A Colour Guide to PaleosolsBuried soils (paleosols) are becoming widely recognized in sedimentary rock sequences and are generating much interest among Earth scientists. One reason why paleosols have not been widely recognized until recently is that soil scientists have had little opportunity to consider paleosols in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Another reason may be the profound alteration of paleosols after burial, so that few paleosols look exactly like surface soils. Colour is an obvious and important feature of paleosols, which are among the most colourful of all rocks, as can be seen from Petrified Forest and Badlands National Parks, USA. With its spectacular colour plates this book serves as an introduction to the colourful world of paleosols. This volume is also a handbook. With concise text and supporting illustrations, it introduces the basic problems of recognizing paleosols in the field and through laboratory studies, unravelling alteration of paleosols after burial, and interpreting ancient environments and life from paleosols. With its extensive index and glossary it is also a gateway to the terminology of geology and soil science. This book will provide an excellent reference for advanced students, researchers and professionals in the areas of sedimentology, stratigraphy, soil science, palaeontology, oil geology, and other related disciplines. |
Contents
ix | 14 |
What else could it | 28 |
Interpretation of paleosols | 43 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
25 cm long abundant accumulation acidic Alfisol alteration analysis Aridisol bedding birefringent brown burrows calcic horizons calcite carbonate cemented chemical clay skins clayey claystones Colour photo compaction composition cracks crossed nicols crystals cutan deep burial developed diagenesis dry climates Elsevier Entisol epipedon feldspar Figure Geoderma Geological Society gleization gley grains grassland grey groundwater gypsum hammer for scale highly birefringent streaks Histosol illite Inceptisol iron isotopic Journal of Sedimentary laterite layers matrix metamorphic microscope Miocene mollic Mollisol organic matter oxides Oxisol paleosols parent material peat pedogenic peds petrographic thin section plant Precambrian preserved pyrite quartz relict Retallack rock root traces sample sandstone saprolite sediment Sedimentary Petrology sepic plasmic fabric siderite silica silt smectite Society of America soil formation soil horizon soil microfabric Soil Science soils and paleosols soils formed Spodosol structure subsurface horizon surface horizon thick trace fossils Ultisol USA Retallack vegetation Vertisols volcanic waterlogged weathering X-ray