Premium
TERRACE CHRONOLOGY AND SOIL FORMATION ON THE SOUTH COAST OF N.S.W.
Author(s) -
WALKER P. H.
Publication year - 1962
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1962.tb00695.x
Subject(s) - terrace (agriculture) , chronology , radiocarbon dating , geology , pleistocene , floodplain , erosion , archaeology , quaternary , soil water , drainage , annual cycle , holocene , paleontology , hydrology (agriculture) , geography , climatology , soil science , ecology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , biology
Summary Cyclic terraces and their soils developed in steeply graded drainage areas and gently sloping floodplains at the same time as the K‐cycle soil layers in the adjacent hill country. The K 3 sediments are by far the greatest in volume while the K 2 and K 1 sediments are progressively smaller in volume. Radiocarbon dates for four terrace sites show that the K 3 cycle commenced 29,000 years ago, the K 2 cycle 3,740 years ago, the K 1 cycle 390 years ago, and the present epicycle of erosion K 0 0‐120 years ago. These dates do not correlate with the dates of past climatic events proposed by other Australian workers. They do show, however, that the soils on the N. S.W. south coast are rarely older than late Pleistocene.