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A Comparison of the Characteristics of the Ped Faces and Ped Interiors in the B Horizon of a Chestnut Soil¹

ABSTRACT

The structure units or peds, within the B horizon of the Chestnut soil studied, appear to be centers around which the differential distribution of many of the morphologic, chemical, and physical characteristics are oriented. The differential distribution of organic carbon, total nitrogen, particle size, clay skins, free calcium carbonate, and soluble and extractable cations on the ped faces and in the ped interiors, suggest that the ped faces comprise a profile developing under a microclimate that is somewhat more humid than is the macroclimate of the profile site, while the peds interiors comprise a profile developing under a microclimate that is somewhat more arid than is the macroclimate of the profile site. These relationships seem to indicate that the profile of the ped faces represents a higher stage in the known developmental sequence of soils than does that of the profile of the ped interiors. The ped face profile appears to be diagnostic of the direction of genetic intergradation within the macroprofiles. The results of this study suggest that the peds function as "unit cells" of soil genesis in the profile studied.

¹ Contribution from the Department of Agronomy, Agr. Exp. Sta., South Dakota State University, Brookings. Approved for publication by the Director of the South Dakota Agr. Exp. Sta. as Journal Series no. 671. Presented before Div. S-5, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 17, 1964, at Kansas City, Mo.

² Instructor in Agronomy and Associate Professor of Agronomy, respectively, South Dakota State University, Brookings.

Received for publication March 4, 1965. Accepted for publication June 9, 1965.