La. Tornes et al., Distribution of soils in Ohio that are described with fractured substratums in unconsolidated materials, OHIO J SCI, 100(3-4), 2000, pp. 56-62
Soil scientists, who systematically made soil surveys of Ohio, compiled the
first comprehensive inventory of fractures in unconsolidated parent materi
als, or C horizons, of soils. Fractures have been documented in the C horiz
on of 95 soil series extending across 55 Ohio counties. A variety of terms
were used to describe these nearly vertical fractures in otherwise massive
materials. By convention, structural units are considered a product of soil
-forming processes and the use of structural unit terminology has been Limi
ted to the solum consisting of O, A, E, and B master horizons and transitio
nal horizons like AB, BE and BC horizons. Thus, terms used to describe soil
structure have not been applied to the C horizon, even though the faces of
prismatic structural units in the lower part of the B horizon commonly sho
w continuity with fractures in the C horizon. Fractures have been identifie
d in unconsolidated soil parent materials with textures of loam, silt loam,
clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay and clay, Clay films and carbonate
coatings on fracture planes in the C horizon of soils indicate that water m
oves into and through these fractures, Fractures in the C horizon of soils
also affect air movement and plant root extension into C horizons.