CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Dampier, L.; Sanborn, P.; Clague, J.J.; Bond, J.; and Smith, S.
Date : 2009.
Title : Soil genesis in relation to glacial history, central Yukon.
Publication : CANQUA–CGRG Biennial Meeting. May 3-8, 2009. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby Campus, Burnaby, British Columbia.
Issue : Programme and Abstracts Volume.
Page(s) : 64.
Abstract
Reconnaissance studies of soils on low-elevation McConnell (~30-12 ka), Reid (~150-80 ka) and pre-Reid (~2.6-0.2 Ma) glacial deposits conducted in the 1970s and 1980s showed that each soil group exhibits distinct morphological and clay mineral characteristics related to duration of soil development. We initiated a study in the summer of 2008 to evaluate whether these characteristics exist in soil groups of the same age at upland sites in south-central Yukon. The presence or absence of these distinctive soil characteristics may provide regional surficial geologists with an additional tool for mapping glacial deposits. We excavated four, six and four soil pits on McConnell, Reid and pre-Reid surfaces, respectively, at sites about 25 km southwest of Carmacks. No glacial deposits were found at the pre-Reid sites; the soils at these sites are developed on weathered bedrock. Solum thickness at the pre-Reid sites exceeds the depth of excavated pits (85-110 cm), and cryoturbation is common throughout the solum. Soils at Reid and McConnell sites are developed on till with solum thicknesses of 50-75 cm and <50 cm, respectively. Evidence of cryoturbation is absent at depth in these younger soils. We found no significant differences in solum colour among the soil groups and no clay skins. Other than perhaps solum depth, field characteristics of upland soils do not appear to reliably allow discrimination of glacial surfaces of different age.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology