HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wilding, L. P. Articles by Westin, F. C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Wilding, L. P. Articles by Westin, F. C. Agricola Articles by Wilding, L. P. Articles by Westin, F. C.

Characterization of the Sinai Soils¹

ABSTRACT

The Sinai series comprises well-drained Chernozem soils developed in calcareous, finely stratified, glaciolacustrine, silty clay loam and silty clay sediments. These soils occupy the nearly level to gently sloping tops of mesa-like hills interlaced with a more or less continuous, moat-like pattern of colluvial-alluvial drains and swales. The profile has some characteristics of youthful grumusols. It consists of a black, granular A₁ horizon; dark grayish-brown or olive brown, compound prismatic-subangular blocky B₂ horizons; mottled light olive brown, prismatic B_3ca horizons; and mottled light olive brown, laminated C_ca or D_ca horizons. Many vertical, dark-colored tongues of A₁ material extend into the B_3ca horizons. Laboratory analyses of three profiles sampled in the northern, central, and southern areas of the Prairie Coteau of eastern South Dakota indicate that the northern samples contain greater quantities of organic carbon and total nitrogen than the southern samples. Field studies indicate that the southern soils have browner A_p and B₂ horizons, more strongly developed B₂ and B_2ca horizons, and structural development to greater depths than the central or northern Sinai soils. These morphological and chemical differences are attributed to climatic and vegetative variations during their genesis.

¹ Approved for publication by the Director of the South Dakota Agr. Exp. Sta. as Journal Series No. 495. Presented before Div. V, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 19, 1959, at Cincinnati, Ohio.

² Formerly Assistant in Agronomy, South Dakota State College, now Graduate Fellow, University of Illinois; and Professor of Agronomy, South Dakota State College, respectively.

Received for publication October 24, 1960. Accepted for publication April 7, 1961.