PEDOGENESIS OF SOME RED‐BROWN EARTHS BASED ON TRACE‐ELEMENT PROFILES

Summary The clay profile of six red‐brown earths of South Australia formed from sedimentary material was not produced by an eluvial‐illuvial process. Analytical data for trace elements provide convincing evidence that the present amount of weathering per unit mass of the parent material decreases with increasing depth throughout the B horizons and that at least all but an insignificant part of the clay content of these horizons was formed in its present position. Most of the clay formed from the surface layers of the parent material has been lost. All observations are accounted for in a simple and straightforward manner. This result casts doubt on the validity of the term ‘illuvial horizon’ for any similar soil.