A Study of the Kranzburg Soils with Particular Regard to the Clay Separate

Soils are the product of the interaction of five main factors – climate, parent material, relief, time, and the biosphere. One of the ways fundamental differences between soils may be recognized is by the nature of the suite of clay minerals that characterize soils. The basic purposes of this study were to characterize the clay mineral composition of two selected soils of eastern South Dakota and thereby to reveal whether difference exist between clay mineral complexes in soils which are similar in all respects except the age of the parent material. The Kranzburg soils are Chernozems from eastern South Dakota. The clay fraction of these soils is dominated by 2:1 Lattice layered clay minerals, with small quantities of quartz and kaolinite present. The presence of a 14 AO mineral was noted. Interstratifications, or mixed layer components, are present and represent alternations attributable to soil forming processes in the interim since Wisconsin glaciation. The substratum of glacial tills possesses a clay fraction dominated by the 2:1 lattice layered clay minerals, with small quantities of quarts and kaolinite present, as well as some finely divided feldspar minerals. Lack of much interstratification and the presence of the feldspars reveal that soil forming processes are not operating to great depth under the present climate