Early stage development of selected soil properties along the proglacial moraines of Skaftafellsjökull glacier, SE-Iceland Olga K. Vilmundardóttir a, ⁎, Guðrún Gísladóttir a,b , Rattan Lal a,c a Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland b Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland c Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA abstract article info Article history: Received 12 March 2013 Received in revised form 7 April 2014 Accepted 29 April 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Soil development volcanic soils glacial recession chronosequence Skaftafellsjökull Iceland Soil development was studied along a chronosequence in 2010 in a proglacial environment in SE-Iceland. We in- vestigated morphological, physical, chemical and mineralogical changes in the soil representing over 120-year period. In total, 54 sampling sites were distributed along three moraines deposited in 1890, 1945 and 2003. For comparison, samples were collected from a nearby downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) forest, representing soils in a mature ecosystem likely to establish on the moraines in the future. After 120 years since deglaciation and formation of AC horizon sequence, bulk density decreased from 1.36 g cm -3 to 1.07 g cm -3 . Concentrations of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (N) increased with time, from being ~ zero up to 1.77% of SOC and 0.10% of N. Soil pH (H 2 O) declined rapidly and was the only soil property that attained a steady state compared to that under the birch forest. The concentration of oxalate extractable Al and Fe increased over time although at a slower rate of change compared to that for other soil properties. Freshly exposed moraines contained a consid- erable amount of the extractable elements, indicating a relative abundance of poorly crystalline Al- and Fe-phases in the subglacial moraines. The data support the conclusion that after 120 years of soil formation, proglacial soils are still young and may yet need one or two centuries to develop properties typical of well drained volcanic soils. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Global climate change has caused significant glacier retreat since the mid 19th century, exposing moraines commencing weathering, plant succession and soil formation. In theory, soil development is governed by five principal factors: climate, topography, biota, parent material and time (Jenny, 1941). Time and climate are the primary determinants of the relative degree of weathering in the pedogenic environment (Ugolini and Dahlgren, 2002). Chronological sequences of glacial reces- sion provide the settings for studying the impact of time on soil forma- tion. In a pioneering work in glaciated areas in Alaska, Crocker and Major (1955) and Crocker and Dickson (1957) studied the rate of devel- opment of soil properties in relation to vegetation succession and as a function of time. Since climate change impacts vegetation distribution and increases chemical weathering rate, the rate of soil formation is likely to increase as well as that of soil carbon accretion (Dahlgren et al., 1997). It is precisely this notion which has been the driving force for more chronological studies from glaciated environments (e.g., Alexander and Burt, 1996; Douglass and Bockheim, 2006; Dümig et al, 2011; Egli et al., 2006a, 2006b, 2010; Haugland and Haugland, 2008; He and Tang, 2008; Mavris et al., 2010). While the strong impact of climate change on glacial environments and subsequent soil formation has attracted global scientific interest (Goryachkin et al., 1999), research information on soil formation in proglacial areas in Iceland is rather limited. Persson (1964) briefly discussed the subject while investigating primary succession on the moraines of Skaftafellsjökull, SE-Iceland. Proglacial areas are sites of high geochemical reactivity due to the abundance of ground permeable parent material and water percolation (Egli et al., 2010; Gíslason, 2008). Thus, these are excellent sites for studying soil formation on a temporal scale, which is of primary interest to envision future soil development under specific climate scenarios. Icelandic glaciers have been retreating since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) almost continuously over the past 120 years, or since around 1890 when they reached their maxi- mum extent (Björnsson and Pálsson, 2008; Sigurðsson et al., 2007). The recession is predicted to prevail over the next several decades with significant environmental impact along with the reduction in size of glaciers exposing vast areas, changing drainage patterns, increas- ing runoff volume and forming of new glacial lakes (Björnsson and Pálsson, 2008). Catena 121 (2014) 142–150 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Askja, Sturlugata 7, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland. Tel.: +354 525 4479; fax: +354 525 4499. E-mail address: okv2@hi.is (O.K. Vilmundardóttir). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2014.04.020 0341-8162/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Catena journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/catena