Quaternary stratigraphy and pedology of Clear Creek watershed in Iowa County, Iowa
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Abstract
Several studies have described the stratigraphy of loess derived soils throughout the state of Iowa and surrounding states in the Midwest. However, the stratigraphy of loess derived soils in the eastern portion of the state of Iowa has never thoroughly been investigated. This study investigated the Clear Creek watershed in eastern Iowa using a classical soil-stratigraphy approach of deep coring along hillslope transects coupled with extensive solum deep sampling in specific areas of interest. A catena-stratigraphy approach was used to not only look at soil properties at depth, but also compare them between different hillslope positions. Dynamic soil properties including particle size, bulk density, cation exchange capacity, pH, stable aggregate content, and organic carbon content were analyzed. GIS software was used to interpolate soil properties across the landscape. Soil properties were found to be strongly related to landscape position and depth, especially due to changes in parent material. Determining spatial variation in soil properties according to landscape position appears to be an effective method of predicting changes in a property for a large area.