Soil studies in relation to geology in an area in north-east Scotland. Part II. The soils and their development

Abstract

The parent material of the soil is one of the most important factors influencing soil development. Where the soil develops on rock the classification of the parent material is relatively straightforward, but in countries such as Britain where widespread glaciation has occurred and the arable soils are mainly developed on glacial drifts, the problem is more complicated. If these drifts are thin and due to a single glaciation there is a close correspondence between them and the underlying rock; but in certain areas, of which north-east Scotland is one, the soil parent materials are complex because of several glaciations and the occurrence of mixed drifts. The mineralogical composition of these drifts in eastern Kincardineshire has been described in Part I of this paper. The area was selected because it provides a good example of diverse rock types of widespread occurrence which have been subjected to three main glaciations. In the present contribution the drifts are discussed in relation to the resulting soil parent materials.The region is relatively low-lying, the highest point being about 1000 ft. There is a flat or gently undulating stretch along the coast, and in the northern district this is succeeded inland by hummocky ground with rocky knolls and depressions generally filled with peat. In the southern district the inland country is diversified by a range of hills running parallel to the coast and succeeded farther inland by a plain which is the northern part of a broad valley called the Howe of the Mearns.