more critical than ever before.Keywords:
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Weathering is a part of geomorphic processes leading to the disintegration and decomposition of rocks and minerals on the earth’s surface as a result of physical and chemical action that leads to the formation of soil being a most vital natural resource of rock weathering. Development of soils in an environment enhances plants dependence on it for growth, and man depends directly or indirectly on plants for food, thus the functions of soil as a fundamental interface, providing an excellent example of the integration among many parts of the earth system. Hence, geomorphology research being based on processes of the earth’s surfacing that result into most of the physical features seen on the face of the earth.
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Carbon fibers
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Research Article| August 01, 2019 The Central Role of Weathering in the Geosciences Patrick J. Frings; Patrick J. Frings Earth Surface Geochemistry, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, GermanyDepartment of Geosciences, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Frescativägen 40, 10405 Stockholm, Sweden E-mail: patrick.frings@gfz-potsdam.de Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Heather L. Buss Heather L. Buss School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, Clifton, BS8 1RJ Bristol, United Kingdom E-mail: H.Buss@bristol.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Elements (2019) 15 (4): 229–234. https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.15.4.229 Article history first online: 29 Jul 2019 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Patrick J. Frings, Heather L. Buss; The Central Role of Weathering in the Geosciences. Elements 2019;; 15 (4): 229–234. doi: https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.15.4.229 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyElements Search Advanced Search Weathering is the chemical and physical alteration of rock at the surface of the Earth, but its importance is felt well beyond the rock itself. The repercussions of weathering echo throughout the Earth sciences, from ecology to climatology, from geomorphology to geochemistry. This article outlines how weathering interacts with various geoscience disciplines across a huge range of scales, both spatial and temporal. It traces the evolution of scientific thinking about weathering and man's impact on weathering itself—for better and for worse. Future computational, conceptual and methodological advances are set to cement weathering's status as a central process in the Earth sciences. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.
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Outcrop
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Regolith dating clearly shows that most of the weathering profiles found on the Australian continent have existed since the Tertiary. This is a fundamental problem for determining and understanding the processes that may have contributed to weathering profile formation because it introduces the possibility that the profiles being studied are fossils, preserved remnants of once more active systems. Even in tropical climates, which have long been advocated as the environments most likely to be responsible for 'laterite' formation, the possible antiquity of the weathering profiles (e.g. Twidale 1994, Nott 1994 and Dammer et al. 1996) could make it difficult to distinguish between what are products of current weathering processes and what are products of weathering that has occurred in the past.
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This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction What makes arid environments unusual in terms of weathering systems? Theoretical underpinnings of weathering systems research Current weathering study methods Linking processes to form in arid weathering systems Explaining the development of weathering landforms in arid environments Weathering rates in arid environments Arid weathering and landscape evolution Scale and arid weathering systems Acknowledgement References
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The biological properties of two profiles developed under the shortgrass prairie were investigated. One of the profiles was found to contain a horizon (B22t horizon of profile 2) that may have been the A horizon of a preexisting soil. Grass-opal phytoliths were extracted from all the horizons of profile 2 and classified. Phytoliths were found only in the All and B22t horizons. Panicoid phytoliths, derived from species representative of the tallgrass prairie, were found in the B22t horizon of profile 2. Organic carbon and total nitrogen are higher in the B22t horizon of profile 2 than in the corresponding depths of the other profile. Most biological activities, such as root biomass and soil enzyme activities, are greater in the B22t horizon of profile 2. However, biological activities are higher in the soil profile not containing the buried horizon above the corresponding depths at which the buried horizon occurs. The differences in the biological activities of the two profiles can probably be attributed to different water distributions in the two profiles.
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