Elemental translocation and loss from three highly weathered soil-bedrock profiles in the southeastern United States

The vertical pattern of loss of base cations was not always gradual from surface soil horizons to saprolite to bedrock. For example, almost 100% of Ca in the bedrock had been lost from throughout the upper 4.5-m deep Cecil and 8-m deep Tarrus profiles. Aluminum and iron were lost from A and E horizons but were accumulated in B and C horizons due to translocation as well as secondary clay and sesquioxide formation at depth. Physical and chemical data from all three soils and geologic substrata indicate that the entire regolith profile (A through C horizons or solum plus saprolite) is formed by pedogenic processes of elemental inputs, transformations, translocations, and removals.