CERAMICS OF GUMBO SOILS 
403 
CERAMICS OF GUMBO SOILS 
By Charles Keyes 
An unusual circumstance is it that the most satisfactory explana¬ 
tion for the formation of those cold, sour, and intractible soils, 
which are colloquially termed gumbo, and which occur over west¬ 
ern prairies in myriad, irregular, widely scattered and severely 
limited patches, should come not from the strictly scientific do¬ 
mains of geology but from such a practical and apparently so re¬ 
mote a source as ceramics. The ceramic side of the gumbo clays 
is little touched upon by doctrinaire geologist. As a result the 
latter tends to throw a certain veil of mystery over some very 
simple, everyday things; and they draw too strongly upon the 
imagination when common practical vision serves better. The 
ceramic aspect of these clays gives ready clue to the nature of their 
obvious peculiarities and to their origin. 
Recent attempt to revive an early notion that the gumbo soils 
of southern Iowa are a weathered phase of the lower (Kansas) 
till, calls forth especial attention to this primitive and seemingly en¬ 
tirely supported guess. Concerning this supposed origin Profs. 
G. F. Kay and J. N. Pearce, of the Iowa State University, argue 
not only for a strictly genetic designation, as indicated by the title 
gumbotil, but also a derivation directly from the prolonged chemi¬ 
cal weathering of till. These authors ^ assume for the gumbo an 
indexical value concerning the relative durations of the several 
interglacial epochs, and its use as a chronological measure of the 
Glacial Period, with an excessively long, instead of a reasonably 
moderate span — a time elapse of millions in place of a few thous¬ 
and of years. That none of these assumptions are warranted 
seems incontestibly indicated by the sequence. 
Exploitation of the origin of Iowa gumbo is the very latest 
1 Journal of Geology, Vol. XXVIII, p. 89, 1920. 
/ 
I 
