Soil data release of legacy data collected from a soil chronosequence in Northern Michigan

In July 1992 soils were sampled from six dune fields in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan near Wilderness State Park, about 10 miles southwest of Mackinaw City. The dune fields represent a soil chronosequence, where all soil forming factors except time are held constant (climate, organisms, relief, and parent material). These sandy lake terrace soils are Entisols and Spodosols (Podzols), with ages ranging from 3,000 to 11,000 years. The samples were collected to examine podzolization and associated changes in soil properties. Samples collected for this study were assigned categorical profile and layer level descriptions for observable qualities such as soil color, structure, and texture at the time of collection. In addition to these descriptive data, this data release contains major element abundances quantified by x-ray fluorescence, select trace element abundances quantified by instrumental neutron activation analysis, and total carbon concentrations. Scanned field notes and site photographs are also in included this data release. The original samples associated with this dataset are archived in the U.S. Geological Survey Soil Sample Archive (https://doi.org/10.5066/P90KTZW4).