Tillage-induced spatial distribution of surface crusts on a sandy Paleustult from Togo

Bielders, C L and Baveye, P and Wilding, L P and Drees, L R and Valentin, C (1996) Tillage-induced spatial distribution of surface crusts on a sandy Paleustult from Togo. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 60 (3). pp. 843-855. ISSN 0361-5995

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Abstract

The influence of tillage-induced microrelief on the morphology and spatial distribution of surface crusts in an Oxic Paleustult from southern Togo was studied. Replicate 1-m² plots were exposed to 217 mm of natural rainfall during a 6-wk period, during which the surface topography was measured 3 times. Subsequently, 24 undisturbed crust samples were used for micromorphological analysis. The crusts exhibited a range of morphologies but were nevertheless adequately mapped and characterized according to two main types. Type 1 crusts (= runoff crusts) showed several superposed clay bands, 100 to 500 mm thick, buried within a micromass-depleted sand layer ≤12 mm thick. Type 2 crusts (= erosion crusts) had an exposed clay band a few tenths of a millimetre thick. The spatial distribution of crusts at the time of sampling appeared better correlated with the initial than with the final microtopography of the plots. These findings suggest that crust distribution should be regarded as history dependent and that erosion and depositing processes largely governed the development of the crusts. This latter aspect is in agreement with the recent crust genesis model of Valentin and Bresson, as is the fact that clay bands in our plots were laterally continuous at all observational scales ≤ 0.1 m. Other mechanisms proposed in the literature for the development of clay bands did not account adequately for the observed pattern

Item Type: Article
Divisions: UNSPECIFIED
CRP: UNSPECIFIED
Subjects: Others
Depositing User: Ms K Syamalamba
Date Deposited: 03 Nov 2011 10:53
Last Modified: 14 Sep 2013 11:52
URI: http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/3633
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1996.03615995006000...
Projects: UNSPECIFIED
Funders: This research was funded in part through the Tide XII Collaborative Research Support Program Subgrant SM-CRSP-012 and through an Olin Fellowship awarded to one of us (C.L.B.) by Cornell's graduate school
Acknowledgement: This research was funded in part through the Tide XII Collaborative Research Support Program Subgrant SM-CRSP- 012 and through an Olin Fellowship awarded to one of us (C.L.B.) by Cornell's graduate school
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