Balsam soil and landscape
Soil profile: The Balsam series consists of very deep, well drained soils. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the subsoil and moderately rapid in the underlying material. Typically, rock fragment content increases with depth.
Landscape: Avery County is known for its high-quality Fraser fir Christmas trees and for Grandfather Mountain, which attracts many visitors annually due to its unique plant and animal communities and beautiful scenery. Balsam very cobbly loam, windswept, 15 to 30 percent slopes, extremely bouldery is mapped on the high mountains throughout the county.
The Balsam series consists of very deep, well drained soils on foot slopes, toe slopes, fans and benches in coves at high elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. They formed in colluvium derived from materials weathered from felsic to mafic, high-grade metamorphic or igneous rocks. Near the type location, mean annual air temperature is about 40 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 80 inches. Slope ranges from 2 to 95 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, frigid Typic Humudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 72 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid. Content of flakes of mica is few or common throughout. Average rock fragment content in the particle-size control section ranges from 35 to 90 percent by volume. They range from gravel to boulders in size. Typically, rock fragment content increases with depth.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is in State or Federal ownership and is used for watershed protection, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Most of this soil is forested. In areas higher than about 5,400 feet, red spruce and fraser fir are the dominant trees. At the lower elevations, northern red oak, American beech, yellow birch, black cherry, sugar maple, eastern hemlock, yellow buckeye, and white ash are common trees. In many areas, the trees are stunted due to wind and ice damage and a "windswept" phase is recognized. Common understory plants are serviceberry, striped maple, American chestnut sprouts, silverbell, pin cherry, rhododendron, flame azalea, blueberry, blackberry, hay-scented fern, trillium, woodfern, New York fern, Solomon's seal, yellow mandarin, and raspberry. A small acreage is used for native pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: High elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia This series is of small extent.
The Balsam series was formerly included with the Spivey series. However, Spivey is in the mesic soil temperature class, forms in colluvium derived from low-grade metasedimentary rocks such as phyllite and slate, and contains fragments of those rocks.
Although Balsam soils exhibit at least some of the characteristics of andic soil properties, they lack the volcanic glass commonly found in soils of related taxa in the Western United States.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
archive.org/details/averyNC2005
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BALSAM.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Balsam soil and landscape
Soil profile: The Balsam series consists of very deep, well drained soils. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the subsoil and moderately rapid in the underlying material. Typically, rock fragment content increases with depth.
Landscape: Avery County is known for its high-quality Fraser fir Christmas trees and for Grandfather Mountain, which attracts many visitors annually due to its unique plant and animal communities and beautiful scenery. Balsam very cobbly loam, windswept, 15 to 30 percent slopes, extremely bouldery is mapped on the high mountains throughout the county.
The Balsam series consists of very deep, well drained soils on foot slopes, toe slopes, fans and benches in coves at high elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. They formed in colluvium derived from materials weathered from felsic to mafic, high-grade metamorphic or igneous rocks. Near the type location, mean annual air temperature is about 40 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 80 inches. Slope ranges from 2 to 95 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, frigid Typic Humudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 72 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid. Content of flakes of mica is few or common throughout. Average rock fragment content in the particle-size control section ranges from 35 to 90 percent by volume. They range from gravel to boulders in size. Typically, rock fragment content increases with depth.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is in State or Federal ownership and is used for watershed protection, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Most of this soil is forested. In areas higher than about 5,400 feet, red spruce and fraser fir are the dominant trees. At the lower elevations, northern red oak, American beech, yellow birch, black cherry, sugar maple, eastern hemlock, yellow buckeye, and white ash are common trees. In many areas, the trees are stunted due to wind and ice damage and a "windswept" phase is recognized. Common understory plants are serviceberry, striped maple, American chestnut sprouts, silverbell, pin cherry, rhododendron, flame azalea, blueberry, blackberry, hay-scented fern, trillium, woodfern, New York fern, Solomon's seal, yellow mandarin, and raspberry. A small acreage is used for native pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: High elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia This series is of small extent.
The Balsam series was formerly included with the Spivey series. However, Spivey is in the mesic soil temperature class, forms in colluvium derived from low-grade metasedimentary rocks such as phyllite and slate, and contains fragments of those rocks.
Although Balsam soils exhibit at least some of the characteristics of andic soil properties, they lack the volcanic glass commonly found in soils of related taxa in the Western United States.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
archive.org/details/averyNC2005
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BALSAM.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit: