Abstract:
The homogeneity of parent material during soil formation process is a necessary starting point for the study of soil occurrence, and is also a prerequisite for constructing soil time series and evaluating soil quality change. The morphological characteristics, particle size composition, uniformity of parent material, distribution of rare earth element Ti and Zr and their ratio within typical basalt soil profiles in the Xinsheng Basin, Zhejiang Province were investigated by using the methods of soil geography and element geochemistry, and the uniformity of parent material in different soil profiles were determined. The results showed that the morphological characteristics of soil profile, such as the soil color, structure, root system, showed uniform and gradual characteristics from bottom to top, and no heterogenous accumulation characteristics were found in all profiles, which could preliminarily and intuitively determine the parent material homogeneity of the study profiles; soil grain size composition and coarse/medium silt content after deducting clay particles were relatively uniform, and showed relatively higher vertical direction along the profile. There was no obvious difference between the Ti/Zr ratio and the distribution of rare earth elements at different soil layers. The uniformity coefficient of parent material was between −0.6 and 0.6. Therefore, the source of parent material in the study section is the same as that in the cross section.