Randall J. Schaetzl's research while affiliated with Michigan State University and other places
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Publications (165)
Early definitions and descriptions of loess defined/described it simply as eolian silt. But as loess became more widely studied, and especially as it became mapped in detail across Europe, it became increasingly evident that a wide variety of fine- and medium-textured eolian sediments occur in nature. Many are not well sorted. Cover sands grade int...
Soils are a key link to the surficial sedimentologic system(s) that originally
deposited the unconsolidated parent material, or to the weathering system
that formed the residual parent material. In young soils, i.e., those formed
since the end of the Pleistocene, parent materials can often be identified as
to type, enabling accurate links to their...
Iceland is known for having strong aeolian erosion events, as evidenced by erosional escarpments on the soil surface; these are known locally as rofabards. The aim of the study was to estimate aeolian erosion rates at two research plots affected by severe erosion, using anatomic features of the roots of Arctic, woody, dwarf shrubs. Ours is the firs...
We invite all geoscientists, and especially those interested in midwestern paleoenvironments, to the 2023 Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference (Midwestern cell). The authors of this poster form the core of a large research team that will lead this conference in central Lower Michigan, on Friday-Sunday, May 19-21, 2023. Logistical information...
Soil development is intimately tied to the land surface in which soil forms. Soils across slopes are connected, process-wise, like links in a chain. This analogy has led to the concept of a catena – a term for a series of interrelated soils on a slope. This chapter explores the reasons for soil variation across and along slopes, focusing on the two...
Mapping late Wisconsin Episode landforms and sediments of the southern Laurentide Ice Sheet is critical to understanding and predicting soil and landscape variability, as well as groundwater and aggregate resources. Using LiDAR-derived DEMs and NRCS soils data, we mapped late Wisconsin Episode landforms and sediments in the broad interlobate zone b...
Although glossic horizons are widespread throughout the Great Lakes region (USA), any type of detailed empirical investigation of their genesis has not been conducted for decades. In this study, we investigated a well‐drained Haplic Glossudalf formed in calcareous till in northern Michigan, and examined its glossic features across five stages of de...
We tested the longstanding (but untested) premise that loess cover (thickness and texture) positively impact the value of land parcels. To do this, we visited 1178 upland sites across 12 counties in Wisconsin with a mix of land uses; each site was underlain by loess of varying thickness. We sampled the loess at each site with a 195-cm long hand aug...
Large parts of the upper Midwest, USA were impacted by permafrost during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Even though permafrost persisted as the Laurentide ice sheet began to recede, direct age control of this interval is largely lacking. To better temporally constrain the permafrost interval in western Wisconsin, we identified two sites, outside t...
Halomorphic (or saline) soils, are characterized by high concentrations of soluble salts or sodium, or both. Saline soils have unfavorable agricultural properties but provide the natural habitats for a variety of highly specialized plants, animals, and other organisms. It is these special interactions that create the typical landscape of saline soi...
Archaeological investigations on sandy, well-drained terraces of the Grand River in southwestern Michigan revealed a large number of shallow surface depressions, marking the locations of former cache pits, i.e., subterranean storage features. Our paper documents these pits, one of the largest arrays of cache pits reported for the Upper Great Lakes....
We use a variety of datasets to reconstruct the extent and dynamics of the Lake Michigan lobe (LML) and Saginaw lobe (SL) in the region where they intersect. Specifically, we delineate ice-flow directions, deglacial ice-marginal positions, and interlobate zones. The LML advanced out of the Lake Michigan basin to as far east as Newago, Kent, Allegan...
We studied the effects of preferential flow on weathering of primary minerals in well-drained, sandy Spodosols (Podzols) in northern Michigan, USA. Preferential flow in these soils is manifested as deep eluvial/illuvial tongues. We hypothesized that sands in the best developed (strong) tongues would be more weathered than in tongues that are short...
Unlike many interlobate zones, the interlobate between the Saginaw and Lake Michigan lobes in western Lower Michigan is not an easily-identified, hummocky upland. Rather, topographic expression of the interlobate is broad, complex, and generally low-relief, and was likely formed time-transgressively. This circumstance perhaps explains why the exact...
In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, sand dunes are widespread on the sandy floor of former Glacial Lake Algonquin, and many of the nearby uplands also have thin mantles of loess. Previous work concluded that these dunes formed during the early Holocene, long after the lake had drained. Where these dunes have migrated against bedrock uplands, many have a...
We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of the Saginaw lobe terrain in lower Michigan. Our research uses a spatial approach to understanding glacial landsystems and till genesis. We sampled calcareous till at 336 upland sites and at 17 sites in lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. The lo...
We examined the impact of three different sample preparation methods on bulk soil geochemistry data obtained from a hand‐held, portable X‐ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer. We generated data from a soil core recovered from the surface, downward into unaltered loess, and into a buried soil at a site in eastern Iowa. Samples were scanned (i) direc...
We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extracted from the base of Silver Lake, a kettle lake in northern Lower Michigan, USA, which reveal a complex deglacial scenario for ice block melting and lake formation, and subsequent plant colonization. Complementary multivariate statistical and squared...
We use a variety of datasets to reconstruct the extent and dynamics of the Lake Michigan lobe (LML) and Saginaw lobe (SL) in the region where they intersect. Specifically, we delineate ice-flow directions, deglacial ice-marginal positions, and interlobate zones. The LML advanced out of the Lake Michigan basin to as far east as Newago, Kent, Allegan...
The Houghton Lake Basin (HLB) occupies much of the High Plains interlobate region of Lower Michigan. This area was periodically inundated by a large proglacial lake - Glacial Lake Roscommon – during the last glacial period. A thick, extensive sequence of fine-textured sediment, presumably of glaciolacustrine origin, underlies much of the otherwise...
The geography of soil is more important today than ever before. Models of environmental systems and myriad direct field applications depend on accurate information about soil properties and their spatial distribution. Many of these applications play a critical role in managing and preparing for issues of food security, water supply, and climate cha...
Decades of on-the-ground geomorphic data point to eolian erosion and subsequent transport across many areas of the upper Midwest of the United States. These events span the last postglacial period and extend into the early Holocene. With the exception of easterly and northeasterly winds close to the ice margin, perhaps part of a glacial anticyclone...
In the lower Chippewa River Valley (LCRV), Wisconsin, USA, a variety of sandy aeolian landforms have been broadly interpreted, largely based on relative landscape position, as contemporaneous with or post last glacial maximum (LGM). These landforms provide evidence for a predominately west-northwesterly wind regime differing from those east-northea...
Aeolian dunes located upon an escarpment are found in a variety of geographic settings worldwide. They are often described as having parabolic morphologies and exist downwind of a topographic barrier to flow. Despite an extensive body of research on parabolic dunes, a relative paucity of research has focused on a comprehensive understanding of the...
Although we support the notion that, sometimes, bold and even outrageous hypotheses can challenge existing science and add to it, e.g., Alvarez et al., 1980, because this is good for science, we feel this
paper presents an “outrageous hypothesis” without the necessary physical evidence to support it.
We report on the spatial variation in texture and clay mineral composition of tills from central Lower Michigan, as to contribute insight into the glacial dynamics and sedimentary environments associated with the Saginaw Lobe. We obtained 334 samples of calcareous till from upland sites, and 17 samples of lacustrine clay from the former lakebed of...
Magnetic properties of soils formed in and on loess substrate and their relation to climate are of general interest in paleoclimate and pedological research. The loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) in the Vojvodina region (Serbia) have been the subject of intensive study. On the Bačka loess plateau (BLP), covering approximately 2500 km2, six different s...
Considerable loess research has focused on systems of silt generation and eolian transport, and their ties to paleoclimate. In our study area in western Wisconsin, USA, just outside the Last-glacial margin, most of the silt was derived from broad outwash valleys and transported on westerly winds, often assisted by saltating sand. Normally, such sys...
Among the numerous factors that trigger landslide events, the anthropogenic impact caused by inadequate planning and faulty land use in urban areas is increasing. The Zemun settlement on the northern outskirts of Belgrade has experienced a number of landslides in the last three decades, endangering buildings and roads, and claiming human lives, par...
Core Ideas
O horizons account for the majority of DOM entering B horizons in these sandy soils.
There was less exchange with SOM in sugar maple stands compared to red pine stands.
Microbial processing of DOM inputs appears to be important in the formation of SOM.
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) translocated from O horizons has been viewed as the ma...
Magnetic properties of soils formed in and on loess substrate and their relation to climate are of general interest in paleoclimate and pedological research. The loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) in the Vojvodina region (Serbia) have been the subject of intensive study. On the Bačka loess plateau (BLP), covering approximately 2500 km2, six different s...
In September 2016, the annual meeting of the International Union for Quaternary Research’s Loess and Pedostratigraphy Focus Group, traditionally referred to as a LoessFest, met in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. The 2016 LoessFest focused on “thin” loess deposits and loess transportation surfaces. This LoessFest included 75 registered participants from...
In this study, we compare two independent paleoenvironmental proxies for a loess sequence in northern Serbia, in the southern Carpathian Basin: novel n-alkane biomarkers and traditional land snail assemblages. Both are associated with other, more widely used proxy data for loess sections, such as environmental magnetism, grain size, and geochemical...
Mapping of glacial deposits in Michigan dates to the very beginnings of the
glacial theory in North America and logically divides into three parts: (1) early work
(1885–1924) by Frank Leverett, Frank Taylor, and their colleagues, culminating
in U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 53 and the publication of the first surficial
geology maps for the state...
Soils and forest ecosystems vary predictably along a 145-km transect in northern Lower Michigan. In the east, Entisols support open jack pine stands. In the central transect, weak Spodosols have formed under oak–pine–aspen forests. In the Lake Michigan snowbelt on the west, strongly developed Spodosols occur beneath mesic northern hardwoods. We hyp...
Our study adds to the Quaternary history of eolian systems and deposits in western Wisconsin, USA, primarily within the lower Chippewa River valley. Thickness and textural patterns of loess deposits in the region indicate transport by west-northwesterly and westerly winds. Loess is thickest and coarsest on the southeastern flanks of large bedrock r...
Post-disturbance pedogenetic pathways were characterized in three landscapes representing different degrees of weathering and leaching. Tree uprooting has been the main form of disturbance in all three landscapes. We hypothesized that the pedogenetic effect of trees due to uprooting is mainly governed by the regional degree of pedogenesis, which in...
The Northern Lake States Forest
and Forage Region is geologically and pedologically young; most of the landforms and parent materials date only to the last glaciation. The soils in this region are therefore mainly formed in recently deposited glacial and eolian parent materials. Hence, many areas have drainage patterns that are poorly integrated an...
Forest ecosystems are known for their capacity to retain and redistribute water. Nevertheless, even in some forested watersheds, prolonged or intense rainfall events often exceed the retention threshold of the system, generating accelerated runoff. Surface microrelief is an important attribute of forest ecosystems that often act to mediate potentia...
Loess was first studied in Michigan on the Buckley Flats, where outwash, overlain by ≈70 cm of loamy sediment, was originally interpreted as loess mixed with underlying sands. This paper re-evaluates this landscape through a spatial analysis of data from auger samples and soil pits. To better estimate the loamy sediment’s initial textures, we utili...
The natural processes that mix soil are commonly referred to as pedoturbation. Major processes include digging by animals, uprooting of trees, swelling of clay, and downslope movement under gravity. The effects can be immediately manifested or imperceptibly slow. They may promote or retard the differentiation of the soil profile into horizons, and...
Lithologic discontinuities are significant changes in particle size distribution or mineralogy that represent lithological differences within a soil column. Lithologic discontinuities in soils occur globally and are present when two or more different, vertically stacked, parent materials exist within a profile due to variations in past geologic or...
In association with an undergraduate Honors Seminar at Michigan State University, we studied two small kame deltas in north-central Lower Michigan. These recently identified deltas provide clear evidence for a previously unknown proglacial lake (Glacial Lake Roscommon) in this large basin located in an interlobate upland. Our first goal was to docu...
This study examines trends in podzolization – both temporally and with depth – as indicated by translocation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) in soil water. Water as saturated flow was captured by zero-tension lysimeters installed below the O, E and B horizons of six Spodosol pedons in Michigan, USA. Over a 2-year time...
The prevailing winds are explored in Northern Serbia, examining the aeolian processes, especially in the southeastern part of the Carpathi-an (Pannonian) Basin in the area in and around the Banatska Peščara (Deliblato Sands). In this study, four different methodological approaches were used. The first two approaches are based on the identification...
Uprooting represents a key disturbance process in forests, forming pit-mound microtopography, which can then dramatically impact pedogenesis and the forest ecology. At our study sites in northern Michigan, where well-drained, sandy Spodosols dominate, pit-mound microtopography tends to persist for millennia. Because of its persistence, the influenc...
In this paper we introduce the term “loess pyramid” for an unusual form of relief in thick loess deposits. From a distance, the loess pyramid resembles a haystack; this is why it is known as “the haystack” by the local residents. Its erosional origin is conditional, occurring only where loess deposits are thick and gully erosion changes direction s...
Crystal Lake (Benzie Co.), a former embayment with scalloped topography, was left perched 38 feet above present Lake Michigan when glacial Lake Algonquin receded. In 1873, a severe storm washed away a temporary dam before a series of slack-water canals could be completed. Crystal Lake dropped by 20 ft and 76 Bgal of water were lost as submerged ter...
Soils on many of the outwash plains in southwestern Michigan have loamy upper profiles, despite being underlain by sand-textured outwash. The origin of this upper, loamy material has long been unknown. The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatio-textural characteristics of these loamy-textured sediments to ascertain their origin(s). The text...
In association with a freshman Honors Seminar at Michigan State University, we studied two small kame deltas in north-central Lower Michigan. Only recently identified, the deltas provide key evidence for a previously unknown proglacial lake (Glacial Lake Roscommon) in this broad, sandy, interlobate upland. Our goal was to document these deltas and...
Soils form in unconsolidated parent materials, which make them a key link to the geologic system that originally deposited the parent material. In young soils, i.e. those that post-date the last glaciation, parent materials can often be easily identified as to type and depositional system. In a GIS, soil map units can then be geospatially tied to p...
We report on a unique, new dataset: 49 spits that formed in the various phases of Glacial Lake Algonquin in the northern Great Lakes region, between approximately 13,200 and 11,500 years BP. The spits, which are now subaerially exposed well above the level of the current Great Lakes, trail off from former Lake Algonquin islands and headlands. Sever...
We review historical soil maps from a geographical perspective, in contrast to the more traditional temporal-historical perspective. Our geographical approach examines and compares soil maps based on their scale and classification system. To analyze the connection between scale in historical soil maps and their associated classification systems, we...
The purpose of this study was to identify general patterns of pedoturbation by tree uprooting in three different, forested landscapes and to quantify post-disturbance pedogenesis. Specifically, our study illustrates how the effects of ‘tree-throw’ on soils gradually become diminished over time by post-uprooting pedogenesis. We studied soil developm...
Charles Darwin and Vasily Dokuchaev made early and important, but quite different, contributions to pedogenic theory. Their major contributions were both written as books — Darwin's, 1881 The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, With Observation on Their Habits, and Dokuchaev's, 1883 Russian Chernozem. Although most soil scien...
Hillslope position has long been important in soil geomorphology. At the scale of county-level soil maps, more soil boundaries are based on topography than any other soil-forming factor. However, the inability to accurately delineate topographic breaks across hillslopes – either due to lack of sufficient topographic resolution or the proper technol...
This study was performed in The eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where Spodosols are extremely well developed. We instrumented a Typic Durorthod with zero-tension lysimeters to capture water leaving The O, E, and B horizons and with sensors to determine volumetric water contents with depth. We also occasionally measured snowpack depths and dete...
Classification of hillslope position has a long history in soil geomorphology. Indeed, at the scale of most county-level soil maps, more soil boundaries are based on topography than any other soil-forming factor. However, the inability to accurately and efficiently delineate topographic breaks associated with hillslope elements – either due to lack...
Background/Question/Methods
In the northern hardwood forest zone, climate change is projected to result in both decreasing snow cover and replacement of evergreen conifers by deciduous angiosperm tree species. Previous studies have identified increased soil freezing due to reduced snow cover as a significant disruptor of nitrogen (N) cycling in de...
We present textural and thickness data on loess from 125 upland sites in west-central Wisconsin, which confirm that most of this loess was derived from the sandy outwash surfaces of the Chippewa River and its tributaries, which drained the Chippewa Lobe of the Laurentide front during the Wisconsin glaciation (MIS 2). On bedrock uplands southeast of...
This paper provides the complete list of papers that were read and discussed in graduate seminars run in 1998 and 2001 by Professor Donald Johnson of the University of Illinois. A literature sleuth, Professor Johnson's courses provide insight into what he thought were the major papers and books that helped guide and advance the fields of soil geomo...
Treethrow pits and mounds in sandy Spodosols were examined to determine their internal soil horizonation. Treethrow mounds were found to contain either (1) nearly intact, yet inverted soil profiles above otherwise undisturbed soil horizon sequences, or (2) more typical mixed and random horizonation. Soil profile inversion, emphasized here for the f...
Lineation (alignment) of certain landscape features, most of which are glacigenic, and till-fabric data were mapped and used to indicate glacier flow directions in northern lower Michigan. I also reexamine the limit of the Greatlakean (ca. 11,850 14C yr B.P.) ice advance in northern Michigan. My study assumes that reddish-brown (7.5YR and redder) t...
The objectives of this study were to determine (1) if and where lithologic discontinuities are present in the late Pleistocene Northport drumlins of NW lower Michigan, and (2) the sedimentary processes responsible for the discontinuities. Determining the presence of lithologic discontinuities was achieved through field observations and laboratory a...
We present a new physiographic map of Michigan, that is also available interactively, online. Only four, small-scale physiographic maps of Michigan had been previously published. Our mapping project made use of a wide variety of spatial data, in a GIS environment, to visualize and delineate the physical landscape in more detail than has been done p...
Sediments and stratigraphy at the Tower Buried Forest site provide a glimpse into the immediate post-glacial environment of northern Lower Michigan, USA. At this site, sandy glacial outwash is overlain by (1) ≈37 cm of peat associated with a wetland, above which are (2) flat-lying spruce and larch logs and branches that date between ≈10 910 and 10...
Soil development is intimately tied to the slopes on which soils form. Soils across slopes are connected, process-wise, like links in a chain. This analogy has led to the concept of a catena - a term for a series of soils on a slope. This chapter explores the reasons for soil variation on catenas, focusing on (1) debris and moisture flux along the...
We present the first study of the distribution, genesis and paleoenvironmental significance of late Pleistocene loess in northeastern Wisconsin and adjacent parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Loess here is commonly 25–70 cm thick. Upland areas that were deglaciated early and remained geomorphically stable preferentially accumulated loess by provi...
Soil surveys document thin but discontinuous loess deposits across large tracts of Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula (UP), which we informally call the Peshekee loess. Our study is the first to examine the distribution, thickness and textural characteristics of these loess deposits, and speculate as to their origins. Peshekee loess is typically 20...
The purpose of this research was to characterize and interpret the coarse basal zones that are common in thin loess deposits that overlie coarser-textured sediment. To that end, we sampled nine pedons in northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, each of which had formed in thin (≤ 55 cm) loess over sandy glacial sediment. At most...
Particle size characteristics are perhaps the most useful data for research into loess source areas and transport direction. However, a common problem in such research is the determination of the original particle size distribution of the loess. This problem is especially acute where loess is ≤ 1 m thick, enabling pedoturbation to mix some of the u...
Precision, particularly in terms of repeatability in particle size analysis (PSA), has recently resurfaced as an issue due to the increased use of laser particle size analysis for PSA. Because laser diffractometry produces much more detailed data than does traditional pipette analysis, and because a much smaller sample is used in the analysis, prec...
We examined a large, Late Pleistocene delta in northern Lower Michigan, formed by the Black River in Glacial Lake Algonquin. Today, this sandy, arcuate, wave-influenced delta stands several meters above the lake floor. The Black River transported mainly well-sorted, medium, and fine sands to the delta—at remarkably rapid rates. Our subsurface data,...
In this article, we introduce, evaluate, and apply a new ordinally based soil Productivity Index (PI). The PI uses family-level Soil Taxonomy information, that is, interpretations of features or properties, recognized in Soil Taxonomy, that tend to be associated with low or high soil productivity to rank soils from 0 (least productive) to 19 (most...