Instructor: Dr. Gregory J. Retallack, 310G Cascade, gregr@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Office Hours: M, W, 1200 - 1250

Teaching Assistant and Lab Instructor: Jonathan G. Wynn, 310D Cascade, jgwynn@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Office Hours: M, W, 2:00 - 3:00 pm

Class Time and Location: 1300-1350 M,W, 202 Cascade; Lab: 12:00-14:50, F, 142 Columbia.

Textbooks:

	Retallack, G.J. 1985. Laboratory exercises in paleopedology (available University Bookstore).
	Retallack, G.J. 1990. Soils of the past. Allen & Unwin, London, 520 p.
	Retallack, G.J. 1997. A colour guide to paleosols. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 175 p.

Assessment:

Mid-term examination	10%
Final examination	20%
Laboratory exercises	40%
Term project	30%

Term Project:

An account of one of the paleosols seen on the excursion, detailing its field occurrence, all observable features of the paleosol, integrating this information with existing knowledge of the geology and paleontology of the area and interpreting and reconstructing the paleosol and its environment. This 10-15 page term paper, including your measuered sections and other illustrations is due by the last week of classes.

Collect a set of samples for later laboratory examination, but no thin section or chemical study will be required.

Your term paper should be in the format of an article in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America.

Excursion:

A two-day field trip to look at Eocene and Oligocene fossils and fossil soils of the John Day country in the Painted Hills near Mitchell, will leave on Friday, April 16, 1999 at 6:00 p.m. and return late Sunday night, April 18, 1999. We will camp out two nights in Meyers Canyon near Mitchell. There will be a charge for transport in the University vans.

Lectures and Tests:

Date	Content	Reading chapters
March 29	Introduction to soils & fossil soils	1
31	Features of fossil soils	2,3
April 5	Soil Forming Processes	4
7	Soil Classification	5
12	Soil Classification	6
14	Mapping & naming of paleosols	7
19	Diagenesis of paleosols
21	MID-TERM EXAM: 1 hr. multiple choice & short answer	8,9
26	Climate as a factor	10
28	Organisms as factors
May 3	Relief as a factor	11
5	Parent material as a factor	12
10	Time as a factor	13
12	Soils of the Moon, Mars & Venus	14,15
17	Precambrian soils	16
19	Life in soils	17
24	Soils of early land plants	18
26	Early forest soils	19
June 2	Tertiary grassland soils	20,21
9	FINAL EXAM: 10:15 a.m., Wednesday: 2 hrs. short answer & multiple choice on material since last test, & comprehensive essays.

Laboratories:

Photo	Date	Subject	Lab #
	April 2	Root traces in paleosols photo at left shows calcareous rhizoconcretions from an Aquept of the late Eocene Birket Qarun Formation, Egypt (Bown & Kraus, 1988).	1
	April 9	Soil structures photo at left shows slickensided clay skins from a Bt horizon in the Interior clay paleosol, of the late Eocene Chadron Formation, Badlands National Park, South Dakota (Retallack, 1983).	2
	April 16	Petrography of fossil soils photo at left shows a thin section of clay skins (illuviation argillans) surrounding grains of andesitic volcanics from a Bt horizon of a Hapludult from the middle Eocene Clarno Formation, Oregon (Retallack, 1991)	3
	April 23	Chemistry of fossil soils photo at left is thePrecambrian Waterval Onder paleosol of South Africa (2.2 Ga). Precambrian paleosols are studied largely by geochemical methods because little comparison can be made to modern soils.	4
	April 30	Fossil soil horizons photo at left shows a mollic A horizon with characteristic granular structure and darkened color. This paleosol is a Ustoll from the Rattlesnake Formation, Oregon (Retallack, 1991).	5
	May 7	Diagenesis of fossil soils photo at left shows metamorphic cleavage planes through a paleosol which has been metamorphosed to the lower greenschist facies. From the Bloomsburg Formation, Pennsylvania (Retalack, 1985).	6
	May 14	Fossils in paleosols photo at left shows an ape jaw (Sivapithecus sivalensis) with cloration similar to its matrix, the A horizon of a Fluventic paleosol of the late Miocene Dhok Pathan Formation, Pakistan (Retallack, 1991).	7
	May 21	Wetland paleosols of coal measures photo at left is a series of low-lying, waterlogged paleosols overlain by coal seams. From the badlands of the late Cretaceous Tullock Formation of Montana (Retalack, 1994).	8
	May 28	Aridland paleosols of calcareous red beds photo at left is a calcareous alfisols with a horizon of clay enrichment (Bt) underlain by a horizon of calcareous nodules. From the Early Permian Blue Rapids Shale, Kansas.	9
	June 4	OPTIONAL: Paleosols at major geological unconformities photo at left shows a pink paleosol below an unconformity of the Cretaceous and Eocene from the Pinnacles area of Badlands National Park.	10

last modified: 3-10-99
photos from Retallack, G.J. 1997. A colour guide to paleosols. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 175 p.

accesses since 1-May-99

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