A CHRONOSEQUENCE OF SOILS DEVELOPED FROM GRANITIC MORAINAL MATERIAL, BAFFIN ISLAND, N.W.T.

The pedological development of a chronosequence of four soils ranging in age from 8000 to 115 000 yr was investigated on Baffin Island, N.W.T. All the soils were developed on granitic morainal material in an Arctic environment. The soils were acid and very gravelly with low clay contents. The major clay minerals in all horizons were illite and ’aluminous’ vermiculite. A number of soil properties changed with time and of these, depth of solum was the most significant. The estimated rate of solum development for the four soils averaged 1.0 cm/1000 yr.