Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1951 Movement of iron, manganese and titanium in the development of loess-derived prairie soils Richard Merrill Swenson Iowa State College Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Agriculture Commons, and the Soil Science Commons Recommended Citation Swenson, Richard Merrill, "Movement of iron, manganese and titanium in the development of loess-derived prairie soils " (1951). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 13245. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/13245 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI ••• MDVMiiT Of HD flfANIOT Ii THE DlflliOflEMT OF WSSi«BlEI¥l© • wmmiM $mm by iichard Merrill Bmnsm A Blssfrtatlen Smbmltt®<3 t© th« Oradmat# Fmewlty in Partial Fulfillment of ffee l®q«ireiients for th® Degr«@ of »C-®1 OF PIimSOPHT Major iubjeetl Soil Fertility ApprovedI Signature was redacted for privacy. In 0b«pg« of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. H@ad of Major Bepartaent Signature was redacted for privacy. lean of Crraimt© Coll@ge Iowa Stat® College 1951 UMI Number: DP12163 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform DP12163 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 •li- S593 5w4?-m . • TAMIM. OF COITBHTi' Page amoptrnfioi i llfllW OF LIEffiATOE•4 • MttrmtOTt Pertaining t© Iron 4 Distril^mtion of iron as an interpretation of soil gsnesif 4 Occwr«nee an3 composition of concretions ... 7 Iron migration 9 Mterattare Pertaining' to *anganes® 10 Occtirrene® and iistribtttion of mngm%B@ in the soil 10 fh© inflwnee of aanganise on the behavior of iron in tht loil 12 l»it®rati»e' Pertaining to fitanimn 13 Oeeiirr«ne« an4 distriMtion of titanitam in loils 13 Us® of titanim as an indicator of soil age , . 15 lEffiOBS OF mmBTimTim 17 ixplanation of Soils :Us@i in^ the'Inwstigation « . 17 Iiocation- ani description of th® soils ..... 17 Iia."borat0ry Studies 24 M®thoi of l^aetionation 24 Partisld sise analysis 27 total iron 29 Fr«®- iron 49 tottic® iron .................. 60 fot&l aanganas® •. 67 • total titanittffi 7o DISCIISSIOI 82 coicmsiois 95 I,I»AfOEl eiflB . 98 ACraOWKMM.iStS 103 TiOO 9/ lli- LlSf OF TMBMS Pag® Table' 1 Particle sii® analysis ©f Mina®ii .and Ediiia profiles 28 fatil© 2 Comparison between particl® size analysis of idina P-16 and Idina P-.223 30 faM® 3 P«re@iitag® of total iron in tht Tariows «iz® fractions of the linden and Idina^ profiles .... 32 Tahl# 4 Weight of total iron.in an aera-inch.fro® fi¥« horizons of Minian and Sdina profiles 36 fahla 5 Comparison of th® two aethods for datarm- ining total iron, manganas®, and titanitJ® in the wliola soil 43 Tahl® 6 Parcantaga of frea iron in th® farioms siz® •fraetions of-the Mindan and Idina profiles 52 Tabl® 7 Percsntaga of lattie® iron in. tha varioms siza fraetions of tha Minden and Idina profilas 62 Table 8 Parcentage of total laanganasa in the: varioms si2®''fraetions of the Mindan and Edina profiles 70 fable 9 Paroentage of total titaniin in tha various siaa fractions of tha Mindan and Edina profilas 77 -i¥- LlSf .Of Fismis Page Figure 1 Per c«nt total iron in the mrions sijs« fractions of Minden profil®33 figtar® 2 Per e«nt total iron in th® irariotis si2@ fractions of liiiia profile 34 Figitre 3 Poimis of total iron in acr®*itich of • linfitn ani liiaa profiles 38 Pigwre 4 Per cent total iron ia variottt size ftraetioRs of linieia and Mina profiles •».•••.. 42 Figur© 5 <e®Bt total iron ami fre® iron in Mln&m ani Mina profiles 44 Pigtjr© 6 Per cent of the total iron in a horizon occtarring in the Yariotis si»@ fractions of that horisoB for Mirid«ii profile 47 Figtire 7 Per cent of tha total iron in a horizon occurring In th« irariotts »i«® fractions of that horij^on for Mina. profil© 48 PigttT® 8 Par cant of total iron in a horizon occtirrlng in the fln« clay and coarae clay fraction of that toriion for th® Mindan and Mina profiles 50 Figm-e 9 P®3:' cent fr«« iron in th« various size fractions of th® Mindtn profil® 53 FigtJr® 10 Par cant frm iron in the varioms size fraction# of tha Mina profile 54 Figare 11 Per cant of th# total fraa iron in .a horiuon occiirring in th® various siz® fractions of that horizon for the Minflen profil# 58 Figi3r®,12 Par cent of the total fra® iron in a horizon occurring in the- variows sisea fractions of that horison for tha Eiina profile 59 -•"T- Pag© Figw# 13 P@r cent lattice Iron in Mindan and M&im profilds 63 Plgurt 14 Per cent of tbs total lattice iron in a horizon occurring in tli® wrious sizt fraetioas of that horizon for the linden profil# 63 Figtir® 15 P«r cent of total lattice iron in a hori­ zon ocetirring in th® various siz® fractions of that horiEon for th® idina profile 66 figwte 16 Per cent of th« total iron in a horizon occwrriag as lattic® iron in th® various siB® fractioni of that horizon for th« Mina profile 68 Flgwe 17 Per cent total aangantse in the variow# si2« fractions of the linden and Idina frofil®# 71 Figure 18 P@r cent total manganes® in th# Minden and Idina profilos 73 Figtir# If Per cent of the total manganese in a horizon occurring in th® varioijs slm •fractions of that, horizon for th® Minden profile 74 figwr» 20 P«r c@nt of th® total manganese in a horizon occtjrrlng in th® various siz® fractions of that horizon for the Idina profile 75 Figw# 21 P®r cent total titanim in the linden and Idina profiles 79 Figure 22 Per cent of the total titanium in a hori­ zon occurring in th« various siss® fractions of that horizon for the Minden profil® 80 Figwr® 23 P@r cent of th© total titanitao in a hori- son occurring in th# various sis® fractions of that horizon for tha Mlna profil® 8l WIKOTOflOI Ir©a, is a eonstitmeiat ©f ail',soils, in fact it is th® fourth (28| f. 66)* «©st ahusdaat «l«®«iit found in tfea @arth*s »mst.'' fli« «©¥®iiaat ani tracsforraations wMeh iron undargoes in th® soil, hair®. feten studied in various ways (14| 15f 21, 47| 4f| S)i sBueh still remains ©hscur® about th© ©hemistry of Iron aoveaent and precipitation in the soil C40, ff. 518, ?4U| 53)• It is heliewd thmt soae fundsental knowledge about iron earn fee learned from an understanding of the transforations whieh iron undergoes as a result of th© processes of .»@il dewlopieiit*' In this iBTestigatiOB, two loess-deriirad soils formed taider prairief liinden froa western lom and Bdina fro® south­ ern IowaI were seleetei, the former is a ^'unigra CPrairie) soil and the latter a Planosol. ^e^rious study C^O) had shorn the f©r»er t© be a slightly weathered and the latter t© be a highly weathered soil# fh® profiles used in this study were those -saaplei by Ulrich fhese particular samples were chosen since data were awilable on the® which night prOTe helpful in determining the various factors re­ lating t© the mo"Fement'of iron... *Fi.gures in parentheses refer t© literature cited.# Previous (7» 36| 38, 43) haT® showi the total iron ani fr®® iron Cii'©n-Ox;id®s) content of th« different horizons of tolls, hut as far as the author Is awar®, no one has mad® a detail®# stmdy of the ilstrlhmtlon of iron in th® various tiz® fractions throughout tht profile of different aged soils derived from the^ sane' parent material. Five horizons were selected, on the basis of previous study (50), 'from the Minden and Idina profiles, fhe samples were fractionated into the following five • iisse fractions t fine clay (less-than-.2 nicron), coarse clay (•2^2 micron), fine silt C2»5 micron),, aedlu® silt (5-20 micron), and.coarse silt and sand (greater-than-20 micron)# fotal iron and free iron isere deteralned on each of the size fractions# One of the transfomations which iron of primary minerals undergoes on weathering is the formation of concretions# Hhese concretions are termed •*ferrofflanganiferous" 'because of their high content of Iron and manganese (53)» How to account for the localization of iron at concretion centers is a complex problem yet to be solved (53)# A fact that may be of great significance is the miiversal presence of manganese in the concretions, ' It has been suggested that th® behavior of manganese aay be analogous to that of ironj'buti further, th® manganese nay be an important agent'in the aggregation of iron# fhe study of the behavior of manganese in soils may therefore be on® approach to the problen of iron aggregation into eoncretims "flew of this, the total manganese Gonttnt of the various slse fractions of th« two soils was det®r«in«a, • ^ fh© acoisottlation ©f h@&vy metals in th® profile has beta proposed (If, 43) as an indication of th« age of soils.