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Parent Materials and Paleosols in the Teays River Valley, Ohio¹

ABSTRACT

Soils in the preglacial Teays River Valley of southern Ohio were studied to identify their parent materials and to investigate the presence of paleosols. At each of four sites, soils formed partly in a mantle identified as loess. The loess mantled the landscape to a uniform depth of 50 to 60 cm and was characterized hy 45 to 50% medium silt on a clay-free basis as well as by Ti/Zr values of 10 to 12 in the total silt fraction. At sites near the old valley walls, the sola extended into colluvium. At sites near the center of the valley, the sola extended into silty alluvium or colluvium. Clay-free particle-size profiles and total silt Ti/Zr values generally supported the field identification of a lithologic discontinuity between the loess and underlying material. Finally, the soils were underlain by a third material: either lacustrine clay (Minford Clay), old alluvium (Gallia Sand), or weathered sandstone bedrock, depending on position in the valley.

Paleosols were developed in materials underlying the loess. In the field, paleosols were identified by continuous argillans on ped surfaces. Laboratory determination of total clay revealed the presence of two argillic horizons in the soils: (i) in the loess (22 to 26 % clay), and (ii) in the underlying materials (27 to 35% clay). More intense mineral weathering in the paleosol compared to overlying or underlying horizons was indicated by its higher ratios of mica weathering products to mica in the clay fractions, higher exchangeable Al, and lower K/Zr values in the fine silt fractions. The presence of a paleosol in one pedon was supported by two subsurface accumulations of amino acid nitrogen.

¹ Contribution from the Agron. Dep., Ohio Agric. Res. and Development Center, Wooster, and Ohio State Univ., Columbus. Approved for publication as Journal Article no. 48-81. Portions of this paper were presented before Div. S-5, Soil Science Society of America, Chicago, Ill., on 7 Dec. 1978.

² Graduate Research Associate, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor, respectively. Senior Author is presently Assistant Professor, Agron. Dep., Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA 50011.

Received for publication February 3, 1981. Accepted for publication May 18, 1981.