AbstractAs stipulated by G. Stoops, “the aim of micropedology is to contribute to solving problems related to the genesis, classification and management of soils, including soil characterization in palaeopedology and archaeology. The interpretation of features observed in thin sections is the most important part of this type of research, based on an objective detailed analysis and description” (Stoops et al. 2018). To answer such questions, two major books contributed to the comparative knowledge necessary to tackle this objective: the first one was published in 1985 and used micromorphology to distinguish between different classes of soils (Douglas and Thompson 1985); the second one is an extensive guide of more than 1000 pages to the interpretation of micromorphological features encountered in thin sections of soil (Stoops et al. 2018). The aim of this Atlas is neither to be a substitution for these books nor a way to enter directly into the interpretation of soil genesis and classification. Nonetheless, this chapter presents the imprints of major soil processes that can be easily deduced from specific features observed in thin sections. These processes involve the dynamics of (a) clay, both translocation and swelling, (b) water, such as waterlogging, evaporation, and its role as ice and frost, (c) carbonate, gypsum, and iron oxyhydroxides, and finally (d) biogeochemical reactions within the solum.
Pedofeatures Associated to Soil Processes
