Paleopedology Commission proposal

PALEOPEDOLOGY COMMISSION for International Union of Soil Science (IUSS) proposed.

Dan H. Yaalon, Israel

A Paleoepedology commission exists within INQUA since 1965. Within ISSS a Working Group was established a few years later, having the same composition of officers as the INQUA Commission to ensure cooperation with and support from both Unions. The group was responsible for arranging symposia, field trips, discussions, newsletters and publications, in particular the now classic book derived from the 1970 Amsterdam International Symposium - Paleopedology: Origin, Nature and Dating of Paleosols , edited and published in 1971 in Jerusalem, by the then ISSS leadership.

Paleopedology, has as its objective the recognition, study and interpretation of paleosols, defined as soils which have formed in landscapes of the past . It is thus a natural complement of the four pedological commissions - In Space and Time - within Division 1 of the new IUSS scientific structure. It is at the same time an important interdisciplinary link to other earth sciences, like geomorphology, archaeology , paleoecology and especially Quaternary geology – through INQUA - which no other of these other Commissions have.

Its importance as a proxy for interpreting past climatic changes and hence for predicting likely soil changes, during current and future climatic perturbations effected by humankind, is growing. Hence it is proposed by us to the IUSS Council to rename the current Working Group on Paleopedology and reestablish it as a Commission on Paleopedology within Division 1, in analogy to the INQUA Paleopedology Commission. There is strong support for this by members of the working group and all participants in its Symposia meetings

January 2002.