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F I S I I T I. J. SMALLEY J.E. DAVIN - -... ,__.,-- ..- ,.,,,... ,:• #. _,,,--- - .:. : . ·" ~.. .. ® - . -... -... NEW ZEALAND SOIL BUREAU BIBLIOGRAPHIC REPORT 30 DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH NEW ZEALAND FRAGIPAN HORIZONS IN SOILS: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC STUDY REVIEW OF SOME THE HARD --'••- LOESS AND OTHER MATERL.e\LS Ian J. Smalley and Jewel E. Davin Soil Bureau, Lower Hutt, New Zealand NEW ZEALAND SOIL BUREAU BIBLIOGRAPHIC REPORT 30 DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH NEW ZEALAND 1982 Bibliographic Reference: SMALLEY, I.J.; DAVIN, J.E. 1982: Fragipan horizons in soils: A bibliographic study and• review of some of the hard layers in loess and other materials. N.Z. Soil Bureau Bibliographic Report 30. 122p. ISSN 0110-165X M.l. LEAMY DIRECTOR CONTENTS page Preface ................................................................................................ 5 Introduction ......................................................................................... 7 Definitions ........................................................................................... 9 The Grossman and Carlisle Review ........................................................... 16 Typing: Tessa Roach. N.C. McLean Draughting: C. Powell Soil Taxonomy on fragipans: a summary .................................................... 19 Selected papers considered ..................................................................... 20 Databases and information sources ........................................................... 90 Fragipan bibliography ............................................................................ 93 The nature and formation of fragipans: discussion ...................................... 108 Subject index ..................................................................................... 118 Places, deposits and soils index .............................................................. 120 Index map for North American studies .................................................... 122 The illustration on the cover is based on a figure in a paper by Van Vliet and Langohr (1981a). It shows a schematic representation of a fragipan in an imperfectly drained silty soil (see p.88 for a more detailed view, with caption). P.D.HASSELBERG, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND-1982 5 This bibliographic report is dedicated to the memory of Guy D. Smith 1907-1981 Father of the Fragipan PREFACE In 1968 Conyers Herring published his famous article 'Distill or drown: the need for :reviews' in the journal 'Physics Today'. He presented the following theses: 'Today's information crisis is qualitatively different from anything in the past; it threatens to slow the progress of science significantly; creative synthesis and compaction of facts and ideas are essential if this threat is to be parried; the manpower or brainpower needed to do a worthwhile amount of this synthesis in physics could be made available without major disruption of the lives and careers of physicists.' And what Herring says for physics is, of course, equally applicable in just about every other science- including soil science. In this Bibliographic Report we have attempted a good deal of compaction and a moderate amount of synthesis of facts and ideas about fragipans- one of the recognised forms of hard layer horizons in world soils. We follow Herring's arguments completely- all he says makes excellent sense. He points out a problem with simple 'retrieval' systems- the user may be presented with so many items relevant to his interest that he cannot digest them. With regard to methods of supplying scientific data: 'An essential ingredient is lacking from both the informal grapevine and from retrieval systems. No set of information tools is going to enable the scientist to make full use of our information output unless it includes some means for digesting, evaluating and above all condensing the scattered bits of valuable material into coherent and comprehensible packages.' (Herring's emphasis). This passage is quoted with additional emphasis by Eugene Garfield in his essay in 'Current Contents' in support of the Herring philosophy. 'It's hard,' writes Garfield, 'to overstate the importance of review articles to the advancement of science.' Concepts, states Herring, must also be retrieved. 'This service can only be provided by treatises, review articles and critical compilations' (e.g. annotated bibliographies). 'Even these publications can do the task adequately only if their authors invest a great deal of thought- and really creative thought- in their preparation. There is a genuine intellectual challenge in this kind of activity. After all, science consists in the creation of simplicity out of the complexity of nature, and it is scarcely less of a feat to create new simplicity out of the complexity of the literature.' Herring ends his article with a clarion call for more effort to be put into data gathering and reviewing. Surely, he says, salvaging intellectual content merits a higher proportion of total investment. 'Not only funding agencies and university and industrial administrators, but also the great bulk of scientists must realize that the support society gives to the conduct of research is justifiable only insofar as there is acceptance of the obligation not only to publish the results as they are found, but also to boil down these results and consolidate them into usable syntheses.' (Herring's emphasis; we concur). 6 7 The Bibliographic Report series represents a response by the New Zealand Soil Bureau to the growing need for critical reviews and assessments of the current literature of soil science. The bibliographer has a critical role to play in the development and use of science; this role was neatly expressed by A.J. Colaianne and although he was writing about literary scholarship rather than science his remarks are very relevant: 'To many, the bibliographer, like Johnson's lexicographer, is a harmless INTRODUCTION drudge. But if he does his job wen, he is not merely an assembler of other scholars' thoughts, a pickpurse of another's wit, but a ... scholar writing to an audience of ... scholars. He gives shape to a diverse (often amorphous) body of scholarly production by classifying, organizing, and evaluating it. He must often clarify and simplify obtuse concepts, circuitous reasoning, and convoluted styles. He is called upon to reduce pages of evidence into short passages of coherent and lucid prose. This task requires original thought and critical insight. If he has performed his task well, the bibliographer will know a body of ... material better than any other specialist in his field.' ~n 1969 R.B. Grossm~n and F.J: ~a~lisle published a review entitled 'Fragipan This bibliography is one of a series related to documentation of loess in all its Soils of the Eastern Umted States' m Advances in Agronomy'. This appears to aspects. Two have already been published, (1) a study of the worldwide, multi­ have been the last major review published on the subject of fragipans, although language literature on loess in general, but with an emphasis on three aspects: Hallmark and Smeck (1979a), which is not strictly a review, was listed as such in the theories of loess formation, stratigraphy, and engineering properties (Smalley Science Citation Index Reviews volume for 1979. The Grossman and Carlisle 1980) and (2) a study of loess in New Zealand from 1878-1978 (Smalley and Davin rev!ew was presented as an updating of the work by Winters and Simonson (1951) 1980). The particular emphasis in the present bibliography is on fragipan horizons which had appeared about twenty years earlier. In the 1951 review Winters and in loess soils. These hard layers cause many practical problems and a fuller Simonson covered the topic in three pages of 'Advances in Agronomy'· in 1969 understanding of how they form may be of assistance in improving the utilisation of Grossman and Carlisle required 42. Now another ten years has passed and the soils in which they occur. It is also produced in support of the suggestion by the growing number of fragipan publications suggests that another review and INQUA Loess Commission that research and documentation should be summary is needed. encouraged into the practical problems associated with loess materials and loess soils. We hope that our collection of material on fragipans has met the aims expressed We have certain specific aims for this bibliography: by Colaianne, and that this 'distillation' will prove of use to future investigators of 1. To provide a survey of world literature on fragipans. We concentrate on the hard layers in soils and scholars gazing to the fragipan horizon. period 1968 to 1981 but it has been necessary to cite and discuss earlier works. u.s We cover a period of roughly ten years after the Grossman and Carlisle review J.E.D but take a somewhat wider view than they did. ' April 1982 2. Grossman and Carlisle concentrated on the eastern part of the United States and gave an essentially American ,iew of fragipans. We offer a view from New Zealand which gives some emphasis to fragipans in New Zealand but which also ~onsiders world literature and world-wide views. Fragipans are well developed m New _Zea~and, b~t have not_be_en widely studied or discussed; they provide alternative views which may assist m solving the major problem of how fragipans form. 3. ~e. revie"". evidence and opinions on the problem of fragipan formation and this_, m particular, involves some discussion of pre-1968 literature.

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