A study of two soils derived from volcanic ash in southwestern British Columbia and a review and determination of ash distribution in western Canada
Creators: name: Sneddon, J. I.
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: Four papers are presented in this thesis each one reporting on studies relating to volcanic ash with special reference to soils. The first paper reviews a) some of the phenomena relating to the ejection and deposition of ash that are important in interpreting the significance of its occurrence, b) the significance of ash layers to workers in the Quaternary, c) the techniques available for the characterization and recognition of tephra, d) the literature on ash deposits in western Canada and compiles the noted occurrences. In addition this paper presents the data from a study to determine the amount of ash retained by soils within and beyond the major areas of deposition indicated in the literature. The presence of ash in soils was found to be widespread though the amounts present may be limited for identification purposes, in some cases. The second paper describes two soils derived from Bridge River volcanic ash and their underlying paleosols and presents selected physical and chemical analyses. The analyses indicate that in the youthful soils studied the physical properties of the ash soils are inherited from the parent material. The colloidal and chemical properties are initially imparted by organic matter with some influence from ash weathering products especially aluminum. Shallow surface additions of volcanic ash to soils influence soil properties to varying degrees depending on pedogenic environment and depth of material. The third paper evaluates a number of methods that have been used to identify podzolic B horizons and the influence of surface additions of volcanic ash on the podzolic characteristics of soils. Pyrophosphate, pyrophosphate dithionite, citrate dithionite bicarbonate extractions, phosphate sorption capacity and pH-dependent cation exchange capacity determinations all highlighted the podzol B horizons while acid ammonium oxalate extractions and pH determined in NaF did not. The presence of surface additions of Bridge River ash may influence acid ammonium Oxalate or NaF criteria but it was not found to reduce the value of the other diagnostic criteria examined in this study. The final paper studies the amorphous material and clay mineral characteristics of the two aforementioned soils and examines some of the methods of extraction and isolation of clay materials in soils. All of the chemical treatments applied to the soils were found to result in some dissolution of secondary and primary soil materials. The treatments used to extract amorphous materials indicated that the Si to Al ratios of extracted materials was greater than 2. As this value approaches 2 the formation of allophane and imogolite will take place. This situation is indicated as having taken place in isolated capillaries as evidenced by the limited occurrence of imogolite-like material. Chlorite is the dominant clay mineral in the ash soils and is believed to be the weathering product of primary biotite, horneblende and pyroxene.