Soils with Lamellae - Soil Geography of the USA: A Diagnostic-Horizon Approach - page 290

Soils in other than lamellic subgroups may contain lamellae. The Soil Taxonomy
(Soil Survey Staff 2010 ) definition requires that the sum of the lamellae thicknesses
must not exceed 7.5 cm in a regolith greater than 50 cm thick or 15 cm overall.
Therefore, many soils containing lamellae that are thick enough and contain enough
translocated clay are classified in Alfic, Argic, and Ultic subgroups.
24.7 Summary
The NRCS SSURGO database contains 118 soil series in lamellic subgroups, which
represent six orders, 14 suborders, 25 great groups, and 25 subgroups. The lamellae
occur primarily in soils with a mixed mineral class (73 %), a sandy or sandy-
skeletal textural class (59 %), a frigid or cryic soil-temperature regime (59 %), and a
udic or ustic soil-moisture regime (89 %). The thickness of individual lamella
ranges between 6 and 22 mm. The depth to the first lamella averages 72 cm; the
maximum depth of lamellae exceeds 155 cm. Lamellae commonly have a sandy
loam or loamy sand textural class that is one textural class finer than the
interlamellar areas. The pedogenesis of lamellae involves clay-clay translocation,
involving clays bridging and coating sand grains. Eventually micro-laminae are
formed in response to variations in the wetting front. In the USA, soils with
lamellae cover 3.6 million ha and occur in 30 states. However, they occur in
many other parts of the world, such as New Zealand, Poland, and South Africa.
References
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