Polygenesis of Volcanic Paleosols in Armenia and Mexico:
Micromorphological Records of Climate Variations
in the Quaternary Period

S. N. Sedova, O. S. Khokhlovab, and A. M. Kuznetsovac

a Instituto de Geologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P.04360, D.F., Mexico

b Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Institutskaya 2,
Pushchino, Moscow oblast, 142290 Russia

c Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, ESB 3-41, 116 St. & 85 Av., Edmonton Alberta, T6G 2R3
Canada

E-mail: serg_sedov@yahoo.com

Received January 27, 2011

Abstract—The Pleistocene volcanic paleosols of Armenia and Mexico combine the features of both arid and
humid pedogeneses. They were studied in order to reconstruct the environmental conditions during the period
of the initial settlement of humans in these areas. The main attention was paid to the micromorphological anal-
ysis of the pedogenic features. The pedocomplexes studied in Armenia have been forming since the Early Pleis-
tocene. They bear evidences of humid (weathering, clay illuviation, and gleying) and arid (calcification) pedo-
geneses alternating in different soil layers and pointing to climatic cycles. The nonuniform lithology of the soil
profiles is related to pulsating volcanic activity. Mexican paleosols of the Late Pleistocene period are similar to
the lower layers of the soils in Armenia with respect to the features characteristic of the humid and arid phases
of pedogenesis. This allows us to suggest that the early stages of the formation of the Armenian pedocomplex
proceeded under warmer paleoclimatic conditions similar to those of a tropical climate. It is shown that the arid
pedogenesis may erase the features produced during the previous stage of humid pedogenesis. The studied
paleosols are characterized by the destruction of the features inherited from the humid phase (the clayey
groundmass and illuviation coatings) by the newly forming calcite. Paleopedological records point to the fact
that the paleoenvironmental conditions during the periods of the initial settlement of humans in both regions
differed significantly from the modern environmental conditions in these regions.

10.1134/S1064229311070118


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