What is calcic horizon?
calcic horizon A mineralsoil horizon with evidence of secondary calcium carbonate deposition which is more than 15 cm thick, with a calcium carbonate content of more than 15 per cent by weight, and with 5 per cent carbonate more than is in the parent material or horizons below it.
What are calcic soils?
Calcic soils have a Bk horizon or a subsurface layer characterized by pedogenic Ca-carbonate accumulation, form soft to hardly cemented as nodules, concretions or layers (calcrete).
What is an argillic horizon?
A subsoil horizon characterized by an accumulation of illuvial clay, defined by the percent of clay content relative to the overlying clay depleted (eluvial horizon) and usually has coatings of clay on the surface of soil pores and structures where it has been deposited from percolating soil water.
What is a Ck soil horizon?
k horizon. The accumulation of pedogenic carbonates in a soil is indicated by the suffix “k”. Ck is the most frequent situation, but also in the lower parts of the B carbonate accumulations are normal (Bk). In other terminologies the suffix “ca” is used instead of “k”.
What are the moisture regimes?
Soil-moisture regimes (SMR’s) are defined to classify a soil’s ability to supply water to plants without irrigation (Figure 2). In soils where the groundwater table is not reached by the roots of most crop plants, the SMR is determined by the seasonal distribution of rainfall in ‘normal’ years.
What is a Cambic horizon?
Cambic horizons are subsurface soil layers of pedogenic change without appreciable illuviated material (clay, organic C, Fe, and Al oxyhydroxides, carbonate, gypsum, soluble salts, etc. A cambic horizon always has less carbonate than an underlying horizon with calcium carbonate accumulation.
What are the horizon names?
6 Horizons Soils typically have six horizons. From the top down, they are Horizon O,A, E, B, C and R. Each horizon has certain characteristics.
What is Histic Epipedon?
A surface soil horizon, not less than 1 m in depth, high in organic carbon, and saturated with water for some part of the year. See also humus (2). The name is from the Greek histos, meaning ‘web’. From: histic epipedon in A Dictionary of Ecology » Subjects: Science and technology — Life Sciences.
Where are caliche soils found in the United States?
Secondary calcium carbonate of diverse origins, ‘caliche’ of many authors, is widespread in the southwestern United States. ‘Caliche’ includes various carbonates such as calcic soils and products of groundwater cementation.
What are the characteristics of a calcic soil?
Calcic soils provide a comprehensive set of characteristics that aid in their recognition in the field. These characteristics include a distinctive morphology that is zoned horizontally and can frequently be traced over tens to hundreds of square kilometers.
Where does the carbonate in calcic soil come from?
Most of the carbonate in pedogenic calcrete is probably derived from windblown sand, dust, and rain. Calcic soils and pedogenic calcretes follow a six-stage sequence morphologic development and is based on a classification devised by Gile, Peterson and Grossman in 1966.