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The Relationship of Present Topography to Pre‐Loess Deposition Topography in Eastcentral Ohio
Author(s) -
Norton L. Darrell
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1984.03615995004800010027x
Subject(s) - loess , geology , deposition (geology) , erosion , geomorphology , soil science , mineralogy , sediment
Previous work in Ohio has shown that loess deposition over glacial till smoothed the underlying topography considerably, resulting in a highly variable loess thickness. In this study, loess thickness and other soil properties were measured on an erosional landscape system and were presented by contour maps and three‐dimensional diagrams. The shape of the modern surface was very similar to the shape of the paleolandscape, so the loess thickness did not smooth the old surface very much. The uniform thickness of the loess allowed the amount of soil material removed from the landscape units studied to be calculated. Depending on the assumed age of loess deposition, the rate of geological erosion ranged from 0.035 to 0.060 Mg ha −1 yr −1 for this summit and shoulder position. The thickness of the fragipan was highly correlated with slope position and was more strongly developed on the shoulder positions. Studies such as this one, where depth measurements of soil properties are made at many points in a landscape and where the data is represented in three‐dimensional diagrams will lead to a better understanding of processes, such as erosion, that depend greatly on landscape position.