Characterization of landscapes into domains where soil, hydrologic, and landform attributes can be considered products of common processes of formation and function in an integrated manner remains a challenge for earth scientists. Such a synthesis is desirable to advance fundamental and applied knowledge of earth surface processes operating at a local scale. Although a close relationship among soil, landform, and hydrology has long been recognized, a coherent framework that promotes disciplinary integration has yet to emerge. Scale, space, and time, the three-dimensional complexity of the interdependencies, and divergent disciplinary foci pose considerable challenges to effective integration. This study will build upon advances made through linkage of hydrology and geomorphomotry for terrain- based modeling of hydrologic processes. It will develop and evaluate approaches to incorporate approximations of the soil- landscape continuum into terrain models. It will develop a three-dimensional model of the soil-landscape continuum with a geographical information system (GIS). The research will construct a model of soil horizon stratigraphy for the study of local and regional earth surface processes which require an understanding of processing operating in the pedosphere. The model will be tested in a reconstruction of soil-landscape evolution in the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin, which had experienced considerable landscape instability during the Quaternary Epoch. This study uses a new conceptual and methodological approach which will improve upon more conventional ways of elucidating soil-landscape relationships. It will reduce reliance on subjective assessments in soils analysis and replace it with a spatially rigorous analytic model. The model will be developed and tested for soil-landscape evolution, but it will be applicable to surface and subsurface hydrologic modeling and for simulating vegetation and landscape change in response to climatic change.
