Problems on the Pedological Research

Abstract

To promote pedological studies in Quaternary research, the following aspects are worth developing or reexamining.
1. Estimation of the accumulation rate of pedogenic products, such as organic matter, clay, etc. Studies on phosphorous combined with organic matter and plant opal in humic horizons have just begun along these lines. The estimation gives a life age, from the time of birth to that of death (burial) or to the present time, of a soil.
2. Establishment of more precise chronological data on soil by stratigraphical correlation of the soil to tephras or terraces of known age, which have come to be extensively studied owing to recent progress in tephrochronology and dating techniques.
3. Quatitative expression of degree of soil development, which would make it possible to discuss soil development quantitatively with refernce to dating of or climatic data on the soil.
4. Information from microfossils in soil (plant opals or pollens) as an indicator of past vegetation.
5. Clarifying transformation after burial of soil properties, in order to identify the genetic soil type of buried soil.