Lecture 4a

Soil Forming Factors

 * Parent Material
 * Climate
 Vegetation
 Topography
 Time
 Soils vary from place to place because the
intensity of the factors is different at
different locations.
Soil Parent Materials

 Residual - Soil formed from Bedrock. In Minnesota only the following are

close enough to the surface to have a soil formed from them:

 Sandstone
 Limestone
 Basalt
 Granite
Transported PM Soils

Residual Soils
Transported Parent Materials

 Water - Rivers = Alluvium

 Wind - eolian = sand or silt (loess)
 Gravity = colluvium
 Ice = Glacial Drift - all materials transported by
ice or as a result of glacial activity

alluvium
 Minnesota Glaciation
 Ice left Minnesota-Iowa border about
12,000 YBP (years before present)
 40,000 YBP is the oldest glacial till in
Minn. That is a soil parent material (SE
Mn.)
 10,000 YBP ice left MN-Canadian border
 Ice thickness = 1000 to 5000 ft. over
the state
 There were at least 4 advances of the
ice and that complicates the history and
the kinds of glacial parent materials.
 Glacial till in Minnesota is not all the
same.
A. Unsorted Glacial Materials
 Glacial Till = unsorted deposits left by the retreating ice -
made of : sand, silt ,clay, gravel, boulders, stones and large
rocks. Till can be deposited into various shapes
 Moraines- ground moraine - gently rolling plain
 End moraine - large hill or series of hills
 Drumlins - low hill shaped by the ice
Anatomy of a Glacier
Steve Dutch- Natural and Applied Sciences,
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
A Typical Glacial Advance and Retreat
As long as Accumulation = Ablation, the
Glacier Front Remains Fixed
If Accumulation Exceeds Ablation, the
Glacier Advances
If Ablation Exceeds Accumulation, the
Glacier Retreats
Eventually, Material Trapped in the Ice
Reaches the Terminus
A Typical Glacial Advance and Retreat
Continental
Glacier
Landforms

Steve Dutch -Natural and Applied Sciences,

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
 Maximum extent of Wisconsin Glaciation

http://geology.isu.edu/Digital_Geology_Idaho/Module12/extent.gif
Minnesota Glaciations – 15,000 B.P.(before present)

Superior
Lobe
advances
to near
Minnesota
River
Minnesota Glaciations
 Minnesota Glaciations
http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/mnbasin/flash/glaciers/glaciation_animation.html
Glacial Tills of Minnesota
 Superior Lobe Till - red in color,
sandy in texture, acid, rocks of
granite, basalt, and sandstone

 Des Moines Lobe Till - gray or

tan in color, loam to clay loam in
texture, calcareous (free calcium
carbonate present), rocks
present- limestone and
shale

DesMoines Lobe Till

Superior Lobe Till

Sorted Parent Materials
 Water
Outwash - often stratified sand or sand and
gravel
Lacustrine - lake deposited - silt or clay in
texture - fine sediments - flat terrain, former
lake bottom
Lake Plain
Beach Ridge
Wind
 Loess - wind blown silt (.05 - .002mm
diameter)
 Sand - dune sand - wind blown sand
(eolian sand)
Dyad – Where have you seen evidence of
glaciers …. One for each person..

VIDEO OF GLACIERS
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/discovery-project-earth-jakobshaven-glacier-retreat.html

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=glacier+melting&hl=en&emb=0&aq=5&oq=glacier
+#q=glacier+extent&hl=en&emb=0&start=10

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=glacier+melting&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#q=glacier+melting+tourists&hl=en&emb=
0
Soil forming Factors
 Parent Material
 Climate
 Vegetation
 Topography
 Time
 Soils vary from place to place because the
intensity of the factors is different at
different locations.
Soil Forming Factor - Climate
 Temperature - Warmer = Faster
Cooler = Slower --> Soil
Development
 Precipitation - higher rainfall = greater
leaching
 Leaching Zone - determined by location of CaCO3 in the
soil profile
 Leaching Index = Pcpt. - Evapotranspiration= the amount
of effective rainfall that can cause soil leaching
Temperature & Precipitation vs. Clay, Depth to Carbonates & OM
Leaching Index for Minnesota
LI = Precipitation - Evapotranspiration

LI
Leaching Index = 0 to 12 in
Minnesota

CaCo3 Zone

LI = 8 LI = 4 LI = 2