Minesoils from 1 to 50 years old in southeastern Montana were compared to adjacent natural soils. Due to their maninfluenced origin, minesoils had several unique morphological properties which made them difficult to classify. Weakly consolidated rock fragments, common in minesoils, acted in part like soil in supplying water and in part like rock in preventing root penetration. Low chroma mottles were common in minesoils without the influence of a high water table. Organic C content from 0–10 cm soil depth reached levels found in natural soils within 30 years, but will not reach equilibrium at 20–50 cm for 400 years or more. Litter accumulation was common under pioneer vegetation on minesoils resulting in wide C/N ratios; reduction in available N; successional stagnation; and reduced plant community production. Soluble salts were leached downward in minesoils in tens of years, but thousands of years will probably be required for carbonate removal to occur in the upper 50 cm. Soil structure developed more quickly near the soil surface (10–50 years) than below 10 cm (50–200 years), and was attained sooner in clayey than in sandy minesoils. Many characteristics of minesoils are expected to always be different from natural soils. Well‐designed minesoils can be highly productive, however, in a few cases perhaps exceeding the potential of natural soils.

Many alluvial Argids in central Nevada are cemented by illuvial silica and CaCO3. In loamy soils, microsite deposition of these authigenic components tends to be mutually exclusive, with silica being finely distributed throughout the plasma phase and calcite plugging packing voids formed by skeleton grains and root channels. The following model is proposed to explain the differences in depositional locations of silica and CaCO3. As soils dry, calcite precipitates rapidly in an ionic, diffusion‐controlled reaction while monosolicic acid, which requires greater activation energy for Si‐O bond breakage prior to precipitation, is concentrated in the solution phase. Monosilicic acid [Si(OH)4] can diffuse away from the evaporation front into smaller pores where, in contact with higher surface areas, it is absorbed onto clay, sesquioxide, and weathered primary mineral surfaces. Adsorbed silica is a template for further adsorption, and on drying, the precipitation of opaline silica (SiO2). The resulting SiO2 polymers form bonds between adjacent Si(OH)4 absorbing soil particles without necessarily plugging the voids between them. In contrast, CaCO3 plugs large voids by preferentially precipitating on previously deposited calcite crystals. Calcite is more easily redissolved than opaline silica and tends to move lower in the soil profile during wet years. Differences in precipitation processes result in silica‐rich, calcite‐poor argillic and upper duric horizons that grade to more strongly cemented duric/calcic horizons. The latter are characterized by horizontally distributed low calcite durinodes interspersed by more calcareous internodal areas.

Paleosols are soils that formed on landscapes of the geologic past. Three kinds exist -buried, exhumed, and relict. To help reconstruct paleoenvironments and for ease of comparison, we suggest a property-based classification system linked to genetic processes. We use enduring properties because alteration of paleosols following burial is common. Morphological properties such as horizonation, soil fabric, root and worm casts, and redoximorphic features are resistant to alteration and thus are valuable as criteria. Field-observable and micromorphological properties, degree of weathering, and proportion of resistant minerals are also useful as criteria for paleosol orders. Total chemical analysis provides a proxy measure for base saturation and clay mineralogy. We use proxy criteria to help classify paleosols that have changed markedly or have been lithified during or after burial. To an earlier version of the system, we add two new orders and include buried, relict, lithified, and exhumed units at the suborder level. Our system clearly separates paleosol taxon names from those of all ground soils. We use the prescript paleo-at the order level, and kryptic to designate the buried, enduric to designate the relict, lithic to designate the lithified, and emergent to designate the exhumed paleosol suborders. We use prescript modifiers to describe the physical characteristics of the paleosols and postscripts for parent material origin and the extensiveness of the paleosol landscape. We present data and classify a number of paleosols as examples of the system. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

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Loess grain size data used to infer transport direction or wind strength are generally derived from vigorously disaggregated samples. However, these data may not adequately represent the effective particle size distribution during loess transport, if the transported dust contained aggregates of finegrained material. Thin sections of minimally altered C and BC horizons in the late Pleistocene Peoria Loess of Nebraska, USA, indicate the presence of aggregates with diameters of 30 -1000 Am. The larger aggregates (>250 Am) are unlikely to have been transported, and are interpreted as the result of soil faunal activity and other pedogenic processes after deposition. Aggregates smaller than 250 Am could have a similar origin, but laser diffraction particle size analysis suggests that many are sedimentary particles. Comparison of minimally and fully dispersed particle size distributions from each sampling site was used to estimate the modal diameter of aggregates. The aggregate modal diameter becomes finer with decreasing loess thickness, representing increasing distance from the source. A similar trend was observed in the modal diameter of fully dispersed particle size distributions, which represents the mode of sand and silt transported as individual grains. We interpret both trends as the result of sorting during transport, supporting the interpretation that many of the aggregates were transported rather than formed in place. Aggregate content appears to increase with distance from the source, explaining a much more rapid downwind increase in clay content than would be expected if clay were transported as particles smaller than 2 Am diameter. this loess were transported as primary particles, were thoroughly exposed to sunlight and are potentially well suited for luminescence dating. D

The irregular shape, small size, and spotty occurrence of sodium‐affected soils (NaAS) in moderately thick to thin loess over Illinoian till have continued to slow mapping in south‐central Illinois. Use of a Geonics EM‐38 ground conductivity meter to recognize soils with natric horizons in Tennessee suggested that this device would be useful in Illinois. We selected eight areas of NaAS in five counties of south‐central Illinois to find if the EM‐38 would be useful for predicting exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). Approximately 225 observation points, spaced at 10‐m intervals, were established in each area and 107 sample cores were collected for laboratory analyses. Weighted averages of the ESP, electrical conductivity of the saturation extract from a saturated soil paste (ECe), and field pH data for 0 to 75‐ and 75 to 150‐cm depths were compared with the horizontal (EMh) and vertical (EMv) responses and the mean ESP data increases with depth, i.e., 7.0 at 35 cm, 9.7 at 75 cm, and 12.5 at 135 cm. The EMh readings correlate almost as well with ESP (r = 0.73) as with ECe (r = 0.76) for the 0‐ to 75‐cm depths. The EMv readings correlate slightly better with ESP (r = 0.76) than with ECe (r = 0.68) for the 75‐ to 150‐cm depth. These results show that EM readings may by used to predict ESP. The correlations of the depth‐weighted average ESP at the maximum depth for meeting natric horizon criteria in these soils (75 cm), and the EMv readings show that the EM‐38 provides a rapid and accurate method to describe the composition of the map units of NaAS on moderately thick to thin loess over Illinoian till in south‐central Illinois.

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