Genesis of Marine Terrace Soils, Barbados, West Indies: Evidence from Mineralogy and Geochemistry

Authors

Daniel R. Muhs, U.S. Geological SurveyFollow
Russell C. Crittenden, University of Wisconsin
John N. Rosholt, U.S. Geological Survey
Charles A. Bush, U.S. Geological Survey
Kathleen C. Stewart, U.S. Geological Survey

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1987

Citation

EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, VOL. 12,605618 (1987)

Comments

U.S. government work

Abstract

Well-developed, clay-rich soils dominated by interstratified kaolinite-smectite are found on the uplifted coral reef terraces on the island of Barbados. The reef limestone is unlikely to have been the soil parent material however, because it is 98 per cent CaCO, and geomorphic evidence argues against the 20 m of reef solution required to produce the soils by this process. The mineralogy of the sand, silt, and clay fractions of the soils, and trace element geochemistry, suggest that aeolian materials carried on the trade winds from Africa, volcanic ash from the island of St. Vincent, and quartz from Tertiary bedrock on the island itself are the parent materials for the soils.