AEOLIAN ADDITIONS TO SOILS AND SEDIMENTS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC AREA |
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| Authors: | D L MOKMA J K SYERS M L JACKSON R N CLAYTON R W REX |
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| Institution: | Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison;Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago;Department of Geology, University of California, Riverside |
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| Abstract: | The particle-size distribution of the whole sample and the content, particle-size distribution, and oxygen-isotope abundance (δ18O) in quartz were employed to determine the extent to which aeolian materials such as aerosolic dust (10 to I /μm) from Australia, loess (50 to 10μm) in New Zealand, and flöttsand (250 to 20 μm) in Australia have been accreted into soils and sediments in the South Pacific area. Although aeolian material from both local and more distant sources has been deposited on the Franz Josef, Fox, and Tasman glaciers, the extent to which aeolian materials have been added to soils in South Westland, New Zealand, could not be determined because the oxygen-isotope abundance (12.9 to 13.5 0/00 in quartz from the soils was similar to that (13.1 to 13.9 0/00) in quartz from the dust samples. The quartz from loess added to two basaltic soils in North Auckland, New Zealand, had an oxygen-isotope abundance (12.9 to 13.9 0/00) slightly lower than that (15.0 to 15.4 0/00) in quartz from a greywacke-derived soil and the underlying rock also in North Auckland. The oxygen-isotope abundance (13.6 to 15.4 0/00) in quartz from a chronosequence of soils developed in basalt in Victoria, Australia, indicates that the quartz did not originate from the parent basalt, but probably was transported by aeolian processes from stranded beach ridges and dunes and added to the soils in the form of flöttsand, an aeolian material coarser than loess and finer than dune sand. Most particles of the pelagic sediments fell within the aerosolic dust size range. The oxygen-isotope abundance (12.1 to 15.1 0/00) in quartz isolated from several pelagic sediments between latitudes 35 and 45° S. was similar to that (12.9 to 15.4 0/00) in quartz from New Zealand and Australian soils located between these latitudes. An aeolian source of quartz explains the above relationship and also the decreasing delta values of quartz from sediments and soils with increasing latitude in the South Pacific area. Oxygen-isotope abundance in quartz refutes a volcanic origin of quartz in pelagic sediments but supports the deduction of Griffin et al. (1968) from mineralogical analyses that the quartz and associated minerals were transported from lands to seas. |
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