The evolution of holocene reg (gravelly) soils in deserts

Dryland Alluvial Fans

“…Several theories have been advanced for the origin of desert pavements (Cooke, 1970), aeolian winnowing of fine material and wetting and drying of the fines, causing swelling and contraction, which in turn causes the clasts to rise through the fine material, but the general consensus now is that mechanical weathering of the clasts occurs concurrently with the aeolian accumulation of dust to form the pavement and the underlying Av soil horizon (McFadden, Wells and Jercinavich, 1987;McFadden et al, 1999). Pavement development is time-dependent (Yaalon, 1970;Dan et al, 1982;Amit and Gerson, 1986;Amit, Gerson and Yaalon, 1993). Any initial depositional morphology, e.g.…”

Desert Crusts and Rock Coatings

“…Ali and West, 1983;Aref, 2003), Israel (e.g. Dan et al, 1972Dan et al, , 1982Amit and Gerson, 1986), Jordan (Turner and Makhlouf, 2005) and Syria (Eswaran and Zi-Tong, 1991) to Iraq (Tucker, 1978), Iran (Gabriel, 1964), Saudi Arabia (Al Juaidi, Millington and McLaren, 2003) and Kuwait (El Sayed, 1993). Occurrences in the southwest USA (e.g.…”

“…The main sources of gypsum for pedogenic gypcrete formation are windblown sand, dust or aerosols (Watson, 1979(Watson, , 1985aDan et al, 1982;Amit and Gerson, 1986;Bao, Thiemens and Heine, 2001). Gypsum may be deflated from playa surfaces (Coque, 1955a(Coque, , 1955b(Coque, , 1962Watson, 1985a) or reworked hydromorphic gypsum crusts (Reheis, 1987;Magee, 1991a, 1991b).…”

Landforms, sediments, soil development, and prehistoric site settings on the Madaba‐Dhiban Plateau, Jordan

“…Studies in other areas of the Levant, however, have shown the relevance of soils for environmental reconstruction in the Mediterranean coast of Israel (e.g., Gvirtzman and Wieder, 2001) and the arid lands of the Sinai, Negev, and Arava Valley (e.g., Amit and Gerson, 1986;Goldberg, 1986;Bruins and Yaalon, 1990;Birkeland and Gerson, 1991;Amit et al, 1996;Niemi and Smith, 1999). The relative degree of soil maturity in arid and semiarid areas is based on the morphology of Bk (calcic), Bt (argillic), and Bw (cambic) horizons, which provide clues for relative dating (Birkeland, 1999).…”