EAST TENNESSEE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

March 2005 Meeting



Monday, March 14, 2005
6:00 - 7:30 pm

Pellissippi State Technical Community College
10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville
Lamar Alexander Building
Room 223

MARCH PRESENTATION

Morphological, Textural, Geochemical, and Mineralogical Properties
of Dolostone-derived Residuum in Knox County, Tennessee

Bryan S. Schultz
Tetra Tech Division
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Abstract

This talk concerns the weathering of carbonate bedrock and subsequent genesis and properties of carbonate-derived residuum in Knox County, Tennessee. The carbonate-derived residuum evaluated in this study is classified as an Ultisol, and comprises up to 11 m of regolith overlying Mascot Fm. dolostone bedrock within the Valley and Ridge Province of East Tennessee. Morphological, textural, geochemical, and mineralogical analyses were performed on entire soil profiles and subjacent bedrock from core samples retrieved from 7 boreholes. Findings of this research reveal that the regolith is derived primarily from extensive weathering of the parent bedrock, but with evidence of substantial reworking of materials by flowing water, slope movement and pedogenesis, and possible inputs of material from other sources that include the overlying bedrock (Chickamauga Group). Furthermore, results suggest that pore structure and macroporosity occlusion is most dependent on illuviation of pedogenic clays and precipitation of mineral precipitates, which commonly extend from 2 m depth down to the bedrock contact.


 

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