Surface Bulk Density Distribution Across Pastured Loess Catenas in the Shawnee Hills.

Watershed-based soil landscape studies are on-going in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. The area of study is the Shawnee Hills region, located within MLRA 120 (Kentucky and Indiana Sandstone and Shale Hills and Valleys) and a small portion of MLRA 115B (Central Mississippi Valley Wooded Hillslopes). These studies are linked by similar parent materials, land use characteristics, and common land use objectives. Together, they represent a mechanism for the examination of soil landscapes, water movement, and the natural of pedogeneisis in a landscape setting. The emphases of these three studies that make up the project include the documentation of key soil landscape relationships within the MLRAs. Due to the structure of the Shawnee Hills Loess Catenas Project which is made up of three paired watersheds (forested and pastured) underlain by similar parent materials, these sites are ideal for comparisons between land use. This poster will describe the distribution of bulk density across landscape positions in three pastured watersheds (Conservation Reserve Program, grazed, bailed). Order 1 watersheds were delineated based on landscape position and 10 randomly generated points at each landscape position were selected for surface bulk density analysis. Bulk density was determined in duplicate at each point using the core method.  Morphological investigations at representative pedons in each landscape position identified platy structure with redox features in the grazed watershed whereas there were no noticeable morphologic differences at other sites in Ap horizon. Results of the bulk density in surface horizons as well as representative pedons in each landscape position will be compared and discussed.