Friday, 14 July 2006
109-4

Podzol Development with Time on Sandy Beach Deposits in Southern Norway.

Daniela Sauer, Inst of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Univ of Hohenheim, Emil-Wolff-Straße 27, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany, Isabelle Schülli-Maurer, Inst of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Univ of Hohenheim, Emil-Wolff-Straße 27, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany, Ragnhild Sperstad, Norwegian Inst.-Land Inventory, PO Box 115, As, N-1430, Norway, Rolf Sørensen, Agricultural Univ of Norway, 1432 Ås, Norway, and Karl Stahr, Inst of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Univ of Hohenheim, Emil-Wolff-Straße 27, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany.

The coastal areas of Scandinavia provide extremely suitable conditions for studying soil development with time. These are due to glacio-isostatic uplift, which takes place since the termination of the last ice age, when the land was relieved from the weight of the ice masses, which completely covered Scandinavia during the last ice age. Our study area is located in Vestfold, at the western side of the Oslofjord (southern Norway). Due to the influence of the Gulf Stream the climate in this area is rather mild although it is located 59° 11' of latitude. The mean annual temperature is 5.9 °C (Torp). During the year the temperature ranges between 16.3°C in the warmest month (July) and -3.4°C in the coldest month (February). Precipitation is 975 mm year-1. Due to the steadiness of the uplift, no separate terraces were formed in the study area. Hence, soils continuously get older from the coast to the inland, so that any time steps of soil development can be chosen for chronosequence studies. Due to the mild climate, Podzols only develop in sandy materials, while in loamy marine sediments soil formation leads to Albeluvisols (Schülli et al., 2006). To study the development of Podzols with time under these climatic conditions we established a soil chronosequence on sandy beach deposits comprising five soils of 2,300 to 10,000 years in age. The ages were estimated by use of several sea level curves established for Vestfold based on calibrated radiocarbon datings (Sørensen, unpublished). The youngest soil is a Cambisol, showing no evidence of podzolization. In the second soil of the sequence, which is 3,850 years old, slight brightening of the A horizon indicates initial podzolization. In the 4,600 years old soil also iron and humus accumulation in the B horizon are visible, but only the 7,800 and 10,000 years old soils show fully developed Bs horizons. The laboratory data show a slight pH decrease with soil age (R2 = 0.62). The Fed/Fet ratios increase with time due to progressive release of iron from weathering minerals and formation of iron oxides (R2 = 0.47). Also the amounts of oxalate-soluble Fe, Al, and Si increase (R2 = 0.85, 0.94, 0.96). Increasing Feo/Fed ratios (R2 = 0.93) indicate proceeding formation of organic complexes hindering crystallization of iron oxides. The amount of organic matter in the B horizons increases from 2.99 kg m-2 in the 2,400 years old soil to 13.32 kg m-2 in the 10,000 years old soil (R2 = 0.78).

Back to 1.6A Imprint of Environmental Change on Paleosols - Theater
Back to WCSS

Back to The 18th World Congress of Soil Science (July 9-15, 2006)