purrr::quietly()

Saturday recreational tree climb. Trees are magic

Here’s another spodic soil. Most consistent brown at depth I have ever seen! The end of the tape measure is 83 cm, so the spodic horizon is >50 cm thick. This abundance of spodic materials without an E horizon results from lateral podzolization

Where are all the podzols for #WorldSoilDay? Here’s one from a 200-year soil study in the Green Mountains, Vermont. The field tech was so proud of this pit—check the right angle on the side!

Happy World Soil Day! This year’s theme is “caring for soils”. We are all soil stewards. Here’s a soil I’m trying to build structure in through OM additions and de-lawnification

Sunday afternoon at the game lands. Highlights: Cortinarius caperatus, strongly expressed subangular blocky peds in a roadcut, and fall colors of sweetgum and muscadine.

Last stop, a Mollisol formed in chalk, which dissolved and reprecipitated as laminar caps on the weathered chalk fragments. Marty Rabenhorst gave an excellent explanation and showed these features. The roots in the weathered planes of the chalk fragments made lovely patterns.

The next stop was an Inceptisol formed in a volcanic basalt mound. The saprolite pieces are visible and increase with depth—in fact, the leaders analyzed the chemistry of the saprolite and fine material separately 🤘🏻 There was a petrocalcic horizon as well as carbonate between the saprolite pieces.

The second day of the #pedology tour at #SSSA led us to a Vertisol formed in alluvial sediments. The carbonate masses at the base of the pit were composed of gorgeous well-formed crystals. Check the carbonate precipitated on top of laminae in picture 2 💕

My uncle gifted me Wiggies and boy howdy, hard to beat as a gift for the bog-inclined and subaqueous-curious.

Wet times at the pedology field tour Guadalupe River Delta stop. Highlights: subaqueous soils, slickensides, and mollic epipedons #pedology #SSSA