Eolian sedimentation and soil development on a semiarid to subhumid grassland, Tertiary Ogallala and Quaternary Blackwater Draw formations, Texas and New Mexico High Plains

Dust and environment in the Southern High Plains of North America

“…1, is an immense plateau located in north-western Texas and eastern New Mexico. The uppermost soils of the SHP were formed by the slow and gradual process of aeolian deposition on grassland vegetation (Gustavson & Holliday, 1999). Within the last century, however, most of the natural grassland vegetation has been converted to a vast patchwork of highly erodible cropland.…”

Effect of vegetation coverage on aeolian dust accumulation in a semiarid steppe of northern China

“…Leys and McTainsh (1999) also showed that the filtration effect of vegetation on the dust is a crucial process, estimating that shelterbelts in Australia can reduce downwind dust sedimentation by more than 50%. A large number of studies have confirmed that dust deposition played an important role in soil formation of semi-arid and semi-humid lands (Cattle et al, 2002;Derry and Chadwick, 2007;Gustavson and Holliday, 1999;Johnston, 2001;McIntosh et al, 2004;Tiller et al, 1987;Wen et al, 2002). Some studies have demonstrated that dust fall can enrich various nutrients (P, K, Mg, Na, Ca, Fe, Cu, Mn and Mo) in surface soil (Reynolds et al, 2001;Wen et al, 2002) and that the increase of certain elements indirectly influences the utility efficiency of other elements.…”

The discovery and character of Pleistocene calcrete uranium deposits in the Southern High Plains of west Texas, United States

“…Within the Ogallala and overlying Blackwater Draw Formations, numerous calcic horizons indicate periods when evapotranspiration exceeded precipitation, resulting in the precipitation and formation of calcium carbonate (caliche layers) under arid to semiarid conditions (Gustavson and Winkler, 1988;Holliday, 1995;Gustavson, 1996;Gustavson and Holliday, 1999).…”

“…3). The unit consists of eolian sand, silt, and sandy mud interbedded with at least six buried calcareous soil horizons that are each 1-2 m thick (Holliday, 1989;Gustavson, 1996;Gustavson and Holliday, 1999). Studies suggest that accumulation of the soil layers occurred during periods of prolonged aridity; according to Holliday (1989Holliday ( , p. 1598, "each cycle of sedimentation-stability lasted for several hundred thousand years and that [sic] the last depositional event occurred at least several tens of thousands of years ago."…”