Arsenical soils - A new geomorphology indicator in the Swabian Alb

摘要

In the Kuppenalb area near Laichingen in the Swabian Alb, soils with enriched arsenic concentrations occur. The origin of this arsenic is geogenic and is associated with the Middle Miocene Laichingen Volcano, whose arsenical thermal sinter prove the delivery of arsenical hot spring water, and whose dissolved arsenic rapidly and irreversibly binds onto pedogenic iron oxides and hydroxides. The arsenical soils can be used as an indicator for the landform history. On the one hand, its correlation to the Laichingen Volcano acts as a time mark and on the other hand, the distribution of the arsenical soils in the relief contributes to understanding the landform genesis. It was proven that the modern day relief with its domes, dry valleys, and karst forms developed out of the Middle Miocene flat relief, whereby the dome relief developed due to the Upper Jurassic facies corrosion.