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 HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Reheis, M. C. Articles by McFadden, L. D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Reheis, M. C. Articles by McFadden, L. D. Agricola Articles by Reheis, M. C. Articles by McFadden, L. D.

Development Rates of Late Quaternary Soils, Silver Lake Playa, California

U.S. Geological Survey, MS-913, Federal Center, Box 25046, Lakewood, CO 80225

Jennifer W. Harden

U.S. Geological Survey, MS-975, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

Leslie D. McFadden

Dep. of Geology, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131

*Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Soils formed on alluvial fan deposits that range in age from about 35 000 to 200 yr BP near Silver Lake playa in the Mojave Desert permit study of the rates of soil development in an arid, hyperthermic climate. Field-described properties of soils were quantified and analyzed using a soil development index that combines properties and horizon thicknesses. We compared the variability in index values from five independent descriptions of the same soil profile with the variability in values from four soils of the same age described by different people. The variability due to description accounts for between 30 and 80% of the total variability (that due to both the soils and description) for the properties described, which emphasizes the need for consistent soil descriptions. Pedogenic CaCO₃ (as indicated by color), pH increase, and dry consistence appear to change with age at linear rates, whereas rubification appears to change at a logarithmic rate. The linear rates are best attributed to the progressive accumulation of CaCO₃- and salt-rich eolian dust derived from the playa and other more distant sources. The total-texture values of soils on fans older than 10 000 yr BP are similar, which suggests that playas in this area may have been wet enough to restrict the availability of fines from these sources for many thousands of years prior to 10 000 yr BP. Index values for most properties of soils on the lower fans adjacent to the playa increase at faster rates than those of soils of the same age on the upper fans farther from the playa, probably due to the proximity to this local dust source. Equations derived from regressions of soil age and properties can be used to estimate ages of undated, lithologically similar deposits in similar climates and geomorphic settings.

Received for publication February 25, 1988.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. C. Eppes and L. McFadden The influence of bedrock weathering on the response of drainage basins and associated alluvial fans to Holocene climates, San Bernardino Mountains, California, USA The Holocene, September 1, 2008; 18(6): 895 - 905. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. K. Hirabayashi, T. K. Rockwell, S. G. Wesnousky, M. W. Stirling, and F. Suarez-Vidal A neotectonic study of the San Miguel-Vallecitos fault, Baja California, Mexico Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, December 1, 1996; 86(6): 1770 - 1783. [Abstract] [PDF]