COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Evaluating the Climate Sensitivity of Paleozoic PaleoVertisols Based on Analysis of a Modern Vertisol Climosequence

9814607 Driese我们假设古变性土是富含粘土的古土壤，显示出大量的收缩-膨胀过程的证据，包含着重要的古气候信息，而这些信息通常被地质学家低估。 基于古土壤的古气候研究由于缺乏通过对现代土壤气候序列的深入研究而确定的诊断性气候指标而受到阻碍。 因此，我们建议研究现代变性土在得克萨斯州沿海草原地区沿着的气候样带，以表征独特的形态和化学特征，以及与气候相关。 重要的成土因子，如母质，景观和时间被认为是常数，所以平均年降水量的重要性，范围从60- 140厘米/年的研究区域，可以进行评估。 利用诊断形态和化学特征，我们确定在现代变性土，我们将返回到以前的特点以及古变性土发生在阿巴拉契亚盆地古生代地层序列，以重新评估其古气候意义。

9814607DrieseWe hypothesize that Paleo Vertisols, which are clay-rich paleosols exhibiting abundant evidence for extensive shrink-swell processes, contain important paleoclimate information that is generally underinterpreted by geologists. Paleoclimatic studies based on paleosols are hindered by lack of diagnostic climate indicators determined from thorough studies of climosequences in modern soils. We therefore propose to examine modern Vertisols in the Coastal Prairie region of Texas along a climatic transect in order to characterize the distinctive morphological and chemical features that correlate well with climate. Important soil-forming factors such as parent material, landscape, and time are held as constants, so that the importance of mean annual precipitation, which ranges from 60-140cm/yr across the study area, can be evaluated. Utilizing the diagnostic morphological and chemical features that we identify in the modern Vertisols, we will return to previously well-characterized paleo Vertisols occurring within the Appalachian basin Paleozoic stratigraphic succession in order to reevaluate their paleoclimatic significance.