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Fragipans in Pennsylvania Soils: A Statistical Study of Laboratory Data¹

ABSTRACT

Soils sampled for laboratory characterization in Pennsylvania were separated into those profiles with fragipans and those without fragipans to determine statistically the soil properties consistently related to fragipan occurrence. Fragipans occurred in the following five parent material groups: aeolium, fluvium, lacustrine deposits, glacial till, and colluvium. Comparisons were made with horizons from comparable depths from nonfragic soils in these same parent material groups, except for colluvial soils, which in every case contained fragipans. Data were analyzed from 773 samples from 254 soil profiles. Fragipan bulk densities of the <2-mm material were significantly higher at the 1% level than nonfragipan horizons within till and fluvial parent materials, but were not significantly different within aeolian and lacustrine deposits. Multiple regression analyses using 16 soil variables indicated no relationships between these variables and bulk density. Plots of soil textures showed clustering of fragipan samples in loam and silt loam textural classes, whereas nonfragipan samples were more widely spread over other textural classes. Fragipans had significantly lower organic carbon, lower Ca:Mg ratios, and higher mean base saturations with less alteration of illite to vermiculite than nonfragipan horizons. Chemical and mineralogical data indicate that fragipans are less leached and less weathered than comparable nonfragipan horizons.

¹ Authorized for publication on January 20, 1970 as paper no. 3729 of the Journal Series of the Pennsylvania Agr. Exp. Sta., University Park, Pa. Presented before Div. S-5, Soil Science Society of America, Detroit, Mich., Nov. 10, 1969.

² Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor of Soil Technology, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, Pa., respectively.

Received for publication February 9, 1970. Accepted for publication June 11, 1970.

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