Tooth enamel of nine Middle Miocene mammalian herbivores from Fort Ternan, Kenya, was analyzed for delta 13C and delta 18O. The delta 18O values of the tooth enamel compared with pedogenic and diagenetic carbonate confirm the use of stable isotope analysis of fossil tooth enamel as a paleoenvironmental indicator. Furthermore, the delta 18O of tooth enamel indicates differences in water sources ...

Clastic sediments in the Bengal Fan contain a Neogene history of erosion and weathering of the Himalaya. We present data on clay mineralogy, major element, stable and radiogenic isotope abundances from Lower Miocene-Pleistocene sediments from ODP Leg 116. Nd and Sr isotope data show that the Himalayan provenance for the eroded material has varied little since > 17 Ma. However, from 7 to 1 Ma sm...

A lack of well preserved paleoclimate indicators coupled with the abundance of gypsic soils in arid and semi-arid regions has stimulated research on using dO and dD isotopic analysis of the hydration water of gypsum to interpret paleoclimate. This study stresses the importance of establishing a pedogenic origin for gypsum crystals prior to isotopic analysis and evaluates the dominant processes ...

Paleosols are prominent features of the Upper Triassic Chinle Group. The oldest (Carnian-age) formations of the Chinle Group (Zuni Mountains and Shinarump Formations) contain kaolinitic paleosols that display gley features but generally lack calcretes. Paleosols of the (Upper Carnian) Blue Mesa Member of the Petrifi ed Forest Formation are mostly mature Alfi sols that have distinctive horizonat...

Palaeosols in the Granada Basin (SE Spain) have been studied in two different situations: surface soils on geomorphically stable surfaces since the Early Pleistocene with younger pedogenic overprinting and buried soils on unstable surfaces from the Middle–Late Pleistocene on which successive erosional–depositional episodes have alternated with pedogenic episodes. For each soil clay and iron acc...

Pedogenic smectite from a young (Holocene) tropical soil was reacted in Al-rich solution at 150oC for a range of reaction times (3 to 120 days) in order to study mechanisms and rates associated with the transformation of smectite to kaolinite via interstratified kaolinite-smectite (K-S). As has been observed in tropical soils, the overall reaction rate is logarithmic, with rapid initial transfo...

Pedogenic goethites in each of two Early Permian paleosols appear to record mixing of two isotopically distinct CO2 components—atmospheric CO2 and CO2 from in situ oxidation of organic matter. The C values measured for the Fe(CO3)OH component in solid solution in these Permian goethites are 13.5‰ for the Lower Leonardian ( 283 Ma BP) paleosol (MCGoeth) and 13.9‰ for the Upper Leonardian ( 270 M...

Despite the ecosystem functioning they provide, termite pedoturbation along toposequence is overlooked in genesis of semiarid soils. Therefore, we aimed to describe morphological and physicochemical properties that lead classification termite-mediated In this study, representative pedons, one on each slope class, were described classified for five different topographical positions, soil genetic...