Micromorphology of Soils and Paleosols: Overview and Introduction

Micromorphology in pedological and paleopedological research is recognized as an essential technique to study the soils and paleosols in the undisturbed states to comprehend weathering of silicates, pedogenic features, and associated pedogenic or paleopedogenic processes. Thus, it provides a great advantage over chemical methods to follow the complexity of pedogenic processes in the modern and ancient soils archived in the geological records of the Earth. Because of its inherent strength, the application of soil micromorphology was recognized as one of the main activities of the International Soil Science Society (ISSS) and is also recognized by the newly formed International Union of Soil Science Society (IUSS) as “Soil Morphology and Micromorphology Commission.” This commission is now the global platform for sharing current information and developments in micromorphology. Although research on soil micromorphology is being done in different parts of the world, it is still in the infant stage. For the last few decades, pedologists and sedimentologists of India have made some commendable progress in establishing the inherent link between pedology, geomorphology, palaeopedology, mineralogy, and edaphology of the Entisols, Inceptisols, Alfisols, Mollisols, Ultisols, and Vertisols of Indian tropical environments, which becomes critical when attempts are made to fill up the gap between food production and population growth. The lack of state-of-the-art information on the recent advances in soil micromorphology of Indian tropical soils has long been felt amidst the change of climate and neotectonics during the Holocene time. The students of pedology, sedimentology, and geomorphology generally find difficulties while applying the principles of soils and paleosols from textbooks devoted almost exclusively to soils from temperate climates of the world. Given the vast geographical spread of the tropical soils in the world and the new knowledge on pedogenic processes developed through micromorphology of soils and sediments and paleosols of India, the present book on micromorphology of soils and paleosols of India would help the pedologists and geoscientists to appreciate the genesis of tropical soils with a new perspective. Thus, the new and advanced knowledge through micromorphology on the formation of tropical soils will also help pedologists, geoscientists, MSc and PhD students, and land resource managers to improvise, raise, and maintain the productivity of such soils. The format of this book is arranged in an easy to follow process-oriented treatise dealing with critical issues of the soil and paleosols in different chapters.