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
that 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.
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
- Official
Series Description - AIDO Series LOCATION AIDO CA.
- Official
Series Description - ALUSA Series
- Official
Series Description - ANHALT Series
- Official
Series Description - ASBILL Series LOCATION ASBILL CA.
- Official
Series Description - BACLIFF Series
- Official
Series Description - BARBAROSA Series
- Official
Series Description - BEAUMONT Series
- Official
Series Description - BELLWOOD Series BELLWOOD LA.
- Official
Series Description - BEVIL Series
- Official
Series Description - BOULDER_LAKE Series LOCATION BOULDER LAKE NV+CA
ID OR.
- Official
Series Description - BRAZORIA Series
- Official
Series Description - BUCHEL Series
- Official
Series Description - BULLCREEK Series
- Official
Series Description - BURKEVILLE Series
- Official
Series Description - BURLESON Series
- Official
Series Description - CAMAGUEY Series LOCATION CAMAGUEY PR.
- Official
Series Description - CAMPWOOD Series
- Official
Series Description - CARDON Series
- Official
Series Description - CATARINA Series
- Official
Series Description - CHINA Series
- Official
Series Description - CHIVATO Series LOCATION CHIVATO NM.
- Official
Series Description - CLARITA Series LOCATION CLARITA OK.
- Official
Series Description - COQUAT Series
- Official
Series Description - DALBY Series LOCATION DALBY TX+NM.
- Official
Series Description - DALCO Series
- Official
Series Description - DANT Series
- Official
Series Description - DEPALT Series
- Official
Series Description - DEPORT Series
- Official
Series Description - DIETRICH Series
- Official
Series Description - DIMEBOX Series
- Official
Series Description - DYLAN Series
- Official
Series Description - ESTES Series
- Official
Series Description - FAIRLIE Series
- Official
Series Description - FETZER Series
- Official
Series Description - FLATONIA Series
- Official
Series Description - FRANCITAS Series
- Official
Series Description - FRATERNIDAD Series
- Official
Series Description - GANADO Series
- Official
Series Description - GARCENO Series
- Official
Series Description - GARNER Series LOCATION GARNER TX+AL
- Official
Series Description - GOESSEL Series
- Official
Series Description - GREENVINE Series
- Official
Series Description - GRIER Series
- Official
Series Description - HALLSBLUFF Series
- Official
Series Description - HARLINGEN Series
- Official
Series Description - HAWKINS Series LOCATION HAWKINS UT.
- Official
Series Description - HEIDEN Series
- Official
Series Description - HODGINS Series
- Official
Series Description - HOLLYWOOD Series LOCATION HOLLYWOOD AL+KY LA OK
TN VA.
- Official
Series Description - HUNTSBURG Series
- Official
Series Description - IRION Series
- Official
Series Description - KAMAN Series
- Official
Series Description - KARLO Series LOCATION KARLO NV+CA
- Official
Series Description - KAUFMAN Series
- Official
Series Description - KISSICK Series
- Official
Series Description - KYLE Series LOCATION KYLE SD+MT NE WY
- Official
Series Description - LACERDA Series
- Official
Series Description - LAKE_CHARLES Series LOCATION LAKE CHARLES TX+AR.
- Official
Series Description - LAEWEST Series
- Official
Series Description - LARVIE Series
- Official
Series Description - LATIUM Series
- Official
Series Description - LAZBUDDIE Series
- Official
Series Description - LEAGUE Series
- Official
Series Description - LEEMONT Series
- Official
Series Description - LEERAY Series
- Official
Series Description - LELA Series
- Official
Series Description - LESON Series
- Official
Series Description - LINDY Series
- Official
Series Description - LIPAN Series
- Official
Series Description - LOCKNEY Series
- Official
Series Description - LOUIN Series LOCATION LOUIN MS+AR.
- Official
Series Description - LUEDERS Series
- Official
Series Description - LULING Series
- Official
Series Description - MAVERICK Series
- Official
Series Description - MCLEAN Series
- Official
Series Description - MEDLIN Series
- Official
Series Description - MERCEDES Series
- Official
Series Description - METRE Series
- Official
Series Description - MONTELL Series
- Official
Series Description - MORIARTY Series
- Official
Series Description - MORSE Series LOCATION MORSE LA+AR TX.
- Official
Series Description - NAVASOTA Series
- Official
Series Description - NUKRUM Series
- Official
Series Description - OBRAY Series
- Official
Series Description - OPAL Series LOCATION OPAL SD
- Official
Series Description - OVAN Series
- Official
Series Description - OZIAS Series
- Official
Series Description - PASO_SECO Series LOCATION PASO SECO PR.
- Official
Series Description - PETERS Series
- Official
Series Description - PILINE Series LOCATION PILINE NV+ID.
- Official
Series Description - PONDER Series
- Official
Series Description - PROMISE Series LOCATION PROMISE SD+MT NE.
- Official
Series Description - RANCO Series
- Official
Series Description - RANDALL Series LOCATION RANDALL TX+OK.
- Official
Series Description - RAVENDALE Series LOCATION RAVENDALE CA.
- Official
Series Description - RAYLAKE Series
- Official
Series Description - REAP Series
- Official
Series Description - ROETEX Series
- Official
Series Description - ROSCOE Series
- Official
Series Description - SANGER Series
- Official
Series Description - SAN_SABA Series
- Official
Series Description - SARNOSA Series
- Official
Series Description - SET Series
- Official
Series Description - SHIPS Series LOCATION SHIPS TX+OK.
- Official
Series Description - SILCAT Series
- Official
Series Description - SOUTHPLAINS Series
- Official
Series Description - STAMFORD Series LOCATION STAMFORD TX+OK.
- Official
Series Description - TAHOULA Series
- Official
Series Description - TEROUGE Series
- Official
Series Description - TEXARK Series
- Official
Series Description - THROCK Series
- Official
Series Description - TINN Series
- Official
Series Description - TRINITY Series LOCATION TRINITY TX+AL AR OK.
- Official
Series Description - TUNNISON Series
- Official
Series Description - TWOTOP Series
- Official
Series Description - VAMONT Series
- Official
Series Description - VENZUNI Series
- Official
Series Description - VERHALEN Series
- Official
Series Description - VERTEL Series
- Official
Series Description - VICTORIA Series
- Official
Series Description - VENZUNI Series LOCATION VENZUNI NM
- Official
Series Description - WASA Series LOCATION WASA SD.
- Official
Series Description - WEIMER Series LOCATION WEIMER NV+CA.
- Official
Series Description - WIERGATE Series
- Official
Series Description - WINLER Series LOCATION WINLER SD+MT WY.
- Official
Series Description - ZILABOY Series
- Clymer Meadow
Unique micro-topographic features called gilgai form series of small basins.....
AUSTRALIA
- 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.....
- Maca's
Ramblings Ben McDonald's reseach page (work at Fowlers Gap).
- Ramsar
SITE 37 - LAKE TOOLIBIN
- Refugia
for Biological Diversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Australia: 14.5 Macquarie
Marshes
- Ramsar
SITE 28 - MACQUARIE MARSHES NATURE RESERVE
- Refugia
for Biological Diversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Australia: 14.6 Narran Lakes
- Refugia
for Biological Diversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Australia: 8.1. Darling
Riverine Plains
- Terrestrial
and Marine Protected Areas - New South Wales
- Univ.
Melbourne Hyperbook "Agriculture in Victoria" Has 16 thumbnail
photo links and a photo of gilgai in Wimmera.
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