Soil formation and soil mineralogy along rock age and climate gradients on the Galapagos Islands
Abstract
The Galapagos Islands have been formed by hotspot volcanism. The earth crust is moving across the Galapagos hotspot at a rate of approximately 55±8 mm/a, resulting in a chain of volcanoes of increasing age with distance from the hotspot. While the youngest land surfaces are <10 years old, the oldest dated surface deposits exhibit ages >2 Ma. Additionally, the higher standing islands show marked moisture gradients ranging from arid lowland areas to humid highland areas. The factors parent material age and climate strongly influence soil formation on the Galapagos Islands. Yet, little is known about weathering and soil formation along these pronounced natural gradients. In this project, soils of the Galapagos Islands are studied along a substrate age gradient (chronosequence) and along a climatic gradient (climosequence). An important focus lies on the soils’ clay fraction, characterizing mineral neo-formations and transformations.
keywords Galapagos volcanic soils soil formation soil classification allophanes
Publikationen
Project staff
Franz Zehetner
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Franz Zehetner
franz.zehetner@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-91118
BOKU Project Leader
01.12.2017 - 30.11.2020
Martin Gerzabek
Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Dr.h.c.mult. Martin Gerzabek
martin.gerzabek@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-91112
Project Staff
01.12.2017 - 30.11.2020
Franz Ottner
Ao.Univ.Prof.i.R. Mag.rer.nat. Dr.nat.techn. Franz Ottner
franz.ottner@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-87214, 87225
Project Staff
01.12.2017 - 30.11.2020
BOKU partners
External partners
Galapagos national park
none
partner