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Paper No. 26-10
Presentation Time: 8:00 AM-5:30 PM
MINERALOGICAL STUDY AT MORMON MESA NEVADA
Soils from the Mormon Mesa landform in southern Nevada are of interest to geologists and soil scientists because of the unique soil-formed minerals and features that provide clues to its development over the past 4 million years (Brock and Buck, 2009; Brock-Hon et al., 2012). Previously, Dr. Amy Brock-Hon and her collaborators identified a distinct shift of silicate clay minerals in Mormon Mesa soils between the massive and transitional horizons. The soil horizons shift from palygorskite (Mg- and Al-rich) to sepiolite (Mg-rich), respectively, but it is still unclear why mineral content differs between horizons. The present research tests the hypothesis that the mineral content differs between soil horizons because they are derived from different parent materials. This study seeks to confirm clay mineral differences in the massive and transitional horizons using chemical and mineralogical data gathered from thin sections and X-ray diffraction analysis of samples obtained by Dr. Brock-Hon in 2007. If clay mineral differences are confirmed, this is evidence that the parent material directly controlled the type of pedogenic clay.