Tuesday, 8 November 2005
2

Soils in a Geoecological Landscape Chronosequence on Glacial Till in Southeastern Idaho.

Earl Alexander, Soils and Geoecology, 1714 Kasba St., 1714 Kasba St., Concord, CA 94518 and James Dorr, Winema National Forest, 2819 Dahlia Street, Klamath Falls, PA 97601.

Glaciers from Yellowstone National Park and the Teton Range advanced into southeastern Idaho during the Pleistocene. Geoecological landscapes were mapped in areas covered be these glaciers on the Targhee National Forest. Richmond(1973)mapped till from at least three stages of glaciation at the southwest corner of Yellowstone National Park. The geoecological landscape mapping has facilitated a refined interpretation of the glacial sequence. Starting from the landscape on the youngest till,(late) Pinedale till has a hummocky surface with many closed depressions. The (late) Pinedale soils, which must have developed in the less than 14,000 years since glaciation, are moderately deep Vitricryands with A-Bw-BC-Cd profiles. Early Pinedale till is more dissected and hummocky topography that is evident on the interfluves is more subdued by local erosion and deposition. Early Pinedale soils, which probably developed in less than 95,000 years, are very deep Haplocryolls with A-Bw-BC profiles to depths > 150 cm. Bull Lake till is in well dissected terrain with no hummocky topography. The Bull Lake soils, which are about 130,000 years old, are very deep Palecryalfs and have A-E-E/B-2Bt profiles. These are the most highly developed profiles, because stream incision, slope steepening, mass movement and erosion on slopes, and cryoturbation in the older landscapes of pre-Bull Lake till have attenuated soil development. Soil reaction and presence of ochric, mollic, and umbric epipedons seem to have little relation to soil age in the chronosequence. Hues of 10YR predominate in the sola of all soils.

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