Abstract
Alfisols on calcareous glacial gravels in the northern forelands of the Alps, between the Upper Rhine Valley in the west and Eastern Bavaria in the east, show rubified B t horizons. Their redness decreases from west (2.5 YR) to east (10 YR), paralleling decreasing temperature and increasing rainfall. Detailed mineralogical studies by Mössbauer spectroscopy and differential X-ray diffraction demonstrated the presence of hematite in association with goethite. Concentrations of hematite decrease from west to east with decreasing temperature. No hematite was detected in the non-calcareous residues of calcareous C horizons. Alfisols on silty glacial material in the immediate vicinity of the reddish soils have yellow-brown (10 YR) B t horizons and are hematite-free. We conclude that rubification (hematite formation) is possible under an axeric climate provided a suitable pedoclimate exists.
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