The Gilgai Page

ABOUT THIS PAGE

This page provides links to information in WWW about gilgai landforms. Note that all the Official Series Descriptions have locational information in the documents. Where we do not show locational information, it is in Texas. We hope to keep this page up dated so if you know of other links please let us know about them. Look for a gilgai site near you for a fact finding field trip. Then send us a brief summary about what you found and we will add it to this page and credit you for the information. Note that many of these areas are private land and require permission before you venture into the wilderness. You will need a detailed map of the area and probably the Agricultural Soil Survey of the County or Parish. Detailed geological maps might be available from your state geological organization. Information collected here is intended to be for the benefit of all who are interested in research on expansive soils and gilgai landforms. Special thanks to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for the Official Series Descriptions on the internet. At their site you can find a local office and more information.

MISSISSIPPI GILGAI

We first decided in 1988 that there was a good chance that gilgai could be found some where in Mississippi associated with the Yazoo clay. The evidence was some very unusual fractures in the Yazoo clay that were seen and photographed at a construction site in Jackson. The fractures were exposed when an embankment caved. The fractures were shaped like a sine wave and had a wavelength in the range for typical gilgai in Texas. After searching the literature we found the only discriptions of similar fractures in the literature about gilgai landforms. Continued research lead to a new theory about gilgai PHOTO OF GILGAIthat was published in the August 1994 Journal of Geotechnical Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers(ASCE). The undulating subsurface fractures associated with gilgai were given a unique name in this paper. We called them shear joints because they are quite different from normal jointing in expansive clays and typical slickensides. With the help of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, we now know that there are gilgai in Mississippi. The gilgai in this photo is in soils of the LOUIN Series that overlies the Yazoo clay. You can see this site from your car about 1/2 mile west of Marathon Lake on Forest Route 520 in Smith County. The site is also about 13 miles SSE of Forest Mississippi. Click here to see 2 more larger gilgai photos at the Marathon site. These photos are about 155 k each and should download in less than 3 minutes with a 28.8 modem.


DEFINITIONS by: Canadian Soil Information System (CanSIS)

  • Gilgai Summary: The microrelief of soils produced by expansion and contraction caused by changes in moisture.
  • Landforms: The various shapes of the land surface resulting from a variety of actions such as deposition or sedimentation (eskers, lacustrine basins), erosion (gullies, canyons), and earth crust movements (mountains).
  • Microrelief: Small-scale, local differences in relief, including mounds, swales, or hollows.
  • Montmorillonite Group: Summary: Clay minerals having a 2:1 expanding crystal lattice... Synonymous with smectite.
  • Self-Mulching Soil Summary: A soil in which the surface layer becomes so well aggregated that it does not crust and seal...
  • Slickenside: Smoothed surfaces along planes of weakness resulting from the movement of one mass of soil against another in soils dominated by swelling clays.

    • UNITED STATES

    1. Official Series Description - AIDO Series LOCATION AIDO CA.
    2. Official Series Description - ALUSA Series
    3. Official Series Description - ANHALT Series
    4. Official Series Description - ASBILL Series LOCATION ASBILL CA.
    5. Official Series Description - BACLIFF Series
    6. Official Series Description - BARBAROSA Series
    7. Official Series Description - BEAUMONT Series
    8. Official Series Description - BELLWOOD Series BELLWOOD LA.
    9. Official Series Description - BEVIL Series
    10. Official Series Description - BOULDER_LAKE Series LOCATION BOULDER LAKE NV+CA ID OR.
    11. Official Series Description - BRAZORIA Series
    12. Official Series Description - BUCHEL Series
    13. Official Series Description - BULLCREEK Series
    14. Official Series Description - BURKEVILLE Series
    15. Official Series Description - BURLESON Series
    16. Official Series Description - CAMAGUEY Series LOCATION CAMAGUEY PR.
    17. Official Series Description - CAMPWOOD Series
    18. Official Series Description - CARDON Series
    19. Official Series Description - CATARINA Series
    20. Official Series Description - CHINA Series
    21. Official Series Description - CHIVATO Series LOCATION CHIVATO NM.
    22. Official Series Description - CLARITA Series LOCATION CLARITA OK.
    23. Official Series Description - COQUAT Series
    24. Official Series Description - DALBY Series LOCATION DALBY TX+NM.
    25. Official Series Description - DALCO Series
    26. Official Series Description - DANT Series
    27. Official Series Description - DEPALT Series
    28. Official Series Description - DEPORT Series
    29. Official Series Description - DIETRICH Series
    30. Official Series Description - DIMEBOX Series
    31. Official Series Description - DYLAN Series
    32. Official Series Description - ESTES Series
    33. Official Series Description - FAIRLIE Series
    34. Official Series Description - FETZER Series
    35. Official Series Description - FLATONIA Series
    36. Official Series Description - FRANCITAS Series
    37. Official Series Description - FRATERNIDAD Series
    38. Official Series Description - GANADO Series
    39. Official Series Description - GARCENO Series
    40. Official Series Description - GARNER Series LOCATION GARNER TX+AL
    41. Official Series Description - GOESSEL Series
    42. Official Series Description - GREENVINE Series
    43. Official Series Description - GRIER Series
    44. Official Series Description - HALLSBLUFF Series
    45. Official Series Description - HARLINGEN Series
    46. Official Series Description - HAWKINS Series LOCATION HAWKINS UT.
    47. Official Series Description - HEIDEN Series
    48. Official Series Description - HODGINS Series
    49. Official Series Description - HOLLYWOOD Series LOCATION HOLLYWOOD AL+KY LA OK TN VA.
    50. Official Series Description - HUNTSBURG Series
    51. Official Series Description - IRION Series
    52. Official Series Description - KAMAN Series
    53. Official Series Description - KARLO Series LOCATION KARLO NV+CA
    54. Official Series Description - KAUFMAN Series
    55. Official Series Description - KISSICK Series
    56. Official Series Description - KYLE Series LOCATION KYLE SD+MT NE WY
    57. Official Series Description - LACERDA Series
    58. Official Series Description - LAKE_CHARLES Series LOCATION LAKE CHARLES TX+AR.
    59. Official Series Description - LAEWEST Series
    60. Official Series Description - LARVIE Series
    61. Official Series Description - LATIUM Series
    62. Official Series Description - LAZBUDDIE Series
    63. Official Series Description - LEAGUE Series
    64. Official Series Description - LEEMONT Series
    65. Official Series Description - LEERAY Series
    66. Official Series Description - LELA Series
    67. Official Series Description - LESON Series
    68. Official Series Description - LINDY Series
    69. Official Series Description - LIPAN Series
    70. Official Series Description - LOCKNEY Series
    71. Official Series Description - LOUIN Series LOCATION LOUIN MS+AR.
    72. Official Series Description - LUEDERS Series
    73. Official Series Description - LULING Series
    74. Official Series Description - MAVERICK Series
    75. Official Series Description - MCLEAN Series
    76. Official Series Description - MEDLIN Series
    77. Official Series Description - MERCEDES Series
    78. Official Series Description - METRE Series
    79. Official Series Description - MONTELL Series
    80. Official Series Description - MORIARTY Series
    81. Official Series Description - MORSE Series LOCATION MORSE LA+AR TX.
    82. Official Series Description - NAVASOTA Series
    83. Official Series Description - NUKRUM Series
    84. Official Series Description - OBRAY Series
    85. Official Series Description - OPAL Series LOCATION OPAL SD
    86. Official Series Description - OVAN Series
    87. Official Series Description - OZIAS Series
    88. Official Series Description - PASO_SECO Series LOCATION PASO SECO PR.
    89. Official Series Description - PETERS Series
    90. Official Series Description - PILINE Series LOCATION PILINE NV+ID.
    91. Official Series Description - PONDER Series
    92. Official Series Description - PROMISE Series LOCATION PROMISE SD+MT NE.
    93. Official Series Description - RANCO Series
    94. Official Series Description - RANDALL Series LOCATION RANDALL TX+OK.
    95. Official Series Description - RAVENDALE Series LOCATION RAVENDALE CA.
    96. Official Series Description - RAYLAKE Series
    97. Official Series Description - REAP Series
    98. Official Series Description - ROETEX Series
    99. Official Series Description - ROSCOE Series
    100. Official Series Description - SANGER Series
    101. Official Series Description - SAN_SABA Series
    102. Official Series Description - SARNOSA Series
    103. Official Series Description - SET Series
    104. Official Series Description - SHIPS Series LOCATION SHIPS TX+OK.
    105. Official Series Description - SILCAT Series
    106. Official Series Description - SOUTHPLAINS Series
    107. Official Series Description - STAMFORD Series LOCATION STAMFORD TX+OK.
    108. Official Series Description - TAHOULA Series
    109. Official Series Description - TEROUGE Series
    110. Official Series Description - TEXARK Series
    111. Official Series Description - THROCK Series
    112. Official Series Description - TINN Series
    113. Official Series Description - TRINITY Series LOCATION TRINITY TX+AL AR OK.
    114. Official Series Description - TUNNISON Series
    115. Official Series Description - TWOTOP Series
    116. Official Series Description - VAMONT Series
    117. Official Series Description - VENZUNI Series
    118. Official Series Description - VERHALEN Series
    119. Official Series Description - VERTEL Series
    120. Official Series Description - VICTORIA Series
    121. Official Series Description - VENZUNI Series LOCATION VENZUNI NM
    122. Official Series Description - WASA Series LOCATION WASA SD.
    123. Official Series Description - WEIMER Series LOCATION WEIMER NV+CA.
    124. Official Series Description - WIERGATE Series
    125. Official Series Description - WINLER Series LOCATION WINLER SD+MT WY.
    126. Official Series Description - ZILABOY Series
    127. Clymer Meadow Unique micro-topographic features called gilgai form series of small basins.....

      128. AUSTRALIA

    128. A Directory of Important Wetlands - Northern Territory A long document go to:GULF COASTAL Physical features: Substrate: Black cracking clay ("blacksoil"); pronounced development of gilgai hollows in.....
    129. Maca's Ramblings Ben McDonald's reseach page (work at Fowlers Gap).
    130. Ramsar SITE 37 - LAKE TOOLIBIN
    131. Refugia for Biological Diversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Australia: 14.5 Macquarie Marshes
    132. Ramsar SITE 28 - MACQUARIE MARSHES NATURE RESERVE
    133. Refugia for Biological Diversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Australia: 14.6 Narran Lakes
    134. Refugia for Biological Diversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Australia: 8.1. Darling Riverine Plains
    135. Terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas - New South Wales
    136. Univ. Melbourne Hyperbook "Agriculture in Victoria" Has 16 thumbnail photo links and a photo of gilgai in Wimmera.

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