Earth:Pedocal

Marbut's Pedocal/Pedalfer boundary lies near the 98 meridian and 30 inches annual precipitation. (after Marbut, 1935)

Pedocal is a subdivision of the zonal soil order. It is a class of soil which forms in semiarid and arid regions. It is rich in calcium carbonate and has low soil organic matter. With only a thin A horizon (topsoil), and intermittent precipitation calcite, other soluble minerals ordinarily removed by water may build up in the B horizon (subsoil) forming a cemented layer known as caliche. It is not used in the current United States system of soil classification but the term commonly shows up in college geology texts.

See also

• Pedalfer
• USDA soil taxonomy

References

Baldwin, M.; C.E. Kellogg; J. Thorp (1938). "Soil Classification". Soils and Men: Yearbook of Agriculture 1938. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.. pp. 979–1001. 

Brevik, Eric C. (November 2002). "Soil Classification in Geology Textbooks". Journal of Geoscience Education 50 (5): 539–543. doi:10.5408/1089-9995-50.5.539. http://www.nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Brevik_v50n5p539.pdf. Retrieved 2006-04-06. 

Marshak, Stephen (2004). Essentials of Geology ((First Edition) ed.). W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.. ISBN 0-393-92411-4.