The distribution of silty soils in the Grayling Fingers region of Michigan: Evidence for loess deposition onto frozen ground

Schaetzl, Randall J.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.03.012

Cited by 29 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…There has been extensive research on the loess dust transport and deposition rate, and many methods have been developed to understand the process of loess dust deposition on underlying paleotopography. The literature includes studies that have looked at the origin of loess dust transport using mineralogical and geochemical methods (Schaetzl, ; Muhs et al, ; Zhang et al, ), OSL dating to find the loess deposition rate (Lai et al, ; Chen et al, ; Stevens et al, ; Yang et al, ; Youn et al, ) and loess relief reconstruction through a pedological analysis (Rodzik et al, ). Studies of the loess and palaeosol layer have explored the relationship between climate change and the loess deposition process, and are prominent in loess‐landform research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleotopographic controls on loess deposition in the Loess Plateau of China

Xiong

Tang

Strobl

et al. 2016

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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The underlying pre‐existing paleotopography directly influences the loess deposition process and shapes the morphology of current loess landforms. An understanding of the controlling effects of the underlying paleotopography on loess deposition is critical to revealing the mechanism of loess‐landform formation. However, these controlling effects exhibit spatial variation as well as uncertainty, depending on a study's data sources, methodologies and particular research scope. In this study, the geological history of a study area in the Loess Plateau of China that is subject to severe soil erosion is investigated using detailed geological information and digital elevation models (DEMs), and an underlying paleotopographic model of the area is constructed. Based on the models of modern terrain and paleotopography, we introduce a watershed hierarchy method to investigate the spatial variation of the loess‐landform inheritance relationship and reveal the loess deposition process over different scales of drainage. The landform inheritance relationships were characterized using a terrain‐relief change index (TRCI) and a bedrock terrain controllability index (BTCI). The results show that the TRCI appears to have an inverse relationship with increasing research scope, indicating that, compared with the paleotopography of the region, modern terrain has lower topographic relief over the entire area, while it has higher topographic relief in the smaller, local areas. The BTCI strengthens with increasing drainage area, which demonstrates a strong controlling effect over the entire study area, but a weak effect in the smaller, local areas because of the effect of paleotopography on modern terrain. The results provide for an understanding of the spatial variation of loess deposition in relation to paleotopography and contribute to the development of a process‐based loess‐landform evolution model. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleotopographic controls on loess deposition in the Loess Plateau of China

Xiong

Tang

Strobl

et al. 2016

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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“…the climate would likely have been cold enough to develop permafrost across the Flats, as has been suggested for similar sites in Lower Michigan (Schaetzl, 2008). Permafrost, which likely persisted for a 292 period of time after the ice withdrew and meltwater stopped flowing across the Flats, provides the best explanation of the lack of mixing between the outwash and the sediment above during and after 294 deposition.…”

Section: Origin Of the Loamy Mantle: Background 262mentioning

confidence: 80%

“…3). Because all except the largest parts (lower ends) 154 of these channels are dry today and runoff across the Flats is minimal, these channels were likely cut in the immediate post-glacial interval, when permafrost may have been widespread in this part of 156 Michigan (Schaetzl, 2008). Well-developed soils in the bottoms of the gullies also suggest that they are no longer undergoing incision.…”

Section: Study Area 120mentioning

confidence: 99%

A new depositional model for sand-rich loess on the Buckley Flats outwash plain, northwestern Lower Michigan

et al. 2018

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Loess was first studied in Michigan on the Buckley Flats, where outwash, overlain by ≈70 cm of loamy sediment, was originally interpreted as loess mixed with underlying sands. This paper re-evaluates this landscape through a spatial analysis of data from auger samples and soil pits. To better estimate the loamy sediment's initial textures, we utilized "filtered" laser diffraction data, which remove much of the coarser sand data. Textures of filtered silt data for the loamy sediment are similar to loess. The siltiest soils are found in the low-relief, central part of the Flats. Spatial analyses revealed that many silt fractions are nearly uniformly distributed, suggesting that the loess was not derived from a single source. The previous depositional model for the loamy mantle relied on loessfall followed by pedoturbation, but does not explain (1) the variation in sand contents across the Flats, or (2) the abrupt contact below the loamy mantle. This contact suggests that the outwash was frozen when the sediments above were deposited. Deep gullies at the western margins of the Flats were likely cut as permafrost facilitated runoff. Our new model for the origin of the loamy mantle suggests that the sands on the uplands were generated from eroding gullies and saltated onto the uplands along with loess that fell more widely. Sands saltating to the west of the Flats may have entrained some silts, facilitating loessfall downwind. At most sites, the loamy mantle gets increasingly silty near the surface, suggesting that saltation ended before loess deposition. CommentsThis is a manuscript of an article published as Nyland, K.E., R.J. Schaetzl, A. Ignatov, and B.A. Miller. A new depositional model for sand-rich loess on the Buckley Flats outwash plain, northwestern Lower Michigan. Abstract 24Loess was first studied in Michigan on the Buckley Flats, where outwash, overlain by ≈70 cm of loamy sediment, was originally interpreted as loess mixed with underlying sands. This paper re-evaluates this 26 landscape through a spatial analysis of data from auger samples and soil pits. To better estimate the loamy sediment's initial textures, we utilized "filtered" laser diffraction data, which remove much of the 28 coarser sand data. Textures of filtered silt data for the loamy sediment are similar to loess. The siltiest soils are found in the low-relief, central part of the Flats. Spatial analyses revealed that many silt 30 fractions are nearly uniformly distributed, suggesting that the loess was not derived from a single source. The previous depositional model for the loamy mantle relied on loessfall followed by 32 pedoturbation, but does not explain (1) the variation in sand contents across the Flats, or (2) the abrupt contact below the loamy mantle. This contact suggests that the outwash was frozen when the 34 sediments above were deposited. Deep gullies at the western margins of the Flats were likely cut as permafrost facilitated runoff. Our new model for the origin of the loamy mantle suggests that the sands 36 on the uplands wer...

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“…Although preliminary, our work on these interior sheets has led us to conclude that many have been sourced from outwash plains, lake plains, and/or other recently deglaciated landscapes, e.g., moraines (Schaetzl, 2008;Schaetzl and Hook, 2008;Schaetzl and Loope, 2008;Stanley, 2008), based on the assumption that these interior loess sheets get both thicker and coarser in proximity to one of these presumed interior source areas.…”

Section: Loess In Wisconsin: a Brief Overviewmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Identification of the various loess sources has been a fruitful area of past (Waggoner and Bingham, 1961;Frazee et al, 1970;Rutledge et al, 1975;Ruhe and Olson, 1980;Johnson and Follmer, 1989) and recent paleoenvironmental research (Aleinikoff et al, 1998(Aleinikoff et al, , 1999Mason, 2001;Mason et al, 2003;Schaetzl, 2008;Schaetzl and Hook, 2008). Generally, source areas are identified by examining trends in loess thickness and texture, across the loess sheet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%