CHEMISTRY AND CLAY MINERALOGY OF ANDO SOILS, BROWN FOREST SOILS, AND PODZOLIC SOILS FORMED FROM RECENT TOWADA ASHES, NORTHEASTERN JAPAN

Abstract

We conducted chemical and clay mineralogical studies on Ando soils, Brown forest soils, and Podzolic soils that had been formed mainly from felsic Towada-a (1000 B.P.) and Chuseri (4000 B.P.) ashes under different climates and vegetation. Organic carbon accumulated remarkably in the humus horizons of all the soils and contributed to the high CEC of the soils. Soil acidity was observed to be in the order of Ando soils < Brown forest soils < Podzolic soils, reflecting the differences in base saturation and clay mineralogy of these soils, and to have a tendency to decrease with depth within the same profiles. Diagnostic properties of soil samples, such as pH(NaF), phosphate absorption, pyrophosphate-soluble Fe(Fep)/dithionite-citrate-soluble Fe(Fed), pyrophosphate-soluble Al(Alp)/dithionite-citrate-soluble Al(Ald), Fep + Alp/percent clay, Fep + Alp/Fed + Ald, etc., were studied in detail. None of these chemical criteria, however, could distinguish satisfactorily among Ando soils, Brown forest soils, and Podzolic soils formed from Towada ashes. It was noted that both Fep/Fed and Alp/Ald ratios increase with decrease in the soil pH(H2O). Notable differences in clay mineralogy were observed between soil groups. Ando soils had mostly clay fractions dominated by amorphous materials consisting mainly of allophane and imogolite. Nonexpansible chloritized 2:1 mineral, which was major among the crystalline clay minerals, was present in relatively large amounts only in the surface horizons. Brown forest soils showed a diversity in clay mineralogy within the same soil profiles. The clay fractions of the surface soils showed an abundance of chloritized 2:1 mineral with high expansibility and an absence of allophane and imogolite. The subsoils showed major amorphous and paracrystalline materials with minor 2:1 layer silicates. The clay fractions of the Podzolic soils, except those of IIB horizon soils, were characterized by the abundance of chloritized 2:1 mineral varying widely in expansibility and by the absence of allophane and imogolite. The IIB horizons from Chuseri ash had clay fractions dominated by amorphous materials consisting mainly of free iron and alumina. Laminar opaline silica was found in almost all the humus horizons and was relatively abundant in the modern humus horizons of Brown forest soils. We concluded that formation of allophane and imogolite, as well as chloritization of 2:1 layer silicates, is related primarily to soil acidity. Allophane and imogolite formed only in the soils having pH(H2O) >4.9, irrespective of differences in soil groups and soil horizons. The 2:1 layer silicates were considered to have formed largely by alteration of volcanic glass. Chloritization of 2:1 layer silicates was observed to proceed with formation of allophane and imogolite. The formation of laminar opaline silica in the surface soil was considered to be suppressed not only in the Ando soils containing large amounts of allophane and imogolite, but also in the Podzolic soils, which are subject to strong leaching.