WHERE ARE HOLOCENE CLIMATE CHANGES RECORDED IN THE SOIL LANDSCAPE?

Are climate changes recorded equally throughout the soil landscape or are there only select locations where the soil climate record is unambiguous?

The ubiquitous nature of the soil landscape and the acknowledged influence of climatic parameters on soil development processes mean that climate changes should be recorded in the soil landscape. The climate change record in soils is the result of a number of complex processes including the duration and degree of climate change, the manifestation of that change in soil properties and the age of the soil. Determining the record of a climate change from soil properties requires being able to distinguish between intrinsic changes in soil properties and those induced by climate change, the possibility of pedogenic thresholds and non linear pedogenic responses to climatic perturbations. These considerations would suggest that the record of climate changes and in particular Holocene climate changes in soils would be restricted to select portions of the soil landscape.