Classification and distribution of soils with lamellae in the USA

Abstract

Lamellae are thin, often discontinuous layers of clay-enriched material that are associated with iron oxides and may occur in Alfisols, Ultisols, Mollisols, Entisols, Inceptisols, or Spodosols. Our analysis of the SSURGO database revealed that there are 118 soil series with lamellae that represent six orders, 14 suborders, and 25 great groups, and 25 subgroups. In Soil Taxonomy, lamellae are identified at the subgroup level, and a horizon is classified as lamellic if the combined thickness of the lamellae is less than 15cm. Lamellae occur primarily in soils with a mixed mineral class (73%), a sandy or sandy-skeletal textural class (59%), a frigid or cryic soil-temperature regime (59%), and a udic or ustic soil-moisture regime (89%). The lamella (Bt horizon) most commonly has a loamy sand (33% of total pedons), loamy fine sand (33%), or sandy loam (29%) texture and is usually one soil textural class finer than the interlamellae areas. Differences in clay content between the interlamellae areas and Bt average over 5%. Two or more lamellae are common in soils with lamellae, and the thickness of a single lamella commonly ranges between 6 and 22mm. The depth to the surface of the first lamella averages 72cm; the maximum depth exceeds 155cm. The pedogenic origin of lamellae involves clay movement (argilluviation), with clays bridging and coating sand grains and the eventual formation of micro-laminae in response to a varying wetting front. In the USA, soils with lamellae cover 3.6millionha and occur in 30 states. Lamellae play a role in the flux of water and nutrients in the soil, and have been used as soil stratigraphic markers and relative-age indicators in archeological and soil geomorphological studies.