Micromorphological evidence for mineral weathering pathways in a coastal acid sulfate soil sequence with Mediterranean-type climate, South Australia

R. M. Poch; B P. Thomas; R. W. Fitzpatrick; R. H. Merry

doi:10.1071/SR07015

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Micromorphological evidence for mineral weathering pathways in a coastal acid sulfate soil sequence with Mediterranean-type climate, South Australia

R. M. Poch ^A ^C , B P. Thomas ^B ^C , R. W. Fitzpatrick ^B ^C and R. H. Merry ^B ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Departament de Medi Ambient i Ciències del Sòl, University of Lleida, Catalonia 25198, Spain.

^B CSIRO Land & Water/University of Adelaide, Private Bag No. 2, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia.

^C Corresponding authors. Emails: brett.thomas@csiro.au; rob.fitzpatrick@csiro.au; richard.merry@csiro.au; rosa.poch@macs.udl.cat

Australian Journal of Soil Research 47(4) 403-422 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07015
Submitted: 23 January 2008 Accepted: 26 March 2009 Published: 30 June 2009

Abstract

Soil micromorphology, using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), was used to describe detailed soil morphological and compositional changes and determine mineral weathering pathways in acid sulfate soils (ASS) from the following 2 contrasting coastal environments in Barker Inlet, South Australia: (i) a tidal mangrove forest with sulfidic material at St Kilda, and (ii) a former supratidal samphire area at Gillman that was drained in 1954 causing sulfuric material to form from sulfidic material. Pyrite framboids and cubes were identified in sulfidic material from both sites and are associated with sapric and hemic materials. Gypsum crystals, interpreted as a product of sulfide oxidation, were observed to have formed in lenticular voids within organic matter in the tidal mangrove soils at St Kilda. Sulfide oxidation was extensive in the drained soil at Gillman, evidenced by the formation of iron oxyhydroxide pseudomorphs (goethite crystallites and framboids) after pyrite and jarosite, and of gypsum crystals. Gypsum crystals occur where a local source of calcium such as shells or calcareous sand is present. Sporadic oxidation episodes are indicated by the formation of iron oxide and jarosite coatings around coarse biogenic voids. These observations indicate that mineral transformation pathways are strongly influenced by soil physico-chemical characteristics (i.e. oxidation rate, Eh, pH, soil solution chemistry, mineralogy, and spatial distribution of sulfides). This information has been used to illustrate the interrelationships of pyrite, carbonate, gypsum, jarosite, and organic matter and help predict soil evolution under changing hydro-geochemical, redoximorphic, and thermal conditions in soils from coastal environments.

Additional keywords: mineralogy, micromorphology, organic materials, soil classification, pyrite.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank: staff of the Port Adelaide Enfield Council for their assistance with background information and access to the study sites; Mark Raven (CSIRO Land and Water) for conducting powder X-ray diffraction analyses; Peter Self (formerly CSIRO Division of Soils) and Stuart McClure (CSIRO Land and Water) for conducting SEM and EDAX analyses; and Wayne Hudnall, Texas Tech University, USA, for early interaction, especially with Soil Taxonomy and in thin section preparation of some of the St Kilda profiles.

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