Magnetic Enhancement of Loessic Soils Along a Toposequence at Badger Ridge-Hitchcock Nature Area, Iowa, U.S.A
Abstract
Variations in magnetic properties of loessic soil have been correlated to changes in contemporary climate and such correlations aid in the interpretation of older, buried soils. While many studies have been conducted on the Loess Plateau of China, investigations of Midwestern Loess in the US are limited. Our aim is to determine the regional processes responsible for the magnetic development of the soil in Western Iowa. A total of 31 soil profiles from the southeast facing slopes of Badger Ridge located within the Hitchcock Nature Center in Honey Creek of Pottawattamie County were taken using a ½ in. manual soil push probe. The concentration-dependent parameters of magnetic susceptibility, isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) and anhysteric remanent magnetization susceptibility (ARM) were measured. Highly eroded sites exhibited lesser degrees of magnetic enhancement than more stable sites. In depositional sites, the magnetic profiles were more variable and topographically influenced.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFMGP43B0855M
- Keywords:
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- 0486 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Soils/pedology;
- 1512 GEOMAGNETISM AND PALEOMAGNETISM / Environmental magnetism;
- 1540 GEOMAGNETISM AND PALEOMAGNETISM / Rock and mineral magnetism