Small scale secondary CaCO3 accumulations in selected sections of the European loess belt. Morphological forms and potential for paleoenvironmental reconstruction

Eighteen important Quaternary loess paleosoil sites have been studied across the European loess belt. They included approximately 50 buried soils, the over and/or underlying loess and the present-day surface soils (where possible). From the numerous types of secondary CaCO3 accumulations recognized, only the small scale accumulations are discussed in this paper, including calcified root cells, CaCO3 hypocoatings, needle-fiber calcite, powdery calcite coatings, earthworm biospheroliths, and calcite pseudomorphs on gypsum. Most of the features studied are found in the rhizosphere microecosystem. Each of these features showed a unique relationship with organic matter, micro-organism and plant …