The cause of redness in some buried and non‐buried soils in eastern England

SUMMARY Relationships were examined between colours and the amounts of extractable‐iron or of individual iron oxides present in <2μm fractions of samples from buried and non‐buried soils in eastern England. Colour was expressed in terms of a redness rating (RR). Oxalate‐extractable iron (Fe o ), dithionite‐extractable iron (Fe d ) and goethite contents were not significantly correlated with RR. There was, however, a strong correlation between RR and hematite content. These preliminary results provide some justification for the assumptions concerning relationships between reddish colours and hematite content, which are implicit in the paleo‐argillic concept of the Soil Survey of England and Wales. However, reddish colours (particularly within the 7.5 YR and possibly the 5 YR hue range) should not be used in isolation as an indiscriminate indicator of pre‐Devensian pedogenesis in Britain.