WC Mn/Dakotas | Glacialnotill - 2/18/2021 07:21
The C layer in a soil is undeveloped parent material. Undeveloped means there has not been any soil forming completed. If native vegetation cannot develop a soil by running roots down into it and improving it then your crops are not going to do very well either.
I'm not so sure that is correct.
C horizons or layers: These are horizons or layers, excluding hard bedrock, that are little affected by pedogenic processes and lack properties of H, O, A, E or B horizons. Most are mineral layers, but some siliceous and calcareous layers, such as shells, coral and diatomaceous earth, are included. The material of C layers may be either like or unlike that from which the overlying solum presumably formed. Plant roots can penetrate C horizons, which provide an important growing medium. Included as C layers are sediments, saprolite, non-indurated bedrock and other geological materials that commonly slake within 24 hours, when air-dry or drier chunks are placed in water, and that, when moist, can be dug with a spade. Some soils form in material that is already highly weathered, and if such material does not meet the requirements of A, E or B horizons, it is designated C. Changes not considered pedogenic are those not related to overlying horizons. Layers having accumulations of silica, carbonates or gypsum, even if indurated, may be included in C horizons, unless the layer is obviously affected by pedogenic processes; then it is a B horizon. |