PROPERTIES AND GENESIS OF A BISEQUA SOIL FROM CAPE BRETON ISLAND

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Soil Science
• Main Authors: McKeague, J. A., Bourbeau, G. A., Cann, D. B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1967
• Subjects: Soil Science; Breton Island
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/cjss67-018; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.4141/cjss67-018

Evidence based upon macro- and micromorphological observations, particle-size distribution, chemical and mineralogical analyses indicated bisequa development in a soil formed from brown to reddish brown, calcareous clay loam till in Cape Breton Island. Within the upper solum, there was a white Ae horizon depleted of clay and sesquioxides, underlain by weakly developed B horizons in which some secondary forms of Fe and Al and some clay but little organic matter had accumulated. A second Ae horizon separated the upper solum from the Bt horizon. Estimates of the areal distribution of oriented (presumably translocated) clay from observations of thin sections were: none in the upper Ae horizon, 7.9% in the Bt horizon and 1.2% in the Ck horizon. The results suggested that many of the soils formed from reddish brown, medium-to fine-textured, calcareous deposits in the Atlantic Provinces may be Gray Wooded soils with some degree of secondary Podzol development in the upper solum.