YELLOW MOTTLES IN SOME POORLY DRAINED SOILS OF THE LOWER FRASER VALLEY, BRITISH COLUMBIA

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Abstract
Chemical and mineralogical studies were made of yellow mottles and brown tubular formations in some strongly acid, poorly drained soils of the Lower Fraser Valley, British Columbia. The yellow mottles contained a high proportion of sulphur and were found to be composed mainly of jarosites, iron polysulphides and quartz. The brown tubes were composed of soil particles cemented by iron sulphates, sulphides, and oxides produced in the vicinity of plant roots. The mottles occur in soils adjacent to tidal rivers and it is postulated that the yellow mottles were formed by the reduction of sulphates in the seepage waters from these rivers to sulphides and the subsequent oxidation of the sulphides to the basic ferric sulphate.