Randall J Schaetzl

Biographic Data

ID1341005
NAMERandall J Schaetzl
GIVEN NAMESRandall J
FAMILY NAMESchaetzl
SIGNATURESCHAETZL R J
AFFILIATIONSMichigan State University
ORCID0000-0002-6070-1365
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS28
TOTAL CITATIONS18
AUTHOR COUNT28
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1986
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX2

  • Holocene moisture-variability impacts on forest composition and erosion at Pup Lake, northern Lower Michigan, USA

    Open AccessAlbert E Fulton, Catherine H Yansa et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2025

    A 9200-year-long Holocene record of pollen, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and sedimentation rates from Pup Lake, northern Lower Michigan, USA, along with comparative pollen data from regional paleoecological sites and optically stimulated luminescence dates from inland sand dunes across the Great Lakes region, reveals emerging relationships among climate, vegetation, and erosion. Tsuga (hemlock) pollen was used to track local- and regional-scale …

  • Loess provenance in the westernmost part of the lower Danube Basin, Serbia

    Open AccessPetar Krsmanović, Zoran M Perić et al.ARTICLEQuaternary International2025Cited by: 1

  • Introduction to special issue

    Open AccessShiling Yang, Randall J Schaetzl et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2024

  • Aeolian dynamics at the northern edge of Deliblato (Banat) Sand Sea, Vojvodina, Serbia, at the time of the last deglaciation

    Open AccessRastko S Marković, Zoran M Perić et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2024

    The Deliblato (Banat) Sand Sea, which is one of the largest areas of аeolian sand in Europe, is located near the Iron Gate, which marks the crossing of the Danube River through the biggest gorge of this river. Here, Danubian alluvium has served as the sand source for the Banat Sand Sea, which was formed primarily through southeasterly (Košava) winds. Utilizing a multi-proxy approach, the objective of this study is to gain a better understanding o…

  • Loess transportation surfaces in west-central Wisconsin, USA

    Open AccessRandall J SchaetzlARTICLEQuaternary Research2024

    The concept of a loess transportation surface portends that saltating sands deflate silt/dust and send them into suspension. This process continues until a topographic barrier stops the saltating sand, allowing loess deposits to accumulate downwind. This paper reports on loess transportation surfaces in west-central Wisconsin, USA. During the postglacial period, cold, dry conditions coincided with strong northwesterly winds to initiate widespread…

  • A Glacial–Interglacial Malacofauna Record from the Titel Loess Plateau, Serbia, between ~350 and 250 ka

    Open AccessMilica G Radaković, Bojan Gavrilovic et al.ARTICLEQuaternary2024

    We present data on molluscan fauna within the L3 loess unit (and partially within the S3 paleosol) from the key loess section of Veliki Surduk in Serbia. The section correlates to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8 and late MIS 9 and, thus, spans the time frame from ~350 to 250 ka. The Veliki Surduk loess–paleosol sequence (LPS) is located on the northwestern margin of the Titel loess plateau and comprises ~30 m of sediments. Our focus is on a 5.4 m th…

  • A Case Study of Cache Pit Construction, Use, and Abandonment from the Upper Great Lakes, USA

    Michael J Hambacher, Randall J SchaetzlARTICLEJournal of Field Archaeology2021Cited by: 2References: 23

    Archaeological investigations on sandy, well-drained terraces of the Grand River in southwestern Michigan revealed a large number of shallow surface depressions, marking the locations of former cache pits, i.e., subterranean storage features. Our paper documents these pits, one of the largest arrays of cache pits reported for the Upper Great Lakes. Excavations into 29 cache pits revealed that they had been backfilled with generally artifact-poor …

  • A sediment-mixing process model of till genesis, using texture and clay mineralogy data from Saginaw lobe (Michigan, USA) tills

    Open AccessRandall J Schaetzl, Christopher Baish et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2020

    We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of the Saginaw lobe terrain in lower Michigan. Our research uses a spatial approach to understanding glacial landsystems and till genesis. We sampled calcareous till at 336 upland sites and at 17 sites in lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. The loamy tills have bimodal grain-size curves, with a fine-texture mode near the silt–clay boundary and a…

  • Quantitative relationships between climate and magnetic susceptibility of soils on the Bačka Loess Plateau (Vojvodina, Serbia)

    Open AccessMilica G Radaković, Milivoj B Gavrilov et al.ARTICLEQuaternary International2019

  • Approaches and challenges to the study of loess—Introduction to the LoessFest Special Issue

    Open AccessRandall J Schaetzl, E Arthur Bettis et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2018

    In September 2016, the annual meeting of the International Union for Quaternary Research’s Loess and Pedostratigraphy Focus Group, traditionally referred to as a LoessFest, met in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. The 2016 LoessFest focused on “thin” loess deposits and loess transportation surfaces. This LoessFest included 75 registered participants from 10 countries. Almost half of the participants were from outside the United States, and 18 of the pa…

  • Eolian sand and loess deposits indicate west-northwest paleowinds during the Late Pleistocene in western Wisconsin, USA

    Open AccessRandall J Schaetzl, Phillip H Larson et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2018

    Our study adds to the Quaternary history of eolian systems and deposits in western Wisconsin, USA, primarily within the lower Chippewa River valley. Thickness and textural patterns of loess deposits in the region indicate transport by west-northwesterly and westerly winds. Loess is thickest and coarsest on the southeastern flanks of large bedrock ridges and uplands, similar in some ways to shadow dunes. In many areas, sand was transported up and …

  • Gradients in Lake Effect Snowfall and Fire across Northern Lower Michigan Drive Patterns of Soil Development and Carbon Dynamics

    Randall J Schaetzl, David E Rothstein et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the American…2018References: 86

    Soils and forest ecosystems vary predictably along a 145-km transect in northern Lower Michigan. In the east, Entisols support open jack pine stands. In the central transect, weak Spodosols have formed under oak–pine–aspen forests. In the Lake Michigan snowbelt on the west, strongly developed Spodosols occur beneath mesic northern hardwoods. We hypothesized that increasing amounts of snowfall, coupled with decreasing fire frequencies, promote soi…

  • Pedoturbation

    Open AccessMartin V Fey, Randall J SchaetzlCHAPTERInternational Encyclopedia of…2017

    The natural processes that mix soil are commonly referred to as pedoturbation. Major processes include digging by animals, uprooting of trees, swelling of clay, and downslope movement under gravity. The effects can be immediately manifested or imperceptibly slow. They may promote or retard the differentiation of the soil profile into horizons, and modify soil porosity. Less obvious processes of pedoturbation include the movement of air and water,…

  • Lithologic Discontinuities in Soils

    Open AccessSteven W Ahr, Lee C Nordt et al.CHAPTERInternational Encyclopedia of…2017

    Lithologic discontinuities are significant changes in particle size distribution or mineralogy that represent lithological differences within a soil column. Lithologic discontinuities in soils occur globally and are present when two or more different, vertically stacked, parent materials exist within a profile due to variations in past geologic or depositional processes. Recognition of these types of lithologic changes is important because pedoge…

  • Loamy, Two-Storied Soils on the Outwash Plains of Southwestern Lower Michigan

    Michael D Luehmann, Brad G Peters et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the American…2016References: 57

    Soils on many of the outwash plains in southwestern Michigan have loamy upper profiles, despite being underlain by sand-textured outwash. The origin of this upper, loamy material has long been unknown. The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatio-textural characteristics of these loamy-textured sediments to ascertain their origin(s). The textural curves of this material have distinct bimodality, with clear silt and sand peaks. Because the s…

  • Optical ages on loess derived from outwash surfaces constrain the advance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet out of the Lake Superior Basin, USA

    Open AccessRandall J Schaetzl, Steven L Forman et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2014

    We present textural and thickness data on loess from 125 upland sites in west-central Wisconsin, which confirm that most of this loess was derived from the sandy outwash surfaces of the Chippewa River and its tributaries, which drained the Chippewa Lobe of the Laurentide front during the Wisconsin glaciation (MIS 2). On bedrock uplands southeast of the widest outwash surfaces in the Chippewa River valley, this loess attains thicknesses > 5 m. OSL…

  • The loess cover of northeastern Wisconsin

    Open AccessRandall J Schaetzl, John W AttigARTICLEQuaternary Research2013

    We present the first study of the distribution, genesis and paleoenvironmental significance of late Pleistocene loess in northeastern Wisconsin and adjacent parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Loess here is commonly 25–70 cm thick. Upland areas that were deglaciated early and remained geomorphically stable preferentially accumulated loess by providing sites that were efficient at trapping and retaining eolian sediment. Data from 419 such sites i…

  • Mississippi Valley Regional Source of Loess on the Southern Green Bay Lobe Land Surface, Wisconsin—Comment to the paper published by Jacobs et al., Quaternary Research 75 (3), 574–583, 2011

    Open AccessRandall J Schaetzl, Randall SchaetzlARTICLEQuaternary Research2012

    Mississippi Valley Regional Source of Loess on the Southern Green Bay Lobe Land Surface, Wisconsin—Comment to the paper published by Jacobs et al., Quaternary Research 75 (3), 574–583, 2011 - Volume 78 Issue 1

  • Characterization and Mapping of Patterned Ground in the Saginaw Lowlands, Michigan

    David P Lusch, Kristy E Stanley et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2009Cited by: 1References: 48

    We identified, mapped, and characterized a widespread area (>1,020 km2) of patterned ground in the Saginaw Lowlands of Michigan, a wet, flat plain composed of waterlain tills, lacustrine deposits, or both. The polygonal patterned ground is interpreted as a possible relict permafrost feature, formed in the Late Wisconsin when this area was proximal to the Laurentide ice sheet. Cold-air drainage off the ice sheet might have pooled in the Saginaw Lo…

  • OSL ages on glaciofluvial sediment in northern Lower Michigan constrain expansion of the Laurentide ice sheet

    Open AccessRandall J Schaetzl, Steven L FormanARTICLEQuaternary Research2008

    We report new ages on glaciofluvial (outwash) sediment from a large upland in northern Lower Michigan—the Grayling Fingers. The Fingers are cored with > 150 m of outwash, which is often overlain by the (informal) Blue Lake till of marine isotope stage (MIS) 2. They are part of an even larger, interlobate upland comprised of sandy drift, known locally as the High Plains. The ages, determined using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) methods, i…

  • Soils Cool as Climate Warms in the Great Lakes Region

    Scott A Isard, Randall J Schaetzl et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2007Cited by: 1References: 32

    We modeled soil temperatures at 50-cm depth, using 1951–2000 air temperature and precipitation data from 194 National Weather Service stations in Wisconsin and Michigan. The accuracy and bias of the physical model used in this study were validated by comparing its output data to 22,401 actual soil temperature readings taken from sandy soils at thirty-nine forested sites throughout northern Michigan; the model was shown to have almost no temperatu…

  • Hornblende etching and quartz/feldspar ratios as weathering and soil development indicators in some Michigan soils

    Open AccessLeslie R Mikesell, Randall J Schaetzl et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2004

    Weathering can be used as a highly effective relative age indicator. One such application involves etching of hornblende grains in soils. Etching increases with time (duration) and decreases with depth in soils and surficial sediments. Other variables, related to intensity of weathering and soil formation, are generally held as constant as possible so as to only minimally influence the time–etching relationship. Our study focuses on one of the va…

  • Measurement, Correlation, and Mapping of Glacial Lake Algonquin Shorelines in Northern Michigan

    Randall J Schaetzl, Scott A Drzyzga et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2002Cited by: 1

    Glacial Lake Algonquin, the most widespread proglacial lake in the Great Lakes basin, attained a high (Main) stage at about 11,000 b.p., at which time it developed a conspicuous shoreline. Several lower, less obvious Algonquin shorelines also exist. Previous research on this lake has involved three drawbacks: (1) imprecise methods of establishing the location and elevation of shoreline features, (2) misidentification of some offshore coastal land…

  • Shock the World (and Then Some)

    Randall J Schaetzl, Randall SchaetzlARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2000

    Book reviewed in this article: T. Ron Paton, Geoff S. Humphreys, and Peter B. Mitchell, On Soils: A New Global View

  • Postglacial Landscape Evolution of Northeastern Lower Michigan, Interpreted from Soils and Sediments

    Randall J Schaetzl, Frank J Krist et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2000Cited by: 1

    In this study, we used spatial data on soils, near-surface stratigraphy, and paleotopography to reinterpret part of the Late Pleistocene history of northeastern (NE) lower Michigan. We determined the relationships between various soil series and their likely sedimentary environments. Maps of these soil series for two counties in NE lower Michigan were then prepared within a geographic information system (GIS) to interpret the spatial patterns of …