Roger,
If my memory serves me right, Terra Rosa just means red soil. It is very characteristic of karst areas but is also found in other non karst areas depending upon the parent material. For example, the soils weathering from some of the granite areas around Llano have some red (brown) in them rather than being black. Soil formation is very complex and I'm not sure if it is fully understood and you're quickly passing my area of expertise. In Florida, I know that the Hawthorne Formation (relatively non-carbonate rock) may account for some of the soils, but certainly not all of it. In addition, the limestones in some places may be dirtier (have more shales and sands) than in other places so those soils may be formed in place. I'm not familiar enough with the Florida geology to know for sure. Regarding the grasslands, I understand that the earlier settlers that passed through parts of Kentucky shunned the grasslands for agricultural purposes because they believed that if they weren't good enough to grow trees, they probably wouldn't grow much else. Hence the name Barren County in Kentucky. However, it turns out that the grassland areas are some of the most productive agricultural lands in the state. They also grown trees just fine if you suppress fire. Geary -----Original Message----- From: cavera...@aol.com [mailto:cavera...@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 2:49 PM To: Geary Schindel; dlocklea...@gmail.com; texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: Re: [Texascavers] cave geology of southern Indiana? Interesting concepts, indeed, especially in regard to the very thick soils and fire maintenance of grasslands. But how do the red clays of the Florida and SW Georgia karst fit in? I don't think these clays are massively thick. But more interestingly, unless they are derived from elsewhere, I don't there was much of anything other than limestone of various ages present in this region. It wasn't that long ago (in geologic terms) that the whole area was under water, and, for the most part, it isn't very much above water these days. (More than Houston, I have to concede.) I think I picked up the term terra rosa from the Florida Geological Survey's "Geology of Jackson County," written ca. 1955. (Jackson, in the eastern panhandle, is one of the leading dry cave counties of Florida.) Roger ________________________________ Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com <http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour/?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000982> .
