Description, Sampling, and Analysis of Cryosols - Cryopedology - page 33

Fig. 3.7 Cryogenic processes evidenced from thin sections and micromorphology (Fox 1985 )
The preferred time for sampling cryosols is at the end of the summer, because the
active layer is deepest at that time. Sampling earlier requires power tools to get to
the base of the soil profi le and a correction to be made for the end-of-season thick-
ness of the active layer. Three kinds of samples normally are collected from cryo-
sols: bulk samples for routine analysis, minimally disturbed volumetric samples for
bulk density and water retention, and thin-section samples for micromorphological
analysis. Physical, chemical, mineralogical, and micromorphological analyses are
normally performed for cryosols as with all soils.
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