Properties and regimes of vertisols with gilgai microtopography (a review)

Abstract

Data on the morphology and spatial distribution of slickensides and cracks, particle-size distribution, the organic carbon content, the content and forms of carbonate concentrations, and physical and physicochemical properties of Vertisols with the gilgai microtopography are systematized. Relatively scarce information on the functioning regimes of gilgai soil complexes (their temperature and moisture conditions, redox potential, vertical and horizontal deformations, and soil density changes) is discussed. Common properties of gilgai soils are the clayey texture of their profiles and the high portion of smectitic minerals specifying the high shrink–swell capacity of the soil material. The most important specificity of soils with the gilgai microtopography is a significant horizontal differentiation of the soil profiles with alternation of bowl-shaped morphostructures with a thick dark layer without carbonates in microlows and diapiric morphostructures composed of the rising material of the lower layers with diverse carbonate concentrations on microhighs. Data on the spatial distribution of soil properties within the gilgai microcatenas can be applied in the studies of the genesis and evolution stages of the gilgai soil complexes.