Project 2012WG: Paleopedology

Terrestrial soil-sedimentary sequences and surface polygenic soils (getting over at least one environmental change) are highly valuable terrestrial environmental archives especially advantageous for the Quaternary. Surface polygenic soils as well as fossil soils (palaeosols) in soil-sedimentary sequences record environments of their formation within the phases of relative land surface stability. In contrast, each sediment layer burying a soil indicates an event or episode of geomorphological instability due to climatic forcing or tectonics. Paleopedologists treat paleosols and soil-sedimentary sequences as a unique substantive record (archive, memory) of environmental change. Environmental information in soils accumulates due to an action of variable specific soil forming (terrestrial) processes which result in a specific set of soil features and finally in an assemblage of soil genetic horizons. Due to multiphase composition of soils and multi-factor regularities of soil formation, pedology and paleopedology are interdisciplinary fields at the interface of geology, biology and geography. That supposes constant interactions of pedology and paleopedology with all mentioned disciplines, in particular, wide interrelations within INQUA, and collaborative participation of paleosol community in integrative Quaternary studies. Paleopedology Working Group integrates researches dealing with polygenic soils and paleosols as one of the paleoenviromental proxies. We are willing to correlate different proxies for more evidenced reconstructions of past climate change and landscape dynamics and for a deeper understanding of multiphase soil system within geosphere.

The next meeting will be held from 8-18 August 2021.

Leaders: Maria Bronnikova (Russia), Elizabeth Solleiro Rebolledo (Mexico), Tobias Sprafke (Switzerland)

Website: https://sites.google.com/site/palaeopedology/

Newsletter: https://www.iuss.org/newsroom/newsletters/paleopedology-newsletters-commission-16/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/6Commission
Contact: [email protected]