Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Award Date

1963

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department / School

Agronomy

Abstract

As a means of developing a more quantitative approach to the study of soil morphology, quantitative standards for the consistent observation and characterization of the morphologic features were developed. The development of quantitative values for the features of soil morphology also was undertaken, first, to provide a means through which the results of detailed soil morphology studies made using the quantitative standards could be presented graphically, and secondly, as a pilot study pointed toward the possibility of the field determination of certain soil properties, common to both the field and laboratory study of soils, with a degree of quantitativeness presently only obtainable through laboratory methods. A symbolization system and a description card for recording the field observations of soil morphology made using the quantitative standards were also developed. The quantitative standards, values, and recording methods developed and tested in the study, were applied to a climosequence of six soil profiles in eastern South Dakota as a means of testing the sensitivity of the methods developed to bring out and quantitatively present the subtle developmental progression in the genetic morphology of closely related soils. The profiles were also characterized in the laboratory. Conclusions were drawn from the results of this study relative to the classification of the profiles investigated.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Soil structure
Soils -- Classification
Soils -- Research

Description

Includes bibliographical references

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

370

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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