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Home , 1938 USDA soil taxonomy, Chernozem, Paleopedology, Pedology, Soil chemistry, Soil science

A SHORT HISTORY AND LONG FUTURE FOR

GREGORY J. RETALLACK Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97302, USA e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT: The concept of dates back to the eighteenth century discovery of buried , geological unconformities, and forests, but the term paleopedology was first coined by Boris B. Polynov in 1927. During the mid-twentieth century in the , paleopedology became mired in debates about recognition of paleosols, and in controversy over the red-bed problem. By the 1980s, a new generation of researchers envisaged red beds as sequences of paleosols and as important archives of paleoenvironmental change. At about the same time, geochemists began sophisticated analyses of paleosols at major unconformities as a guide to the long history of atmospheric oxidation. It is now widely acknowledged that evidence from paleosols can inform studies of stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleoclimate, , global change, and astrobiology. For the future, there is much additional potential for what is here termed ‘‘nomopedology,’’ using pedotransfer functions derived from past behavior of soils to predict global and local change in the future. Past greenhouse crises have been of varied magnitude, and paleosols reveal both levels of atmospheric CO2 and degree of concomitant paleoclimatic change. Another future development is ‘‘astropedology’’, completing a history of soils on early , on other planetary bodies such as the and Mars, and within meteorites formed on planetismals during the origin of the solar system.

KEY WORDS: , history, Precambrian, , Mars

INTRODUCTION eat (Kramer 1944). An ancient Egyptian bas-relief from the Luxor birth room (King and Hall 1906), dating to about 1400 BC, depicts the On the opening page of his famous novel Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov future pharaoh fashioned from by Khnum, a ram-headed god of (1955) mentions paleopedology as an obscure scientific interest of his Nile River (Fig. 1). Such beliefs are understandable in lands antihero, Humbert Humbert. Paleopedology developed late in the such as Egypt and Iraq, where frogs and other creatures emerge from , because it is a composite science like , which the soil after increments of flood . Similar views are found followed the development of (Osterkamp and Hupp 1996). also in the original (Yahwist) portion of the Judaic biblical account of Paleopedology had to wait for (), which is also Genesis, dating from 900 to 500 BC. The name Adam means ‘‘red remarkable for ‘‘the brevity of its history and the length of its clay’’ in Hebrew. The name Eve is the Hebrew verb ‘‘to be.’’ The prehistory’’ (Krupenikov 1992). Both pedology and paleopedology, Genesis account thus implies that Adam and Eve were living soil like Nabokov, were born in St Petersburg, , through the efforts of (Hillel 1991). V.V. Dokuchaev (1883), B.B. Polynov (1927), and C.C. Nikiforoff Sacred views of soil vary between cultures. Soil is inviolable, and (1943, 1959). Interest in soils and elementary understanding of tilling or is sacrilege to the pastoral Maasai of arid savannas on paleosols, however, long predate these Russian origins. of the Kenyan Rift Valley. The Maasai god (Engai) lives in Paleopedology is the study of ancient soils, and it is derived from the sky, and they do not believe in life after death or in souls, knowing ancient Greek words for old (pakaio1), ground (pedov), and word that the body and its vitality return to the soil (Bentsen 1989). In (koco1). It has nothing to do with pedestrians (from Latin pes, pedis)or contrast, agrarian Kikuyu of the fertile humid uplands around Nairobi, pediatricians (from Greek pais, paidos). Paleosol (fossil soil) is thus a above the central Kenyan Rift, live by intensive market gardening on Greek–Latin hybrid, from Latin for soil (, soli). Soils of the past, and Alfisols. The Kikuyu god (Ngai) lives alone on nearby either buried within sedimentary sequences or persisting under Mount Kenya, and some specific old trees are sacred as homes of changed surface conditions, are the subject matter of paleopedology. spirits and dead souls (Routledge and Routledge 1910). The consistent My predictions for the future of paleopedology are inevitably personal nature of local soil resources around the temples to particular deities of ones, areas that currently excite my interest. A comprehensive history ancient Greece suggests that similarly diverse tribal views from and prehistory of paleopedology have yet to be written: This account is different lifestyles, such as herding, cropping, and fishing, were the longest yet attempted and focuses on the pioneering studies of scientists now deceased. amalgamated into ancient Greek polytheism (Retallack 2008). Reverence for soil in the past extended to libation, sacrifice, OBSERVATIONS IN ANTIQUITY and heirogamy (Frazer 1922). Today, soil reverence persists in Christian holy sacraments of bread and wine, both soil produce, and Religious views of buried and surface soils may have been the first Chinese offerings of sorghum on soil altars (Winiwarter and Blum human appreciation for this indispensable source of life (Winiwarter 2006). and Blum 2006). Civilizations of alluvial, cumulic, and buried soils Practical scientific observations of the kinds of soils, soil , share myths about human origin from soil. The oldest written myth of and suitable crops abound in the literature of classical Greece and this kind is a cuneiform text dating to 2000 BC from the Sumerian city Rome, particularly in the writings of Xenophon (430–340 BC), of Nippur in present-day Iraq. The myth describes a feast of the gods, (372–287 BC), Cato (234–149 BC), Varro (116–27 BC), presided over by Ninmah (mother earth) and Enki (god of the waters). Virgil (70–19 BC), Strabo (64 BC–24 AD), and Columella (4–70 AD) The minor gods had complained about the work of digging (Krupenikov 1992, Borras 1999, Winiwarter 2006). Such soil expertise channels, and pressed for help. Inspired after a banquet of much food was widespread in agrarian cultures, but it takes archeological and and wine, Ninmah created six different kinds of humans out of textural ingenuity to reconstruct in ancient societies without large floodplain clay, while Enki decreed their work and gave them bread to literatures (Sandor et al. 2006, Williams 2006).

New Frontiers in Paleopedology and Terrestrial j DOI: 10.2110/sepmsp.104.06 SEPM Special Publication No. 104, Copyright Ó 2013 SEPM (Society for Sedimentary ), ISBN 978-1-56576-322-7, p. 5–16.

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along the River Jed and at Siccar Point (Fig. 3A), southeast : ‘‘From this it will appear, that the schistus mountains or vertical strata of indurated bodies had been formed, and had been wasted and worn in natural operations of the globe, before horizontal strata were begun to be deposited in these places...’’ (Hutton 1795, v. 1, p. 438). Arguments of past causes from processes that can be observed today (uniformi- tarianism) and indications of geological ages much greater than biblical accounts (deep time) mark the origin of modern geological thought, and these insights overshadowed this first indication of a paleosol at a major geological unconformity. (1726–1797) studied law and medicine before inventing a new process and manufacturing business making ammonia salts from soot, which afforded him the time and money for independent research affiliated with the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Baxter 2004). Hutton thus lacked the simplifying influence of teaching students, and his writing style was prolix. His work and ideas were better advanced by other Scotsmen: John Playfair’s (1802) concise and clear Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, and then ’s many editions and FIG. 1.—Ancient Egyptian god of the Nile, Khnum (‘‘Lord of the Dark volumes of Principles of Geology (Lyell 1830). John Playfair (1748– Waters’’), creating the future pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Ka 1819) was a scientist, mathematician, and professor at the University of (‘‘vital force’’), on a potters , from a bas-relief in the Birth Edinburgh (Dean 1983). Charles Lyell (1797–1875) studied law and Room at the Temple of Luxor, Egypt (redrawn from King and Hall attended lectures of William Buckland at Oxford University. Because of deteriorating eyesight, he turned from law to geology as a 1906). profession, and became one of the most influential of his day through his books, travels, and offices of the Geological Society of London (Bailey 1989). Studies of paleosols at major unconformities Some classical authors had a concept of buried and relict soils, continued, especially in Precambrian rocks (Sharp 1940, Sidorenko which are two kinds of paleosols, as implied in the following two 1963). quotations. ‘‘Egyptian soil is black and friable, which suggests it was once and carried down from Ethiopia by the river’’ (Herodotus The oldest record of buried soils within consolidated sedimentary [484–425 BC], Histories II:12:1; translation of Waterfield and Dewald rocks were the ‘‘dirt beds’’ (Fig. 3C) and permineralized stumps and 1998). Soils were thus buried during floods in the valley of the Nile cycadeoids reported in latest limestones (Purbeck Formation; River. ‘‘In its former extent, at an earlier period, [a high from Francis 1986) of the coast by Webster (1826). Thomas Webster Mt. Hymettos around the Athenian Parthenon] went down towards the (1773–1844) was born in the Scottish Orkney Islands, and studied at Eridanus and the Ilissus [Rivers], and embraced within it the Pynx the University of Aberdeen. He was house-secretary and curator of the [hill], and had the Lycabettus [hill] as its boundary over against the Geological Society of London from 1826, and professor of Pynx, and it was all rich in soil, and save for a small space [of geology at University College London from 1841 to 1842 (Challinor hills], level on the top’’ (Plato [428–347 BC], Critias 112A; translation 1964). The Purbeck paleosols were popularized by William Buckland of Bury 1912). The terrace remnants around the Pynx are a relict of a (Fig. 2) in his Bridgewater Treatise (Buckland 1837), which reiterated much more widespread high terrace soil of the past that surrounded the his controversial earlier conclusions that Pleistocene bones and Acropolis (Hurwit 1999). These examples show that processes in the in Kirkdale Cave (Yorkshire) were remains of dens, formation of paleosols were understood, but not appreciated as and not evidence of the biblical flood. Together with numerous other paleosols. observations, this influential work of popular science extended the uniformitarian approach of James Hutton from geology to paleontol- EIGHTEENTH-NINETEENTH CENTURY ogy and paleopedology. William Buckland (1784–1856) was the son of PALEOSOLS DISCOVERED a Devonshire rector, and also became ordained as a minister, but he spent most of his career at Corpus Christi and Christ Church Colleges The oldest published observation of a Quaternary paleosol was by of Oxford University (Rudwick 2008). Other pioneering studies of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli (Fig. 2) in his monumental work on the paleosols in sedimentary rocks include those of Barrell (1913), Allen River in Hungary (Marsigli 1726). His cross section of the (1947), Thorp and Reed (1949), and Schultz et al. (1955). Danube River bank shows four distinct layers, from the bottom up: (1) Buried agricultural and archeological soils are illustrated and bank, (2) yellow ash with carbonate, (3) black fertile soil, and (4) discussed by in a paper (Darwin 1837) and book on black fertile carbonate soil. Units 2 and 3 were a buried calcareous worms (Darwin 1881). Near Maer Hall, Staffordshire, England , a paleosol like the surface soil (unit 4: Markovic et al. 2009). (childhood home of his wife Emma), Darwin indicated in an illustrated Marsigli (1658–1730) was a count from Bologna, Italy, and pursued section ‘‘original black peaty soil’’ buried by ‘‘fragments of burnt marl, this work from 1696 to 1700 as a military for Leopold I, of cinders and a few pebbles’’ beneath turf of a modern soil Habsburg Emperor (Stoye 1994). During the late nineteenth century, profile. He also noted that ruins of an old Roman villa at Abinger in many buried soils were recognized within surficial deposits of Surrey were covered in soil created by worm castings. Charles Darwin and till. These ‘‘weathered zones,’’ ‘‘forest zones,’’ and ‘‘soils,’’ as they (1809–1882) was trained in medicine and theology at Edinburgh and were variously termed, were found in the Russian Plain by Feofilatkov Cambridge, respectively, but he had independent means for scientific (in the 1870s as recounted by Polynov 1927), in the midcontinental research and is better known for his theory of evolution by natural United States by McGee (1878), and in New Zealand by Hardcastle selection, which is widely regarded as the birth of modern biology (1889). By the turn of the century, such observations had been used for (Browne 1995, 2002). Archeological ‘‘occupation levels’’ were stratigraphic of glacial deposits (Chamberlain 1895). subsequently popularized by Heinrich Schliemann’s (1874) excava- Paleosols were implied in the following explanation by James tions at Troy in western Turkey, and Arthur Evans’ (1921) excavations Hutton (Fig. 2) of the first major geological unconformity discovered of Knossos on Crete.

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FIG. 2.—Pioneers of paleopedology: clockwise from top left: Luigi F. Marsigli (from commons.wikimedia.org), James Hutton (oil on canvas by Henry Raeburn, courtesy of National Galleries of Scotland PG2686), William Buckland (oil on canvas by , courtesy of UK National Portrait Gallery NPG1275), Albert C. Seward (retouched from photo of Wilding 2005), Dan Yaalon (courtesy of Dan Yaalon), Kirk Bryan (retouched from photo of Osterkamp 1989), C.C. Nikiforoff (photo from Cady and Flach 1997), and Boris B. Polynov (retouched photo from Krupenikov 1992)

‘‘Fossil forests’’ of preserved stumps and logs were widely practical . The foundations of modern soil science discovered in the nineteenth century and preserved as tourist attractions were laid by Vasilii V.Dokuchaev (1846–1903) with a detailed account (Thomas 2005). The stumps and associated fossil were of the dark, grassland soils of the Russian Plain (Dokuchaev 1883). This described, but little was made of their substrates as fossil soils. book made clear the soils could be described, mapped, and classified in a Examples include the Eocene Sequoia forests of Yellowstone National scientific fashion, and were not merely epiphenomena of geochemical Park, USA, and Carboniferous stumps of tree-lycopsids at Clayton and physical weathering processes. Furthermore, their various features (Yorkshire, England), Victoria Park (, Scotland; Fig. 3B), and could be related to environmental constraints, of which and at Joggins (Nova Scotia, Canada). A summary of these early were considered especially important. By the early part of the discoveries of pre-Quaternary fossil soils is available in introductory twentieth century, there was an established scientific tradition of chapters of the first volume of A.C. Seward’s (Fig. 2) monumental research on soil geography, classification, and genesis in Russia work Fossil Plants (Seward 1898), and again reiterated in his popular (Krupenikov 1992), as summarized in the influential general works of book Life through the Ages (Seward 1931). Albert Charles K.D. Glinka (1927). Russian pedology established soils as objects of Seward (1863–1941) was a professor of Botany at Downing College, worthy of careful study, although soils remain difficult to Cambridge (Andrews 1980). Seward appreciated fossil forests as define (Hole 1981). Perhaps the most inspiring definition from evocative evidence of past plant life, but was better known for studies Nikiforoff (1959, p. 186) is soil ‘‘as an excited skin of the subaerial of Gondwanan fossil plants as evidence of continental drift and part of the .’’ Put more prosaically, soil is material forming profound (Wilding 2005). Study of the paleosols the surface of a planet or similar body and altered in place from its parent themselves awaited development of soil science. material by physical, chemical, or biological processes (Retallack The origin of paleopedology as a discrete field of inquiry required the 2001). late nineteenth century development of soil science and its key concepts of soil profiles and soil geography (Tandarich and Sprecher 1994). Soils PALEOPEDOLOGY BORN 1927 had been studied from the point of view of plant nutrition since classical times. It was not until 1862 (Fallou 1862) that the Saxon scientist In the course of early Russian soil mapping, certain soils were found Fredrich A. Fallou (1795–1877) first published the term ‘‘pedologie’’ for to be anomalous because their various features did not fit the general the study of soil science, as opposed to what he termed ‘‘agrologie,’’ or relationship between soil profile type and their climate and vegetation.

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FIG. 3.—Notable pre-Quaternary paleosols recognized by the pioneers of geology: A) Angular unconformity between Early (430 Ma) Queensberry Grits Rocks and Late Devonian (360 Ma) Upper Old Red Sandstone (Greig 1971) at Siccar Point, Scotland (55.9323238N, 2.2999338W): B) fossil stumps of Stigmaria ficoides in mid-Carboniferous (Namurian) Limestone Coal Group (Bluck 1973), at Fossil Grove in Victoria Park, Glasgow (55.8767558N, 4.3382638W): C) ‘‘Dirt beds’’ (paleosols) including the ‘‘Mammal bed’’ (below) and ‘‘Great Dirt bed’’ (at hammer) in a stratigraphic section through the latest Jurassic (Tithonian, 150 Ma) Purbeck Formation (Francis 1986), on Durlston Head, near Swanage, England (50.5961858N, 1.9520528W). All photographs are by author, June 1980.

It had long been suspected that these were very old soils, perhaps W. Hilgard’s (1892) monograph on the relationship between soil and products of past environments. In 1927, Boris B. Polynov (Fig. 2) climate. This, and the first large-scale mapping and classification of summarized Soviet observations of this kind for an All-Union Soviet North American soils by Milton Whitney (1909) were largely Soil Conference in Leningrad, in preparation for the International independent of comparable research done by Russian soil scientists. Congress of Soil Science in Washington, DC, later that year. His short Their impact was diminished by personal rivalry and scientific paper, which introduced the term paleopedology, can be considered the disagreement: Hilgard at Berkeley emphasized soil , and foundation of this branch of science. Polynov included the study of four Whitney in Washington, DC, emphasized (Jenny 1961). kinds of materials within paleopedology. ‘‘Secondary soils’’ encompass Soviet influence first appeared in America with the work of Curtis those formed by two successive weathering regimes, such as grassland Marbut, particularly, his monumental of the United States soils degraded by the advance of forests after retreat of glacial ice. (Marbut 1935). Paleopedology also was introduced into ‘‘Two-stage soils’’ were recognized to have an upper horizon of recent through a Soviet connection. Constantin C. (‘‘Niki’’) Nikiforoff (1867– origin, but deeper horizons of more ancient vintage. ‘‘Fossil soils’’ were 1979; Fig. 2) completed doctoral studies in 1912 under N.M. Sibirtsev defined as soil profiles developed on a surface and subsequently at the Novoalexandrovsk Institute, and then joined the staff of the buried. Polynov’s final category of ‘‘ancient weathering products’’ Russian Department of Agriculture and Improvement. During the included the redeposited remnants of soils such as and china Russian Revolution, he fought with the White Army, before defecting clays. Boris Borisovich Polynov (1877–1952) was a student of K.D. to New York. At first, he drove a taxi in New York City, and was a farm Glinka at the Novalexandrovsk Institute of Agriculture in St. laborer in northern Minnesota in 1927, when his expertise was Petersburg before the Russian Revolution, and his wide experience discovered by a visiting soil survey. After a short stint at the University came from K.D. Glinka’s ambitious program of soil mapping and of Minnesota, he was a soil scientist for the U.S. Department of characterization. Polynov worked on soils in , Mongolia, Don Agriculture from 1931 until retirement in 1957 (Stelly 1979). He was Basin, , Caucasus coast, northern , and lower Volga best known for advancing the concept of soil equilibrium, along with River, and was chairman of pedology at Leningrad State University his close friend, the geomorphologist John Hack (Osterkamp and Hupp (Kovda and Dobrovolsky 1974, Krupenikov 1992). 1996). Nikiforoff (1943) published a short essay outlining the role and Modern soil science in North America can be traced back to Eugene scope of paleopedology. A supporting study of paleosols in the same

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journal in 1943 by Kirk Bryan and Claude Albritton made clear the From your A2 we recoil, we’re skeptic sons-of-guns. practical application of such studies. Kirk Bryan (1888–1950; Fig. 2) One solution to the debate has been to ignore it by using terms such as was born in Cody, Wyoming, and received an undergraduate education regolith and gradation. Merrill (1897, p. 299) introduced the term at the University of New Mexico and PhD from Yale. As successor to regolith in the following way, ‘‘In places this covering is made up of William Morris Davis in the Department of at material originating through -weathering or plant growth in situ.In Harvard in 1925, Bryan was among the most influential geomorphol- other instances it is of fragmental and more or less decomposed matter ogists of the twentieth century (Whittlesey 1951, Holliday 2006). drifted by wind, or ice from other sources. This entire mantle of unconsolidated material, whatever its nature or origin, it is proposed to ORGANIZATIONS, MEETINGS, AND TEXTS call the regolith.’’ Gradation is a counterpart term for all the SINCE 1965 sedimentary, pedogenic, and other processes that form regolith (Greeley 1994). The vagueness of pedolith and gradation can be The first organization for this young science was the Commission on useful in exploration of remote regions (Ollier and Pain 1996, Taylor Paleopedology established in 1965 by Dan H. Yaalon (Fig. 2) and J. and Eggleton 2001) and other planetary bodies (Greeley 1994). This is Hans V.van Baren, at the 7th Congress of the International Association essentially a geological or approach, whereas pedology for Quaternary Research in Denver, USA. An early result of the and paleopedology are concerned with disentangling soil-forming commission’s activities was the publication of recommendations for from sedimentary and other processes. recognizing and classifying paleosols in a volume of research papers The problem of paleosol recognition was only partly palliated by the edited by Yaalon (1971). A second international meeting was mantra of (1) root traces, (2) soil horizons, and (3) soil structures, which organized for September 1987 by Gregory J. Retallack and Patricia are foreign concepts to many geologists (Retallack 1990). The real McDowell (1988) as a Penrose Conference at Kah-nee-tah resort in problem in many cases was diagenesis, , or alteration of paleosols central Oregon under the auspices of the Geological Society of soon after burial. Burial decomposition, for example, can strip a paleosol America (Fig. 4). The theme of this meeting was ‘‘paleoenvironmental of organic matter, changing its color from dark brown to light yellow interpretation of paleosols,’’ and the scope broadened to include pre- (Retallack 1991). In Quaternary Palouse Loess of Washington State, Quaternary paleosols, with an excursion to Eocene and Oligocene fossil Aridisols were easily recognized from their prominent calcareous paleosols of central Oregon. It was organized as an open discussion, nodules (Busacca 1989) and cicada burrows (O’Geen et al. 2002), but with only 20 minutes of talks followed by an hour of discussion. A the that form interbeds at Milankovitch temporal frequencies third international meeting on paleopedology was organized at were not recognized until detailed studies of soil micromorphology (Tate Allerton House, near Urbana, Illinois, in August 1993 by Leon 1998) and phytoliths (Blinnikov et al. 2002). The mollic crumb structure Follmer (1998). With excursions to the Sangamon Geosol, this meeting and fine root traces are still there (Retallack 2004), but not the dark emphasized Quaternary paleosols and was notable for its working organic matter, which would make these grassland paleosols more groups on a variety of contentious issues of definitions, classification, obvious. Erosion of paleosols immediately before burial can compro- stratigraphy, methods, diagenesis, and field description. The fourth mise some aspects of their interpretation, but is not evident in many international meeting on paleopedology was held in September 2010 as eolian and volcaniclastic sequences of paleosols like the Palouse Loess, an SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Research Conference in which radiocarbon dating and tephrostratigraphy demonstrate and Workshop at Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, by Steven continuous aggradation (Busacca 1989, Blinnikov et al. 2002). Driese, Lee Nordt, Stacy Atchley, Steve Dworkin, Dan Peppe, Cindy In the rock record, paleosol recognition was confounded by the ‘‘red- Stiles, Curtis Monger, and Eugene Kelly. The emphasis this time was bed problem’’ (Turner 1980). Petrographic observations showed some on pre-Quaternary paleosols and their surface system analogs, again red transported grains indicating redeposition. Some wisps of red stain with working groups producing recommendations designed specifi- crossing grains indicating a diagenetic origin and which were assumed cally to improve research funding for paleopedology. have formed after burial. Diagenesis also includes soil formation and Useful early collections of papers on paleopedology were edited by other alterations after deposition, not just after burial. Most red beds Yaalon (1971), Wright (1986), Reinhardt and Sigleo (1988), Martini turn out to be paleosols or sequences of them (Retallack 1997), but and Chesworth (1992) and Thiry and Simon-Coinc¸on (1999). There here again diagenetic dehydration of ferric hydroxides and local burial also were some useful early monographic works on paleosols (Ruhe gleization of organic matter can change the appearance of subtle gray– 1969, Retallack 1983). For a textbook of paleopedology, the first useful brown soils to gaudy caricatures of green–red mottled paleosols, unlike book was by Birkeland (1974), because of its emphasis on any modern soil (Retallack 1991). fundamentals of soil science, Quaternary paleosols, and the soil factor The problem of classification and interpretation of paleosols also approach of Jenny (1941). Pre-Quaternary paleosols and problems of became contentious, despite efforts to skirt the problem with nongenetic diagenesis were added in subsequent textbooks of paleopedology naming systems. Early studies labeled them with names such as designed for university courses (Retallack 1990, 2001) and for Yarmouth soil, intended as a stratigraphic marker beds (Ruhe 1969). For interested professionals of other earth sciences (Retallack 1997). these purposes, the term geosol is best, for example, Yarmouth Geosol, Australian authors have provided textbooks on relict paleosols, though as ratified by the North American Commission on Stratigraphic using the ambiguous terminology of ‘‘regolith’’ (Ollier and Pain 1996, Nomenclature (1982). Geosols are not suited to paleoenvironmental Taylor and Eggleton 2001). interpretation, because they change form along strike in response to Meetings and texts were needed, because paleopedology in the mid- drainage and other soil-forming factors (Follmer 1978). For this twentieth century was mired in controversy: ‘‘Many people have had purpose, a different unit, the pedotype, has been proposed (Retallack the experience in field conferences that one man’s [buried] soil 1994) based on a type pedon. These can be mapped laterally like soil becomes another’s geologic deposit’’ (Birkeland 1974, p. 24). A poem series across paleolandscapes, and also in geological successions of penned in 1958 by Luna Leopold for his field buddies Charlie Denny, paleosols, for example, the Gleska pedotype, Eocene, Badlands Charlie Hunt, Reds Wolman, John Goodlett, Niki Nikiforoff, and National Park, (1983). Pedotypes were established so Johnny Hack, captures this (Osterkamp 1989, p. 288). that paleosols could be described objectively in a systematic fashion We drive along the , we stop at every , before they were classified and otherwise interpreted. We’re boys who must be showed, we won’t be in a rut, Controversy does not stem from the formalism of geosols or Don’t like your fossil soil, nor even buried ones, pedotypes, but rather from moving directly to interpretation, including

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FIG. 4.—Penrose Conference on paleoenvironmental interpretation of paleosols at Kah-nee-tah Lodge, Oregon, September 11–17, 1987. classification within systems devised for modern soils. Classifications (Retallack 2009a), and rates of evapotranspiration (Ufnar et al. 2008). such as those of Soil (Soil Survey Staff 2010) and the Food Furthermore, soils as living entities have evolved with changing and Agriculture Organization (1974, 1988) were not primarily conditions over geological time. Extinct soil orders can also be designed for paleosols, and for this reason, classifications specifically identified, such as ‘‘Green Clays’’ (Viridisols), which are deeply for paleosols were devised (Mack et al. 1993; Nettleton et al. 1998, weathered soils with soil creep and corestones formed under Archean 2000). The main point of contention in applying modern classifications atmospheres with unusually low levels of oxygen (Retallack 2001). to paleosols is their reliance on climatic measurements or chemical Such interpretations of former , vegetation, or drainage indices such as base saturation or pH not preserved in paleosols. character are widely made from paleosols, and are useful adjuncts to Nevertheless, proxies such as depth to carbonate as a climatic indicator evidence from sedimentology, , , and stratigraphy (Retallack 2005) and geochemical transfer functions for pH (Nordt and in forming ever more detailed impressions of past landscapes and Driese 2010a) have been used to identify paleosols, enabling biota. comparison of paleosols within the large literature of soil geography and genesis (Retallack 1983). Studies of stable isotopes (primarily NOMOPEDOLOGY d13C and d18O) from paleosol carbonate have provided proxies of unexpected soil-forming variables, including proxies for atmospheric A promising future direction for paleopedology is nomopedology, CO2 (Cerling 1991, Breeker et al. 2010), secondary productivity from the Greek molo1 (law), here defined as a branch of soil science

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devoted to discovering general rules of soil formation. Nomopedology longer period variation. Anomalous peaks can thus be defined as those is not new, and its essence is well captured in the seminal text, Factors more than two standard deviations above than a running mean. These of Soil Formation by Hans Jenny (1941), which outlined a variety of spikes in calcareous nodule depth in paleosols are coeval with spikes mathematical relationships between soil features and environmental from proxy CO2 records, and these can be used to derive power laws variables. He proposed the lawyerly formalism of basing climofunc- predicting climatic change in the past for different levels of tions (relationships between soil features and climate) on climose- atmospheric CO2. The paleoclimatic parameters of mean annual quences (a collection of soils for which all factors other than climate temperature and mean annual precipitation come from geochemical are more or less equal). Jenny also proposed biofunctions, top- climofunctions of modern soils applied to the paleosols (Sheldon et al. ofunctions, lithofunctions, and chronofunctions for the main soil- 2002) and from depth of calcic horizons of modern soils applied after forming factors. Improving pedotransfer functions (Bouma 1989) is an compaction correction to the paleosols (Retallack 2005). These power ongoing preoccupation of pedologists, as well as paleopedologists, laws (Fig. 6A–C) thus quantify predicted warming and precipitation because rules gleaned from modern soils can be invaluable in the increases with rising anthropogenic CO2. These power laws are quantitative interpretation of paleosols (Driese et al. 2005, Nordt et al. empirical and based on past Earth system performance, not models. 2006, Sheldon and Tabor 2009, Nordt and Driese 2010b). Not all these Models are needed to estimate future CO2 emissions, and using a rules need necessarily be derived only from surface soils. The well- scenario of business as usual without strongly centralized intervention known stability series during chemical weathering devised by (model A2 of Solomon et al. 2007), the power laws predict a rise in Samuel S. Goldich (1938) was based on a study of mid-Cretaceous temperature by the year 2100 ofþ1.28 C. This is low but close to global (Cenomanian) paleosols developed on in southern Minnesota. model predictions (Solomon et al. 2007; þ2.48 C, with range from 1.4– In this case, it saved him a trip to the tropics to see comparable modern deep weathering of granite. In other cases, the paleosol record reveals soil-forming conditions no longer found on Earth, such as the early evolution of vascular land plants (Elick et al. 1998, Driese et al. 2000), and the low O2 atmosphere of the Precambrian (Rye and Holland 1998, Driese and Medaris 2008). Other factors unique to the paleosol record are CO2-greenhouse crises of the geological past, some of which, such as the Late Permian one, were so extreme that they were occasions of mass extinction (Retallack and Jahren 2008). Levels of atmospheric CO2 in the past can be inferred from isotopic study of pedogenic carbonate (Retallack 2009a) and from stomatal index of fossil Ginkgo leaves (Retallack 2009b). Within long time series of paleoclimatic proxies, such as depth to carbonate nodules, now available from paleosols, these times of greenhouse crisis stand out as transient times of much deeper calcic horizons. Such a record of arid-land paleoclimate from fossil Aridisols of Utah and Montana was log-transformed (Fig. 5) because it is log- normal in distribution due to ubiquitous Milankovitch period climate variation, with more precession and obliquity, than eccentricity and

FIG. 6.—Empirical power laws relating past climate and atmospheric CO2. A–C) Atmospheric CO2 for 52 adequately sampled intervals from stomatal index of Ginkgo and related taxa as independent variable. Open symbols are for a largely ice-free world (Late Permian to Eocene), filled symbols are for world with a large Antarctic ice cap (Oligocene to Pliocene and Early to Middle FIG. 5.—Running mean (64 Ma) by million-year increments and 2 Permian): A) mean annual temperature (MAT) calculated from standard deviation envelope of log-transformed depth to calcic chemical alkali index of paleosols; B, C) mean annual precipitation horizon in paleosols of Utah and Montana. The 40 peaks (gray (MAP) calculated from compaction-corrected depth to calcic spikes) representing unusually humid paleoclimate in excess of 2 horizon in paleosols (B) and from potash-free chemical index of standard deviations (black error envelope) are marked with alteration (C); D–F) predicted climate change by the year 2100 geological ages. Calcic depths at the other extreme, below 2 using power laws of A–C, and concentrations of CO2 (gray curves) standard deviations represent unusually arid paleoclimate or highly from ISAM model of emission scenario A2. Error envelopes in D–F eroded paleosols (from Retallack 2009b). include other emission scenarios (from Retallack 2009b).

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(Morrison 2004). For those adhering to the view that life defines soil, and thus pedology (Hole 1981), astropedology is at best an oxymoron, and such planetary surface materials are better termed regolith (Greeley 1994). Astropedology follows a more general definition of soils formed by alteration in place by physical, chemical, or biological processes, and so does not beg the question of life on other planetary bodies (Retallack 2001). Soils of the Moon have already supported life in the form of astronauts, and it seems unlikely that all forms of life have been sterilized from Martian robotic landers. Paleosols offer FIG. 7.—Reconstructed soil profile at the Viking 1 site on Chryse useful information on past and future behavior of Earth’s soil and Planitia, Mars (from Retallack 2001). atmosphere (Fig. 6), and could be similarly useful for understanding and exploiting other planetary bodies. The clayey and salty soils of Mars are similar to those of Earth, 3.88 C). Local temperature sensitivity (mean annual temperature particularly those of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica (Campbell and change with CO2 doubling) using these empirical power laws also is Claridge 1987). Their is mafic lavas of and low (0.88 C) compared with global sensitivity estimates (1.5–6.28 C) komatiite, which have been weathered in acidic aqueous solution to from theoretical models of past and present climate (Royer et al. 2006). smectite clay, and salts such as gypsum (Amundson et al. 2008, Bishop Precipitation sensitivity (mean annual precipitation increase for CO2 et al. 2008). Calcareous soils may be present in the Nili Fossae region, doubling) is 89 mm for calcic horizon estimates and 128 mm for but they are only known by (Ehlmann et al. 2008). geochemical estimates. Paleosols have much to offer regarding changes Gypsic soils examined robotically in Chryse Planitia are thin, and in climate, vegetation, and agriculture during coming global change. retrorockets on the Viking landers blew away soil to reveal the salt crust (gypsic horizon) beneath the gray surface and thin red oxidation rind ASTROPEDOLOGY (Fig. 7). Such field relationships are evidence against hydrolysis only during burial diagenesis, as proposed by McLennan et al. (2005). The Another promising future direction is astropedology, from the thin, dark red, surface rind may be due to photo-oxidation in solar wind ancient Greek arsgq (star), and here defined as a branch of soil (‘‘space weathering’’ of Hiroi et al. 2005). Chemical analysis of Viking science concerned with soils of the distant geological past and of other 1 soil (McSween and Keil 2000) shows clear weathering trends of base planetary bodies. In these respects, its aims and scope are similar to depletion and clay formation. Soils revealed by the Viking landers are þ0.6 astrobiology, in short, to understand our place in the universe in a terrane dated by crater counting at 3.2 /2 Ga (Hartmann et al.

FIG. 8.—An interpretation of the most prominent paleosols in the Apollo 15 deep core at Palus Putredinus near Hadley Rille on the Moon. Soil and paleosol maturity indices include mean grain size, percent agglutinates, and relative ferromagnetic resonance. Evidence for impact comes from large non-mare to mare rock fragment ratios (from Retallack 2001).

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away from the sun (Wasson 1985). By the soil-formation hypothesis, however, the carbonaceous and volatile-rich chondrites could represent the upper horizons of soils, whereas chondrule-rich and metamorphic chondrites represent lower horizons. Such paleosol interpretations and their relevance for planetary volatile inventories and the origin of life remain little explored (Retallack 2001). CONCLUSIONS

Paleosols may have been appreciated in classical antiquity, but they were first recognized in scientific treatises of Marsigli’s (1726) tomes on the Danube River terraces of Hungary. Paleopedology as a subdivision of pedology became formalized as a discipline with Boris Polynov’s (1927) article outlining its aims and scope, but it was slow to grow. Paleopedology remained a small field, mired in controversy during the mid-twentieth century until the appearance of international meetings (Yaalon 1971, Follmer 1998, Retallack and McDowell 1988) and organizing texts (Birkeland 1974; Retallack 1990, 1997, 2001). FIG. 9.—Petrographic thin section of Allende carbonaceous chondrite, Growth in paleopedology came from other disciplines for which viewed under crossed nicols, from thin section 818 at the Center for information from fossil soils was useful: sedimentology (Barrell 1913), Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University. The fine-grained Precambrian geology (Collins 1925), (Retallack 1977a, matrix to the left has birefringence fabric (insepic plasmic fabric), 1977b), and vertebrate (Bown and Kraus 1981). Now a and the large barred chondrules of olivine show thick opaque first generation of scientists trained specifically in paleopedology is weathering rinds (sesquans)(from Retallack 1997). finding jobs in academia and government laboratories. For the future, paleosols will continue to inform allied disciplines, especially pedology, to which it owes many fundamental concepts and an arcane 1981), and there is some doubt whether even the modest amount of terminology (Retallack 1997). There is also the prospect of paleosols clay formation observed could have been accomplished on frigid Mars on other planets such as Mars (Retallack 2001) and a role for studying today (Chevrier et al. 2007). Outwash channels are evidence for water soils of the past to predict their behavior in the face of future global flow at the surface before 2 Ga, and clayey surface soils could be climate change (Retallack 2009b). paleosols remaining from that early time of hydrous soil formation (Tosca and Knoll 2009). Recent missions to Mars have paid little ACKNOWLEDGMENTS attention to soil-forming processes (Squyres et al. 2004), but this will Steven Driese deserves special thanks for spearheading the change if the planet is terraformed for human habitation (Fogg 1998). paleopedology meeting at Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, Other planetary bodies, such as our Moon, stretch the very definition and for inviting this history and prospectus. Dan Yaalon, Douglas of soil formation. Without effective water or atmosphere, the principal Helms, Phil Hunt, and Bernard Horrocks provided useful historical soil-forming process on the Moon is a continuing rain of microme- photographs. For helpful discussions, thanks are due to Fio Ugolini, teoroids, which create silt-to-sand-sized grains of impact glass, John Tandarich, Don Johnson, and Leon Follmer. meteoritic metal, and grains cemented by impact glass (agglutinates; Lindsay 1976). These modify coarser impact debris of larger impacts, REFERENCES as can clearly be seen in the Apollo 15 deep core (Fig. 8). This core demonstrated at least seven horizons of agglutinate enrichment, which Allen P. 1947. Notes on Wealden fossil soil beds. Geologists Association also had a high ferromagnetic resonance from added meteoritic metal Proceedings 57:303–314. (Heiken et al. 1973, 1976). These dark ferromagnetic bands are Amundson R, Ewing S, Dietrich W, Sutter B, Owen J, Chadwick O, Nishiizumi paleosols, formed between the larger impacts, which introduced rock K, Walvoord M, McKay CP. 2008. 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