Zonal Soils in the Transition Region between the Podzol and Gray‐Brown Podzolic Regions in Michigan

Studies were made of soil profiles from an area in central Michigan lying along the Podzol‐Gray‐Brown Podzolic transition region. The profiles are grouped in a lithosequence of seven textures from sand to silty clay loam and reproduced photographically. Selected physical and chemical analyses from three of the seven textures are presented tabularly. Through the range of textures studied, these profiles possess a common sequence of horizons. While the surface horizons are clearly those of a Podzol, they are underlain by what appear to be the A 2 and B 2 of a Gray‐Brown Podzolic profile. The influence of the texture of parent material is such that, in the sandier types, the upper Podzol is much more strongly developed than is the lower Gray‐Brown Podzolic profile while in the heavier textures, the reverse is true. The authors conclude that these double profiles represent the zonal soil for this area and are correlatives of the double profiles described by other workers in New York and in Ontario. These soils are neither true Podzols nor true Gray‐Brown Podzolic soils but exhibit the characteristics of both groups, the affinity for one or the other being related to the texture of the parent materials.