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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Soil Features Common to the Houston Area
(As Seen by a Soil Scientist)
By
Texas A&M Sea Grant Program and
Texas Agricultural Extension Service
Soil science focuses on a very thin layer of the earth's surface where biologic and physico-chemical processes join to form perhaps the most complex environment on the earth. To many field geologists, this zone that so occupies soil scientists is just a distraction before getting down to the "real" business. Yet the morphology and processes of this thin layer very much control what travels from the surface to deeper layers and what kind of transformations might occur during the trip.
In this presentation, I focus on common features that geologists
might encounter during 
fieldwork
in the Quaternary formations
on the Upper Gulf Coast of Texas. We will examine features
associated with our expansive soils, including gilgai and slickensides.
We will also examine accumulations that occur in the soil,
such as redoximorphic concentrations of iron (aka "mottles"),
calcium carbonate or caliche, gypsum, and manganese. We will
discuss what these pedogenic (soil-formed) concentrations tell
us about the environment of their formation.
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