MICROBIAL MEDIATED FORMATION OF CLAY MINERALS-BEARING CALCRETES IN SEMIARID COLLUVIAL SYSTEMS FROM SE SPAIN

摘要

This work aims to constrain the links between pedogenic and depositional systems occurring in hillslopes from Southern Spain to reveal the influence of the processes and conditions leading to the genesis of calcrete profiles under semiarid conditions. We selected the Holocene colluvial deposits from the Prebetic Zone (Betic Cordillera, S Spain) developed in the carbonate hillslopes of the Bedmar area (Jaen, province) because they are, in some cases, associated to the presence of fault scarps and contain calcretes which can be used to establish the influence of tectonic, climatic, sedimentary and pedogenic factors on the history of slope processes during late Quaternary.