Earth:Pedocal

From HandWiki
Marbut's Pedocal/Pedalfer boundary lies near the 98 meridian and 30 inches annual precipitation. (after Marbut, 1935)

Pedocal is a subdivision of the zonal soil order. It is a class of soil which forms in semiarid and arid regions. It is rich in calcium carbonate and has low soil organic matter. With only a thin A horizon (topsoil), and intermittent precipitation calcite, other soluble minerals ordinarily removed by water may build up in the B horizon (subsoil) forming a cemented layer known as caliche. It is not used in the current United States system of soil classification but the term commonly shows up in college geology texts.

See also

References

Baldwin, M.; C.E. Kellogg; J. Thorp (1938). "Soil Classification". Soils and Men: Yearbook of Agriculture 1938. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.. pp. 979–1001. 

Brevik, Eric C. (November 2002). "Soil Classification in Geology Textbooks". Journal of Geoscience Education 50 (5): 539–543. doi:10.5408/1089-9995-50.5.539. http://www.nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Brevik_v50n5p539.pdf. Retrieved 2006-04-06. 

Marshak, Stephen (2004). Essentials of Geology ((First Edition) ed.). W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.. ISBN 0-393-92411-4.