Functional Interrelationships among Landscape Position, Lithology, and Water Flow in Bisequal Soils

9319967自然地理学家、土壤学家和其他科学家对土壤形成过程的研究给予了相当大的关注。在经历了相对较新的冰川沉积的地区，如中西部各州的大部分地区，由于需要区分沉积不同类型物质的冰川过程和后来改变材料结构和组成的更本地化的过程，土壤形态分析变得复杂。人们对这两种总力的作用知之甚少的一组土壤是双等土，有两组下层。该项目将研究密歇根州两个分布广泛的平等土壤，评估水如何流经这些土壤并与母质相互作用。将测量和分析鼓状和冰雹不同部分的壤质和砂质物质在上面两米内的水流。将对岩性、矿物学和质地等土壤属性进行检查，以确定这两组不同的层位是否是不同母质的相同形态过程的产物。这一研究项目的结果将为水和其他力量创造和改变土壤的过程提供有价值的新见解。这个项目中要检查的土壤类型类似于中西部大部分地区和其他地区发现的双等土壤。这项研究还将提供更多关于密歇根州下部土壤的地层学和岩性数据，为进一步研究最近冰川地区的土壤形态提供基础。***

9319967 SCHAETZL Considerable attention has been given by physical geographers, soil scientists, and other scientists to studies of the processes through which soils have been formed. In regions that have undergone relatively recent glacial deposition, such as large parts of the Midwestern states, analyses of soil morphology are complicated by the need to differentiate between glacial processes that deposited different types of materials and the more localized processes that later altered the structure and composition of materials. A set of soils for which these roles of these two general forces are poorly understood are bisequal soils, having two sets of lower horizons. This project will examine two broadly distributed bisequal soils in Michigan, evaluating how water flows through these soils and interacts with parent materials. Water flow within the upper two meters of loamy and sandy materials in various parts of drumlins and moraines will be measured and analyzed. Soil properties like lithology, mineralogy, and texture will be examined to determine whether the two different sets of horizons are the product of the same morphological processes operating of different parent materials. The results of this research project will provide valuable new insights regarding the processes through which water and other forces create and alter soils. The types of soils to be examined in this project are similar to bisequal soils that are found in large parts of the Midwest and in other locales. The study also will contribute additional data on stratigraphy and lithology of soils in lower Michigan, providing a foundation for additional research on soil morphology in recently glaciated regions. ***