INFLUENCE OF PARENT MATERIAL AND MOISTURE REGIME ON SOIL GENESIS IN THE APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS, QUEBEC

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Abstract
Ten pedons representing the Saint Onésime, Manie, Mont Carmel and Ixworth soil series were studied to respectively characterize the well to very poorly drained members of a toposequence formed on glacial till deposits along the north flank of the Appalachian Highlands. The parent material was generally homogeneous in the occurrence area except in the western part where glacial lakes along the Chaudière Valley controlled the deposition of a coarser till material. Soil reaction was extremely acid in the solum and pH reached approximately 6.0 in the parent material. Base saturation was low, which was related to the large amounts of aluminum hydroxypolymers present in the clay fraction. Mineralogical analysis of the clay fraction indicated an extensive transformation of illite not only to the swelling minerals, vermiculite and montmorillonite, but also to kaolinite. Chlorite was absent in the A horizons of the well drained profiles. The soils were underlain by fragic horizons. This fragipan had a moderately developed gray streak network, as these soils are not very prone to alternate humidification and desiccation cycles. Cohesion and brittleness were related to the illitic clay bridges and to an amorphous aluminous cement. The content of kaolinite in the Ae horizon of the well drained profiles and the presence of large amounts of Al hydroxypolymers in the clay fraction corresponded to more intense weathering conditions than those existing in the soils of the south flank of the Appalachian Mountains.

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