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Science 25 April 1997:
Vol. 276. no. 5312, pp. 583 - 585
DOI: 10.1126/science.276.5312.583
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Reports

Early Forest Soils and Their Role in Devonian Global Change

Gregory J. Retallack

A paleosol in the Middle Devonian Aztec Siltstone of Victoria Land, Antarctica, is the most ancient known soil of well-drained forest ecosystems. Clay enrichment and chemical weathering of subsurface horizons in this and other Devonian forested paleosols culminate a long-term increase initiated during the Silurian. From Silurian into Devonian time, red clayey calcareous paleosols show a greater volume of roots and a concomitant decline in the density of animal burrows. These trends parallel the decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide determined from isotopic records of pedogenic carbonate in these same paleosols. The drawdown of carbon dioxide began well before the Devonian appearance of coals, large logs, and diverse terrestrial plants and animals, and it did not correlate with temporal variation in volcanic or metamorphic activity. The early Paleozoic greenhouse may have been curbed by the evolution of rhizospheres with an increased ratio of primary to secondary production and by more effective silicate weathering during Silurian time.

Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Equation for compaction of paleosols due to burial.
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Coastal-fluvial palaeoenvironments and plant palaeoecology of the Lower Devonian (Emsian), Gaspe Bay, Quebec, Canada.
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Paleosols and Devonian Forests.
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