Soils and their Mineral Formation as Tools in Paleopedological and Geomorphological Studies

摘要

A paleosol is a soil that formed on a landscape of the past (Ruhe 1956; Valentine and Dalrymple 1976). Soil scientists and stratigraphers have employed the term paleosol for several decades but the criteria by which such a unit is identified are stillnot generally agreed. Perhaps the majority of soils contain elements, which formed as a result of environment conditions, which have now altered. In the study of Quaternary sequences paleosols have become standard tools and as such is well documented. It is now appreciated that paleosols are abundant in the pre-Quaternary geological record and even Precambrian types are now widely recognised. The study of these paleosols is still in their infancy but already such studies have caught the imagination ofthe scientists in India and abroad (Singer 1980; Beckmann 1984; Jenkins 1985; Fenwick 1985; Wright 1986; Pal et al. 1989; Srivastava et al. 1998; Pal et al. 2000).