Calcic and Petrocalcic Horizons - Soil Geography of the USA: A Diagnostic-Horizon Approach - page 116

other areas. The key soil-forming factors leading to the development of calcic
horizons include the mean annual precipitation which controls the depth to the
carbonate-enriched layer, topography which influences not only downward move-
ment of carbonates but also upward movement from the groundwater table, and the
presence of calcareous parent materials. There is a debate in the literature as to the
relative importance of aeolian contributions versus weathering of calcareous mate-
rials to produce pedogenic carbonates. From this analysis, we conclude that soils
with calcic horizons generally have formed from calcareous parent materials,
primarily alluvium, during the Holocene, whereas soils with petrocalcic horizon
are of early Pleistocene and older age and have received substantial aeolian
materials.

Acknowledgments Alfred Hartemink kindly read an early draft of this chapter.

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