A BURIED PALEOSOL IN THE HUDSON BAY LOWLAND, MANITOBA: AGE AND CHARACTERISTICS

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Soil Science
• Main Authors: MILLS, G. F., VELDHUIS, H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1978
• Subjects: Soil Science; Hudson Bay; Hudson
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/cjss78-030; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.4141/cjss78-030

A Brunisolic–paleosol soil sequence is described from an ancient marine strandline in the Hudson Bay Lowland of northern Manitoba. The paleosol, underlying a present-day Brunisolic soil, is almost an exact morphologic counterpart of the contemporary soil. A radiocarbon date from the upper horizon of the buried soil indicates a minimum age of 2,380 ± 120 yr for the contemporary Brunisolic soil. The established geochronology of the Hudson Bay Lowland indicates that the marine beach on which this soil sequence is found was deposited about 7,000 YBP. The paleosol, therefore, may have developed over a maximum time interval of 4,500 yr allowing for a possible age difference between the two soils of up to 2,000 yr. However, a precise relationship between time and soil development can not be determined from this study. Because of limitations inherent in comparative soil morphology, uncertainty about the absolute age of the paleosol and difficulty in interpreting single radiocarbon dates, it is just as possible that both soils could develop over similar time intervals. This possibility is supported by the similar morphology of the two soils.