Lessons from Surface Soil Systems
Abstract
Fourteen soil profiles from California were collected in order to measure the δ13C of coexisting soil calcite and organic matter. Thirteen of the profiles contained a measurable amount of calcite ranging from 0.04 to 54.6 wt %. Soil calcite δ13CPDB (δ13C value vs. the calcite standard Peedee Belemnite) values range from −14.4 to 1.3‰, whereas organic matter δ13CPDB values range from −24.0 to −27.7‰.
The hydrology of these profiles is divided into two broad groups: (1) soils characterized by gravity-driven, piston-type vertical flow through the profile and (2) soils affected by groundwater within the profile at depths where calcite is present. The difference between soil calcite and organic matter δ13CPDB values, Δ13Ccc_om, is smaller in profiles affected by groundwater saturation as well as most Vertisols and may be a product of waterlogging. The larger Δ13Ccc-0m values in soils with gravity-driven flow are consistent with open-system mixing of tropospheric CO2 and CO2 derived from in situ oxidation of soil organic matter with mean soil PCO2 values potentially in excess of ~20,000 ppmV at the time of calcite crystallization. There is a correlation between estimates of soil PCO2 and a value termed “EppT.U” (kJm2/yr) among the soil profiles characterized by gravity-driven flow. EppT.U is the energy flux through the soil during periods of soil moisture utilization, and it is the product of water mass and temperature in the profile during the growing season. Thus, soils with high water-holding capacity/storage and/or low/high growing season temperature may form soil calcite in the presence of high soil PCO2, and vice versa. The results of this research have important implications for reconstructions of paleoclimate from stable carbon isotopes of calcareous paleosol profiles.
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New Frontiers in Paleopedology and Terrestrial Paleoclimatology: Paleosols and Soil Surface Analog Systems

After initial breakthroughs in the discovery of fossil soils, or paleosols in the 1970s and early 1980s, the last several decades of intensified research have revealed the much greater role that these deposits can play in reconstructing ancient Earth surface systems. Research currently focuses on terrestrial paleoclimatology, in which climates of the past are reconstructed at temporal scales ranging from hundreds to millions of years, using paleosols as archives of that information. Such research requires interdisciplinary study of soils conducted in both modern and ancient environments. These issues and many others were discussed at the joint SEPM-NSF Workshop “Paleosols and Soil Surface Analog Systems”, held at Petrified Forest National Park.