In Luxembourg, I found a Vertisol developed from triassic marls (Norian age). Knowing that geologist already reported some paleovertisol in the triassic marls, I assume that the actual Vertisol is the reactivation of the older one, I am looking for references on similar cases.
For a Vertisol to be "active" Montmorillonite-like clay minerals are needed and a climate with marked dry and wet seasons. In case of the Luxemburg paleovertisol it is possible that the current climate does not have this seasonal variation to a sufficient degree to get swelling/shrinking. In addition, the parent material may have weathered towards different clay minerals so that the ability to swell and shrink has lessened. The last is easy to find out by estimating the coefficient of linear extensibility (COLE) by comparing the length of a moist column and a dry column. See WRB or Soil Taxonomy for threshold values for COLE that inform about vertic materials.
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