Pan Genxing

Nature of an overlapped paleosol and its significance in pedogenesis and paleogeography in North Huai region, China

Abstract An overlapped paleosol (albic Paleudalf) in North Huai region was studied by means of sand and clay mineralogy, elemental geochemistry, particle size distribution, observation of quartz sand surface structure under SEM, micromorphology, pollen analysis as well as soil dating. These albic soils are very extensive on uplands in this region and the profiles have developed on two individual formations rather than being differentiated by the homogenous eluvium of gneiss. It was also indicated that the soil evolution in this region proceeded from dessication and kaolinization during the middle Pleistocene to accumulation of bases and predominance of fragmental minerals in the early Holocene. The pedogenesis was further related to climate-landscape events in this region during the Quaternary. This study advocated that awareness of soil-landscape evolution was necessary in advance of pedogenesis research and a single soil-forming process could not account perfectly for soil formation with delicate evolution history.