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Influence of Certain Pedogenic Factors on Potassium Reserves of Selected Canadian Prairie Soils¹

ABSTRACT

The nature of K reserves of five prairie soil profiles developed from glacial till deposits and lacustrine sediments in Saskatchewan, Canada was studied.

The fraction of soil K extracted by the pretreatments prior to size fractionation was quite comparable to that of the exchangeable K. Potassium in the residue of various size fractions after sodium pyrosulphate fusion was allocated to feldspar, and the total K minus feldspar K was taken to be mica K. The fraction of K from feldspar usually increased as particle size increased. From south to north in the Prairie region under study, the fraction of K from feldspar of the soils developed from glacial till deposits increased, indicating the influence of local bedrocks on the nature of K reserves. The fraction of K from feldspar in the soil developed from lacustrine sediments was lower than that formed from glacial till deposits.

Mica genesis was evident in the Chernozemic soil, but not in the Luvisolic soil studied. In the comparable size fractions of the Gleysol and Orthic Black soils in the Oxbow catena, the lower fraction of K from feldspar in the former reflects the influence of drainage on the K reserves. Colluviation processes coupled with eluviation and illuviation have modified the nature of soil K reserves as shown by the different percent distribution of mica K and feldspar K among various size fractions.

¹ Contribution no. R 54, Saskatchewan Inst. of Pedology, Dept. of Soil Sci., Univ. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada. This investigation was supported in part by Nat. Res. Council of Canada Grant A3248-Huang, and in part by Canadian Int. Develop. Agency. Presented before Div. S-9, Soil Science Society of America, Detroit, Mich., Nov. 12, 1969.

² Graduate students and Assistant Professor of Soil Science, respectively.

Received for publication October 1, 1970. Accepted for publication January 18, 1971.