Salic Horizon - Soil Geography of the USA: A Diagnostic-Horizon Approach - page 228

20.8 Summary

The salic horizon tends to occur at a shallow depth, commonly 0-5 cm; it is thick,
commonly ranging from 75 to

170 cm. The salic horizon contains abundant silt and
clay (62-93 %) because of a common playa origin. The pH of the salic horizon
generally is slightly-to-strongly alkaline (7.3-8.9). The salic horizon contains abun-
dant soil organic C (0.35-1.0 %), a moderate cation-exchange capacity (16-48 cmol
(+)/kg), an electrical conductivity in excess of 5 dS/m, abundant exchangeable Ca
and Na, abundant CaCO 3 (12-40 %), and moderate quantities of gypsum (

>

1-13 %).
In the NRCS database, soils with a salic horizon occur in two orders, two
suborders, three great groups, 11 subgroups, and 96 soil series. Soil mapping
units with a salic horizon comprise 11,000 km 2 in the USA, primarily in the
Basin and Range province of western USA. Topography and parent material are
key soil-forming factors contributed to the formation of salic horizons. However,
humans have played a major role in their transformation and development in many
parts of the world. The predominant pedogenic processes leading to the develop-
ment of the salic horizon include salinization, gleization, and calcification, with
silicification and argilluviation occurring in some soils.

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