Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:48:57.193Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Time Factor and the Genesis of Soils on Early Wisconsin Till

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

D. R. Hensel  and
Joe L. White
D. R. Hensel*
Affiliation:
Agronomy Department, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Joe L. White
Affiliation:
Agronomy Department, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, USA
*
3Present address, Soils Department, Rutgers University , New Brunswick , N.J.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Radiocarbon dates indicate that the maximum time of weathering for soils of the Tazewell substage may be about 6400 years longer than that available for weathering of soils of the Cary substage.

Detailed mineralogical and chemical studies were made of the 2–0.2 μ fractions of 0–6 in. and 30–36 in. samples from 24 sites along a traverse extending from the Cary substage across the Tazewell substage in east-central Indiana. The major clay mineral constituents of the 0–6 in. samples were illite and 14 Å material; illite and montmoril-lonite were the main components in the 30–36 in. samples. The correlation coefficients between illite content and percentage K2O for the 0–6 in. and 30–36 in. samples were 0.85 and 0.92, respectively.

The end and terminal moraines of the Tazewell substage were found to have a higher illite content than the ground moraines. This was attributed to superglacial movement and enrichment of foreign materials, i.e. mica schists from the Canadian shield, on end and terminal moraines.

The results of saturation of the clay fraction with potassium and magnesium on the proportion of 10Å, 12.7Å and 14Å spacings indicated that weathering had lowered the surface charge density of the micaceous minerals in the 0–6 in. samples to a greater extent than in the 30–36 in. samples. This effect, in addition to other weathering reactions, resulted in partially expanded micaceous minerals in the 0–6 in. samples which were much more resistant to collapse than were the minerals in the 30–36 in. samples.

The rate of weathering of K2O from the 2–0.2μ fraction of the 0–6 in. samples located on ground moraines was estimated to be about 0.1 percent per 1000 years. This value was used in estimating the ages of the morainie systems of the Tazewell in Indiana. The estimated ages were as follows: Mississinewa, (radiocarbon date) 13,140 years; Union City, 14,500 years; Bloomington, 15,500 years; Champaign, 18,700 years; Shelbyville, (radiocarbon date) 19,500 years.

The fertility status of the soils on the Tazewell has been influenced appreciably by the length of the weathering period, the potassium-supplying power of the soils decreasing with increasing age.

Type
Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals (National Conference on Clays and Clay Minerals) , Volume 7 , February 1958 , pp. 200 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © Clay Minerals Society 1958

Footnotes

1

Journal Paper no. 1347, Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station, Lafayette, Indiana.

2

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the National Science Foundation for a grant (NSF G-2157) made through the Purdue Research Foundation (PRF 1254) which provided the x-ray diffraction equipment used in this study.

References

Brown, George (1955) The effect of isomorphous substitutions on the intensities of the (001) reflections of mica- and chlorite-type structures: Min. Mag., v. 30, pp. 657–665.Google Scholar
Bushneil, T. M. (1944) The story of Indiana soils: Purdue Univ. Agr. Expt. Sia., Special Circular I, 52 pp.Google Scholar
Droste, J. B. (1956) Alteration of clay minerals by weathering in Wisconsin tills: Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., v. 67, pp. 911–918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hörberg, Leland (1955) Radiocarbon dates and Pleistocene chronological problems in the Mississippi Valley region: J. Geol., v. 63, pp. 278–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johns, W. D., Grim, R. E. and Bradley, W. F. (1954) Quantitative estimations of clay minerals by diffraction methods: J. Sed. Petrol., v. 24, pp. 242–251.Google Scholar
Jørstad, F. A. (1957) Stone countings in Quaternary deposits in Solør, southern Norway: Norsk Geol. Tidsskr., v. 37, pp. 257–266.Google Scholar
Kinter, E. B. and Diamond, S. (1955) A new method for preparation and treatment of oriented-aggregate specimens of soil clays for x-ray diffraction analysis: Soil Sci., v. 81, pp. 111–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klages, M. G. and White, J. L. (1957) A chlorite-like mineral in Indiana soils: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer., Proc., v. 21, pp. 16–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Libby, W. F. (1956) Radiocarbon dating: Amer. Scientist, v. 44, pp. 98–112.Google Scholar
Mitchell, W. A. (1955) A review of the mineralogy of Scottish soil clays: J. Soil. Sci., v. 6, pp. 94–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norrish, K. (1954) The swelling of montmorillonite: Disc. Faraday Soc., v. 18, pp. 120–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, M. and Suess, H. E. (1955) U.S. Geological Survey radiocarbon dates. II: Science, v. 121, pp. 481–488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suess, H. E. (1956) Absolute chronology of the last glaciation: Science, v. 123, pp. 355–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Talvenheimo, G. and White, J. L. (1952) Quantitative analysis of clay minerals with the x-ray spectrometer: Analyt. Chem., v. 24, pp. 1784–1789.Google Scholar
Treadwell, F. P. and Hall, W. T. (1947) Analytical Chemistry, v. 2, Quantitative Analysis (9th Ed.), pp. 418–419: John Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
White, J. L. (1958) Layer charge and interlamellar expansion in a muscovite: in Clays and Clay Minerals, Nat. Acad. Sci.—Nat. Res. Council, pub. 566, pp. 289–294.Google Scholar