Origin, distribution and transformation of authigenic carbonates in loessic soils

Year 2015, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 38 - 43, 08.01.2015

Martin Kolesár Ján čurlik

https://doi.org/10.18393/ejss.50910

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Processes of authigenic carbonates formation are component part of terrestrial biogeochemical cycle of carbon, which starts with co-accumulation of oxalic acid and Ca in Ca- oxalates. After plant decay are these biominerals slowly transformed under the influence of microbial processes into authigenic carbonates (calcites), depending on soil condition. The formation of authigenic calcites runs over in soil system where is rather high Ca and Mg concentration, presence of oxalomorphic plants and sufficient oxalotrophic stability of microorganisms. In addition to Ca-oxalates, Ca and Mg ions necessary for carbonate formation comes also from air (precipitation, dust), mineral weathering, subsurface water flow and decaying organic matter. The distribution pattern of authigenic calcites with depth, the size and shape of individual forms of calcites on loessic soils of SW Slovakia, as it is resulted from micromorphological study indicate that through the historical development of that soils as landscape units, soil water regime has played decisive role at vertical redistribution of forms (size, shape) of authigenic calcites. To this witness the depth of variation of needle calcite zones and horizons of micritic calcites occurrence depending on soil types (leaching). Needle shape calcite zones which approach closest to the soil surface, gradually coalescence to the horizons of micritic calcites with the depth. Micritic calcites are without, or with microsparitic domains. Our study concurrently support the ideas of their inorganic origin depending on evaporitic soil regime. This formations have its own historic dynamics on which depends also the preservation of calcaric nature of soils.

Keywords

Authigenic carbonates, oxalate-carbonate pathway, needle shaped calcites, micritic calcites, loessic soils, micromorphological aspects

References

• Alonso-Zarza, A.M., Silva Barroso, P.G., Goy Goy, J.L., Zazo C., 1998. Fan-surface dynamics and biogenic calcrete development: Interactions during ultimate phases of fan evolution in the semiarid SE Spain (Murcia). Geomorphology 24: 147-167.
• Aristovskay, T.V., 1980. Microbiology of soil forming processes: Moscow, Nauka, 187 p. (in Russian).
• Arkley, R.J., 1963. Calculation of carbonate and water movement in soil from climatic data. Soil Science 96: 239–248.
• Bajnóczi, B., Kovács-Kis, V., 2006. Origin of pedogenic needle-fiber calcite revealed by micromorphology and stable isotope composition—a case study of a Quaternary paleosol from Hungary. Chemie der Erde – Geochemistry 66(3): 203–212.
• Barta, G., 2014. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on the morphology and distribution of secondary carbonates of the loess-paleosol sequence at Sütto, Hungary. Quaternary International 319: 64-75.
• Becze-Deák, J. Langohr, R., Verrecchia, E.P., 1997. Small secondary CaCO3 aaccumulations in selected sections of European loess belt. Morphological forms and potential for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Geoderma 76: 221-252.
• Brown, C.N., 1956. The origin of caliche in the northeast Llano Estacado, Texas. Journal of Geology 64: 1–15.
• Cailleau, G., Mota, M., Bindschedler, S., Junier, P., Verrecchia, E.P., 2014. Detection of active oxalate–carbonate pathway ecosystems in the Amazon Basin: Global implications of a natural potential C sink. Catena 116: 132–141.
• Čurlík, J., 1985. Processes of carbonatization on soils. Transactions of the 6th. Czechoslov. Soil Sci. Conf. Nitra, Vol. 2. Dom techniky Košice, pp. 352–358.
• Eswaran, H., Reich, P.F., Kimble, J.M., Beinroth, F.H., Padmanabhan, E., Moncharoen, P., 2000. Global carbon sinks, In: Lal, R., Kimble, J.M. and Stewart, B.A. (Eds.), Global Climate Change and Pedogenic Carbonates., CRC/Lewis Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 15-26.
• Franceschi, V.R., Loewus, F.A., 1995. Oxalate biosynthesis and function in plants and fungi. In: Khan, S.R. (Eds.), Calcium Oxalate in Biological Systems, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 113 - 130.
• Garvie, L.A.J., 2006. Decay of cacti and carbon cycling. Naturwissenschaften 93(3): 114-118.
• Gile, L. H., Peterson, F. F., Grossman, R. B., 1966. Morphological and genetic sequences of carbonate accumulation in desert soils. Soil Science 101: 347–360.
• Gocke, M., 2010. Pedogenic carbonates in loess - formation rates, formation conditions and source apportionment assessed by isotopes and molecular proxies. Dissertation thesis, Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany, pp. 179.
• Kahle, C. F., 1977. Origin of subaerial Holocene calcareous crusts: role of algae, fungi and sparmicritisation. Sedimentology 24: 413–435.
• Kuznetsova, A.M., Khokhlova, O.S., 2012. Submicromorphology of pedogenic carbonate accumulations as a proxy of modern and paleoenvironmental conditions. Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana 64(2): 199-205.
• Landi, A., Mermut, A.R., Anderson, D.W., 2003. Origin and rate of pedogenic carbonate accumulation in Saskatchewan soils, Canada. Geoderma 117: 143–156.
• Martin, G., Guggiari, M., Bravo, D., Zopfi, J., Cailleau, G., Aragno, M., Job, D., Verrecchia E., Junier, P., 2012. Fungi, bacteria and soil pH: the oxalate-carbonate pathway as a model for metabolic interaction. Environmental Microbiology 14(11): 2960– 2970.
• Mermut, A.R., St. Arnaud, R.J., 1981. A micromorphological study of calcareous soil horizons in Saskatchewan soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 61: 243–260.
• Monger, H.C., 2002. Pedogenic carbonate: links between biotic and abiotic CaCO3. Proc. 17th World Congr. Soil Sci. (Bangkok). 2, 796.
• Polyakov, A.N., 1989. Micromorphological investigation of calcite in Chernozems of the European part of Russia. Eurasian Soil Science 2: 79-86.
• Sobecki, T. M., Wilding, L.P., 1983. Formation of calcic and argillic horizons in selected soils of the Texas Coast Prairie. Soil Science Society of America Journal 47: 707-715.
• Stoops, G., 2003. Guidelines for Analysis and Description of Soils and Regolith Thin Sections. Soil Sci. Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 184.
• Treadwell-Steitz, C., McFadden, L.D., 2000. Influence of parent material and grain size on carbonate coatings in gravelly soils, Palo Duro Wash, New Mexico. Geoderma 94: 1–22.
• Verrecchia, E.P., Verrecchia, K., 1994. Needle-fiber calcite: a critical review and a proposed classification. Journal of Sedimentary Reseach 64(3a): 650– 664.
• Wang, D., Anderson, D.W., 2000. Pedogenic carbonate in Chernozemic soils and landscapes of southeastern Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 80(2): 251-261.
• WRB, 2006. World Reference Base for soil resources. A framework for international classification, correlation and communication: Rome, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, World Soil Resources Reports. 103, pp. 128.