This volume contains a selection of invited papers dealing with the
recognition, interpretation and various applications of
paleosols. The term paleosol (Greek palaios = ancient, + Latin solum
= ground) is now widely used either for a soil “formed in a landscape
of the past” (Ruhe 1956, Yaalon 1971) or formed under changing
environmental conditions, notably climatic and associated vegetation
changes. These definitions allow the inclusion of not only buried or
fossil (Latin fossilis = dug up) soils, but also relict soils, which
began forming when soil-forming conditions were different from those
of the present but are still close enough to the ground surface to
continue developing today.
A. Bronger & J.A. Catt
Paleosols: Problems of Definition, Recognition and Interpretation 1
Relict Properties in the Soil Cover of Different Climatic Belts
C. Tarnocai & K.W.G. Valentine
Relict Soil Properties of the Arctic and Subarctic Regions of Canada 9
J.A. Catt
Relict Properties in Soils of the Central and North-West European
Temperate Region 41
W.D. Nettleton, E.E. Gamble, B.L. Allen, G. Borst & F.F. Peterson
Relict Soils of Subtropical Regions of the United States 59
G. Stoops
Relict Properties in Soils of Humid Tropical Regions with Special Reference to
Central Africa 95
A. Bronger & N. Bruhn
Relict and Recent Features in Tropical Alfisols from South India 107
Applications to Paleopedological Research
C.G. Olson
Soil Geomorphic Research and the Importance of Paleosol Stratigraphy to
Quaternary Investigations, Midwestern USA 129
A. Semmel
Paleopedology and Geomorphology: Examples from the Western Part of
Central Europe 143
A. Bronger & Th. Heinkele
Paleosol Sequences as Witnesses of Pleistocene Climatic History 163
V.T. Holliday
Paleopedology in Archeology 187
C.R. Feakes, H.D. Holland & E.A. Zbinden
Ordovician Paleosols at Arisaig, Nova Scotia, and the Evolution of the
Atmosphere 207
