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The Empty Quarter area of the UAE. The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert.
These areas are narrow sinuous dune ridges that form linear or roughly rectangular patterns around deflation plains and inland sabkha flats. The dunes have a relative relief of about 80m. Dune formations are variable due to multi-directional winds, and include barchanoid, transverse and star shapes. The star dunes are often higher than the surrounding dunes and form impressive and imposing features in the landscape. A white, gray or red surface veneer of fine to coarse sand and fine gravel occurs on the gentle slopes of the dunes adjacent to the sabkhas and deflation plains.
The land is used as low-density grazing. The map unit has sparse vegetation cover with Cyperus conglomeratus and Zygophyllum spp on the lower slopes of the dunes together with Calligonum comosum on the slopes and slip faces. The map unit forms part of the Cyperetum-Zygophylletum vegetation community.
The soils of this map unit are dominated by Typic Torripsamments, mixed, hyperthermic in the high dunes. Other soils are Typic Petrogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, Petrogypsic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic and Gypsic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic that are confined to the deflation flats.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
Sharjah soil and landscape.
The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
The desert is 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long, and 500 kilometres (310 mi) wide. Its surface elevation varies from 800 metres (2,600 ft) in the southwest to around sea level in the northeast. The terrain is covered with sand dunes with heights up to 250 metres (820 ft), interspersed with gravel and gypsum plains. The sand is of a reddish-orange color due to the presence of feldspar. There are also brackish salt flats in some areas, such as the Umm al Samim area on the desert's eastern edge. Along the middle length of the desert there are a number of raised, hardened areas of calcium carbonate, gypsum, marl, or clay that were once the site of shallow lakes.
These lakes existed during periods from 6,000 to 5,000 years ago and 3,000 to 2,000 years ago. The lakes are thought to have formed as a result of "cataclysmic rainfall" similar to present-day monsoon rains and most probably lasted for only a few years. Evidence suggests that the lakes were home to a variety of flora and fauna. Fossil remains indicate the presence of several animal species, such as hippopotamus, water buffalo, and long-horned cattle. The lakes also contained small snails, ostracods, and when conditions were suitable, freshwater clams. Deposits of calcium carbonate and opal phytoliths indicate the presence of plants and algae.
There is also evidence of human activity dating from 3,000 to 2,000 years ago, including chipped flint tools, but no actual human remains have been found. The region is classified as "hyper-arid", with typical annual rainfall of less than 3 centimetres (1.2 in). Daily maximum temperatures average at 47 °C (117 °F) and can reach as high as 51 °C (124 °F). Fauna includes arachnids (e.g. scorpions) and rodents, while plants live throughout the Empty Quarter. As an ecoregion, the Rub' al Khali falls within the Arabian Desert and East Saharo-Arabian xeric shrublands. The Asiatic cheetahs, once widespread in Saudi Arabia, are regionally extinct from the desert.
Geologically, the Empty Quarter is one of the most oil-rich sites in the world. Vast oil reserves have been discovered underneath the sand dunes.[citation needed] Sheyba, at the northeastern edge of the Rub' al Khali, is a major light crude oil-producing site in Saudi Arabia. Ghawar, the largest oil field in the world, extends southward into the northernmost parts of the Empty Quarter.
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Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city of Ras Al Khaimah, sometimes simply abbreviated to RAK or RAK City, is the capital of the emirate and home to most of the emirate's residents. It is linked to the medieval trading port of Julfar.
Its name in English means "top of the tent". The emirate borders Oman's exclave of Musandam, and occupies part of the same peninsula. It covers an area of 2,486 km2 (960 sq mi) and has 64 km (40 mi) of beach coastline. As of 2020, the emirate had a population of about 191,753, of which about 31% were Emirati citizens.
This extensive region lies in central parts of the Abu Dhabi Emirate. It comprises older stable north-west/south-east linear dunes and intervening deflation flats. Occasional nested barchanoid dunes occur where more recent wind-blown sands have accumulated. The region includes broad, gently inclined sand ramps which may display a partial cover of fine lag gravels. The dark color in the basin is from chocolate-colored gravel.
The drive along the Al Qua'a-Um al Zamool road bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia is amazing. It is the best area to view the largest star dunes in this area of the Rub' al Khali. The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
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The Rub' al Khali (or the Empty Quarter) is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert.
The Black Mountains are a mountain range in western North Carolina, in the southeastern United States. They are part of the Blue Ridge Province of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The Blacks are the highest mountains in the Eastern United States. Mt. Mitchell is in the background.
Mount Mitchell, known in Cherokee as Attakulla, is the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountains and the highest peak in mainland eastern North America. It is located near Burnsville in Yancey County, North Carolina; in the Black Mountain subrange of the Appalachians, about 19 miles northeast of Asheville. It is protected by Mount Mitchell State Park and surrounded by the Pisgah National Forest. Mount Mitchell's elevation is 6,684 feet above sea level.
This region lies in the south of the Emirate and represents the northern extent of the Rub al Khali. It comprises high, often steep megabarchans, frequently overlain by smaller
barchan dune fields and with associated intervening sabkha flats dominated by saline soils.
The drive along the Al Qua'a-Um al Zamool road bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia is amazing. It is the best area to view the largest star dunes in this area of the Rub' al Khali. The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
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Wide, deep cracks at the bottom of a sand pit in Wadi Bih, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. The cracks are about a foot across.
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Hayland is a water-intensive crop that faces a major challenge when irrigation restrictions are in place. However, understanding when alfalfa or other grasses need moisture the most can greatly help you schedule applications to maximize limited amounts of water.
Early evening in Sharjah Emirate. Thick deposits of wind blown sand along Fossil Mountain. Officially called Jebel Maleihah, this large outcrop is more widely known as Fossil Rock, after abundance of marine fossils that can be found on its slopes. This area is rich with the fossils of shells and small sea creatures that were on the ocean floor millions of years ago when water covered much of Arabia. These were created when limestone formed around their shells to make a mould, which then solidified to leave a perfect imprint.
Ghaf (Prosopis cineraria), a flowering tree, holds great promise for combating desertification and improving soil fertility in arid environments thanks to its unique qualities, long-term research by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) suggests.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
This region lies in the south-west of the Emirate, adjacent to the border with Saudi Arabia. It constitutes linear dune fields of interlayered white carbonatic and red quartzite sands with minor exposure of Quaternary dunes and inter-dune formation.
Landscape in the Liwa Oasis area of the UAE. The Empty Quarter area of the UAE--the Rub' al Khali--is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert.
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"How can wind shape so elegantly little grains of sand into patterns that intersect at interesting angles - and then suddenly change the whole artistry of a dune? I think that no matter how many times you see a pattern in a pattern in a pattern that is a sand dune, you are forever mesmerized by the grandeur of the complexity of the physics. The flux of energy here is phenomenal and the sculptress exotic. To be caught in the shifting biting stinging sand is a whole other matter for then nature seems cruel, harsh, and so unjust. At times we love to walk the thin edge - the fine line left by the last puff of wind shifting and rolling sand grains." (Dr. Richard Arnold, former Director, Soil Survey Division, USDA-NRCS)
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This region lies in the south-west of the Emirate, adjacent to the border with Saudi Arabia. It constitutes linear dune fields of interlayered white carbonatic and red quartzite sands with minor exposure of Quaternary dunes and inter-dune formation.
The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
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Al Dhaid, is the capital of the central district of the Emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. An oasis town, it has extensive irrigated date palm plantations with water channelled from the nearby Hajar mountains at least in part through ancient tunnels dug for that purpose, known as aflaj. Dhaid has long occupied a strategic location in the mouth of the important Wadi Siji.
Sand sheets are relatively flat, undulating plots of sand. They form approximately 40 percent of aeolian depositional surfaces. Sand sheets exist where grain size is too large, or wind velocities too low, for dunes to form.
Sand dunes, any accumulation of sand grains shaped into a mound or ridge by the wind under the influence of gravity. Dunes are found wherever loose sand is windblown: in deserts, on beaches, and even on some eroded and abandoned farm fields in semiarid regions, such as northwest India and parts of the southwestern United States.
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
For more information about describing soils using the USDA-Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
The drive along the Al Qua'a-Um al Zamool road bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia is amazing. It is the best area to view the largest star dunes in this area of the Rub' al Khali. The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
Miliolite originates as wind-blown or water deposited carbonate sands that over time becomes solidified.
The types seen at Al Wathba were created from cross-bedded dunes, formed at their core by ground water depositing layers of calcium carbonate (chalk) and other similar salts during the glacial period.
The enchanting formations found in the Al Wathba area take their shape from specific patterns of water and importantly wind erosion.
For more information visit:
www.behance.net/gallery/105772203/Al-Wathba-Fossil-Dunes-...
The Sangre de Cristo Range, called the East Range locally in the San Luis Valley, is a high, rugged and narrow mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in southern Colorado in the United States, running north and south along the east side of the Rio Grande Rift. The mountains extend southeast from Poncha Pass for about 75 miles through south-central Colorado to La Veta Pass, approximately 20 miles west of Walsenburg, and form a high ridge separating the San Luis Valley on the west from the watershed of the Arkansas River on the east. The Sangre de Cristo Range rises over 7,000 feet above the valleys and plains to the west and northeast. For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
You may not consider this material soil, just a large pile of sand; however, soil is the natural medium for the growth of land plants (note plants on the steep slopes), whether or not it has discernible soil horizons.
People consider soil important because it supports plants that supply food, fibers, drugs, and other human needs and because it filters water and recycles wastes. For purposes of classification, the lower boundary of soil is arbitrarily set at 200 cm. All terrestrial life ultimately depends on soil, energy, and water. Soils have always been central to human civilization and life. They are an integral part of the physical and cultural environment, and we may take them for granted and even tend to treat them contemptuously.
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This region lies in the south-west of the Emirate, adjacent to the border with Saudi Arabia. It constitutes linear dune fields of interlayered white carbonatic and red quartzite sands with minor exposure of Quaternary dunes and inter-dune formation.
The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
The desert is 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long, and 500 kilometres (310 mi) wide. Its surface elevation varies from 800 metres (2,600 ft) in the southwest to around sea level in the northeast. The terrain is covered with sand dunes with heights up to 250 metres (820 ft), interspersed with gravel and gypsum plains. The sand is of a reddish-orange color due to the presence of feldspar. There are also brackish salt flats in some areas, such as the Umm al Samim area on the desert's eastern edge. Along the middle length of the desert there are a number of raised, hardened areas of calcium carbonate, gypsum, marl, or clay that were once the site of shallow lakes.
These lakes existed during periods from 6,000 to 5,000 years ago and 3,000 to 2,000 years ago. The lakes are thought to have formed as a result of "cataclysmic rainfall" similar to present-day monsoon rains and most probably lasted for only a few years. Evidence suggests that the lakes were home to a variety of flora and fauna. Fossil remains indicate the presence of several animal species, such as hippopotamus, water buffalo, and long-horned cattle. The lakes also contained small snails, ostracods, and when conditions were suitable, freshwater clams. Deposits of calcium carbonate and opal phytoliths indicate the presence of plants and algae.
There is also evidence of human activity dating from 3,000 to 2,000 years ago, including chipped flint tools, but no actual human remains have been found. The region is classified as "hyper-arid", with typical annual rainfall of less than 3 centimetres (1.2 in). Daily maximum temperatures average at 47 °C (117 °F) and can reach as high as 51 °C (124 °F). Fauna includes arachnids (e.g. scorpions) and rodents, while plants live throughout the Empty Quarter. As an ecoregion, the Rub' al Khali falls within the Arabian Desert and East Saharo-Arabian xeric shrublands. The Asiatic cheetahs, once widespread in Saudi Arabia, are regionally extinct from the desert.
Geologically, the Empty Quarter is one of the most oil-rich sites in the world. Vast oil reserves have been discovered underneath the sand dunes.[citation needed] Sheyba, at the northeastern edge of the Rub' al Khali, is a major light crude oil-producing site in Saudi Arabia. Ghawar, the largest oil field in the world, extends southward into the northernmost parts of the Empty Quarter.
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This dramatic mountain range has rock climbing, canyoning, and off-road exploration. In addition to outdoor activities, there are numerous sights of historic, cultural, and geological interest.
Temperatures in the higher elevations tend to be on average 10-15°C cooler than cities in the valley, and snow, although very rare, is not unknown. In summer the mountains offer a retreat for those looking to escape the heat baking the rest of the Arabian peninsula.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
Leading edge of a sand sheet. Sand sheets are relatively flat, undulating plots of sand. They form approximately 40 percent of aeolian depositional surfaces. Sand sheets exist where grain size is too large, or wind velocities too low, for dunes to form.
The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert.
How can wind shape so elegantly little grains of sand into patterns that intersect at interesting angles - and then suddenly change the whole artistry of a dune? I think that no matter how many times you see a pattern in a pattern in a pattern that is a sand dune, you are forever mesmerized by the grandeur of the complexity of the physics. The flux of energy here is phenomenal and the sculptress exotic. To be caught in the shifting biting stinging sand is a whole other matter for then nature seems cruel, harsh, and so unjust. At times we love to walk the thin edge - the fine line left by the last puff of wind shifting and rolling sand grains. (Dr. Richard Arnold, former Director, Soil Survey Division, USDA-NRCS)
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The grey heron, Ardea cinerea is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in the milder south and west, but many birds retreat in winter from the ice in colder regions.
Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras. Rangelands do not include forests lacking grazable understory vegetation, barren desert, farmland, or land covered by solid rock, concrete and/or glaciers.
Rangelands are distinguished from pasture lands because they grow primarily native vegetation, rather than plants established by humans. Rangelands are also managed principally with practices such as managed livestock grazing and prescribed fire rather than more intensive agricultural practices of seeding, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers.
Grazing is an important use of rangelands but the term "rangeland" is not synonymous with "grazinglands". Livestock grazing can be used to manage rangelands by harvesting forage to produce livestock, changing plant composition or reducing fuel loads.
Fire is also an important regulator of range vegetation, whether set by humans or resulting from lightning. Fires tend to reduce the abundance of woody plants and promote herbaceous plants including grasses, forbs, and grass-like plants. The suppression or reduction of periodic wildfires from desert shrublands, savannas, or woodlands frequently invites the dominance of trees and shrubs to the near exclusion of grasses and forbs.
Liwa Oasis, UAE. Sand sheets are relatively flat, undulating plots of sand. They form approximately 40 percent of aeolian depositional surfaces. Sand sheets exist where grain size is too large, or wind velocities too low, for dunes to form.
This region lies in the south of the Emirate adjacent to the Rub
al Khali. It comprises rolling to steep high mega-barchan dunes with broad intervening valleys that have frequently been graded and developed for irrigated agriculture. Occasionally interdunal depressions are deflated to the capillary fringe resulting in saline sabkha flats.
The alluvial plains physiographic region has three main components—alluvial fans, alluvial plains, and wadis. The alluvial plains and fans occur on both sides of the Hajar Mountains. On the western side, however, they are much more extensive (up to 20 km wide) than on the eastern side, where there is rarely more than 2–3 km from the mountain front to the coast.
Most of the alluvial plains are composed of gravel to boulders, with a general trend towards finer alluvium with distance from the mountain front. Near the mountains, the fan heads are usually incised, with channels cutting into coarse alluvium. The middle parts of the fans are generally flat with very low relief and with shallow channels up to 5 m wide. At the foot of most fans, the particle sizes are fine, often sand, with braided channels. In some cases these channels coalesce to form wadis that extend out into the adjacent sand dunes.
The Hajar mountain range has a wealth of attractions for the adventurous traveler, including trekking, rock climbing, canyoning, and off-road exploration. In addition to outdoor activities, there are numerous sights of historic, cultural, and geological interest.
Temperatures in the higher elevations tend to be on average 10-15°C cooler than Muscat, and snow, although very rare, is not unknown. In summer the mountains offer a retreat for those looking to escape the heat baking the rest of Oman and the Arabian peninsula.
Zakher Lake (formerly called Zakher Pools) is a large lake mainly consisting of spillwater and ground water in the desert, 12 kilometers west of the base of Jebel Hafeet.
Jabal Ḥafeet, literally "empty mountain" is a mountain located primarily in the area of Al Ain, which itself is in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Part of the mountain straddles the border with Oman, while the summit is located wholly within United Arab Emirates.
Caineville, UT mesa. Caineville is located just off Highway 24 on the east side of Capitol Reef National Park. The town was originally settled along the fertile banks of the Fremont River in 1882. Today Caineville is a sparsely-populated ranching community, offering some tourist amenities such as motel rooms, an RV park, rental teepees, a café, and backcountry tours.
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Farmers bring their loose grass to a central location where it is bailed and prepared for shipping and sale. I observed two areas where this occurred. The other was in the Liwa Oasis area. Most of the UAE's cultivated land is taken up by date palms, which in the early 1990s numbered about 4 million.
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
Saline soils contain enough soluble salts to injure plants. They are characterized by white or light brown crusts on the surface. Saline soils usually have an EC of more than 4 mmho cm-1. Salts generally found in saline soils include NaCl (table salt), CaCl2, gypsum (CaSO4), magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride and sodium sulfate.
This region represents the low lying coastal flats dominated by saline soils and slightly higher gypsic rises but including some areas of carbonatic sand sheets underlain by miliolite.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
Xinxing County is a county of the prefecture-level city of Yunfu in Guangdong, China.
The government of China has placed great importance on work relating to agriculture, rural areas, and the rural population. Since the convening of the Sixteenth National Congress, the government has implemented a series of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit the rural population, and enable people in rural areas to prosper and thus ensuring balanced development of urban and rural areas. These efforts have brought about remarkable advances in China's agricultural and rural development. China's grain output has grown steadily for years, and overall progress has been made in farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery. The development of agriculture is our number one priority and the key focus of our macro-control policies.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Cososa series in an area of Cososa loamy sand, 0 to 3 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Costilla County Area, Colorado; by By Alan J. Stuebe, Natural Resources Conservation)
Landscape: A potato field in Costilla County on Cososa loamy sand, 0 to 3 percent slopes (Soil Survey cover). These soils are on outwash plains, outwash fans, and outwash terraces on intermontane basins that formed from weathered granite, gneiss, and mica schist.
The Cososa series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in outwash derived from granite, gneiss, and mica schist. Cososa soils are on outwash plains, outwash fans, and outwash terraces on an intermontane basin. Slopes range from 0 to 9 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 6 to 8 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 43 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Haplocalcids
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are principally rangeland; however, in some areas they are used for sprinkler irrigation for irrigated crops such as, potatoes and small grain. Typical vegetation is mainly rabbitbrush, blue grama, prickly pear, and sand dropseed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Colorado, High Intermountain Valley, MLRA 51, LRR E. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/colorado/costi...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/COSOSA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Most of the UAE's cultivated land is taken up by date palms, which in the early 1990s numbered about 4 million. They are cultivated in the arc of small oases that constitute the Al Liwa Oasis. Both federal and emirate governments provide incentives to farmers. For example, the government offers a 50 percent subsidy on fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. It also provides loans for machinery and technical assistance. The emirates have forty-one agricultural extension units as well as several experimental farms and agricultural research stations. The number of farmers rose from about 4,000 in the early 1970s to 18,265 in 1988.
The actual date tree population in UAE is about 40 millions of which 8.5 in AL-AIN region. The gene pool is large and composes about 120 date varieties. New introductions from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Oman included Khallas, AbouMaan, Hallawi, Khissab, Khenezi, Nabut Saif, Jabiri, Hillali, Lulu, Chichi, Khadraoui, Sakii, Sultana and Barhi varieties.
The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olive is considered a major pest of the date palm in the Middle East where it causes severe damage.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
Soil Survey of Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE--Typic Torripsamments consociation, undulating to rolling rises and dunes consists of broad undulating stable sand sheets and gently inclined sand ramps that typically occur on the windward face of north-west - south-east sand ridges. The map unit occurs as scattered, extensive polygons and one large polygon predominantly orientated in a north-west to south-east direction and situated to the north of Liwa. The unit is used as low density grazing. In some areas forestry and farming activities occur. The map unit has a vegetation cover of Cyperus conglomeratus, Haloxylon salicornicum, Zygophyllum spp and Dipterygium glaucum. The map unit forms part of the Cyperetum-Haloxyletum-Zygophylletum vegetation community.
The soils of this map unit are dominated by Typic Torripsamments, mixed, hyperthermic (80% AD158), occupying the dunes and sand sheets. This soil (AD158) covers a vast area within this large map unit and varies significantly in land form. To reflect this, the 80% is split 50:30 between sand sheets of low relief and low slope (typically 2m and 2%) and dunes of high relief and slope (7m and 15%). Other soils include Typic Torripsamments, mixed, hyperthermic, lithic phase (10% AD160), Lithic Torripsamments, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD153) and Rock Outcrops (5% AD163).
The sandy nature of the soils that limits moisture and nutrient retention is the main constraint to the irrigated agricultural use of this land. Some areas may also be limited by topographic gradient or relative relief.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
Depth to a root limiting or restrictive layer is important because it determines the amount of soil material favorable for plant rooting. A shallow soil limits the amount of water the soil can supply plants. A root limiting layer impeds the vertical movement of water, air, and growth of plant roots. If cracks are present, areas that roots can enter are 10 cm or more apart. Examples are: densic materials, hardpan, claypan, fragipan, caliche, or some compacted soils, bedrock and unstructured clay soils.
In this example, roots have been stopped or turned by the dense, compact, non-cemented marine sediment. Zones that roots can enter are more than 10 centimeters apart.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
A representative soil profile of an Solonetz from the Hungarian Soil Classification System (HSCS) by Prof. Blaskó Lajos (2008).
For more information about these soils, visit:
regi.tankonyvtar.hu/hu/tartalom/tamop425/0032_talajtan/ch...
SOLONETZ: Soil with subsurface horizon of clay accumulation and high sodium content (from the Russian, sol, meaning salt and etz, meaning strongly expressed).Strongly alkaline soil with a subsurface horizon of clay minerals, strong columnar structure and high proportion of adsorbed sodium and/or magnesium ions. Solonetz are normally associated with flat lands in a climate with hot, dry summers or with former coastal deposits that contain a high proportion of salt. Solonetz soil occurs mainly in the Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. Internationally, Solonetz are referred to as alkali soil and sodic soil, Sols sodiques à horizon B et Solonetz solodisés (France), Natrustalfs, Natrustolls, Natrixeralfs, Natrargids or Nadurargids (Soil Taxonomy). They cover less than 1 percent of Europe.
The current Hungarian Soil Classification System (HSCS) was developed in the 1960s, based on the genetic principles of Dokuchaev. The central unit is the soil type grouping soils that were believed to have developed under similar soil forming factors and processes. The major soil types are the highest category which groups soils based on climatic, geographical and genetic bases. Subtypes and varieties are distinguished according to the assumed dominance of soil forming processes and observable/measurable morphogenetic properties.
Liwa Dunes area. This region lies in the southern part of the Emirate and to the north of the Rub al Khali at Liwa. It comprises medium to high, rolling to steep linear and transverse dune systems that, in some areas, have been partially overlain by more recent barchanoid dunes. Scattered small deflation plains and sabkha flats are prominent features in some areas.
A Typic Torripsamment. These areas are narrow sinuous dune ridges that form linear or roughly rectangular patterns around deflation plains and inland sabkha flats. The dunes have a relative relief of about 80m. Dune formations are variable due to multi-directional winds, and include barchanoid, transverse and star shapes. The star dunes are often higher than the surrounding dunes and form impressive and imposing features in the landscape. A white, gray or red surface veneer of fine to coarse sand and fine gravel occurs on the gentle slopes of the dunes adjacent to the sabkhas and deflation plains.
The land is used as low-density grazing. The map unit has sparse vegetation cover with Cyperus conglomeratus and Zygophyllum spp on the lower slopes of the dunes together with Calligonum comosum on the slopes and slip faces. The map unit forms part of the Cyperetum-Zygophylletum vegetation community.
The soils of this map unit are dominated by Typic Torripsamments, mixed, hyperthermic (85% AD158) in the high dunes. Other soils are Typic Petrogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD123), Petrogypsic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD143) and Gypsic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD135) that are confined to the deflation flats.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
This region lies in the north-western part of the Emirate near Ghayathi. It comprises eroded Quaternary and Miocene sediments often with a deflation regolith of fine gravels.
The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
The desert is 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long, and 500 kilometres (310 mi) wide. Its surface elevation varies from 800 metres (2,600 ft) in the southwest to around sea level in the northeast. The terrain is covered with sand dunes with heights up to 250 metres (820 ft), interspersed with gravel and gypsum plains. The sand is of a reddish-orange color due to the presence of feldspar. There are also brackish salt flats in some areas, such as the Umm al Samim area on the desert's eastern edge. Along the middle length of the desert there are a number of raised, hardened areas of calcium carbonate, gypsum, marl, or clay that were once the site of shallow lakes.
These lakes existed during periods from 6,000 to 5,000 years ago and 3,000 to 2,000 years ago. The lakes are thought to have formed as a result of "cataclysmic rainfall" similar to present-day monsoon rains and most probably lasted for only a few years. Evidence suggests that the lakes were home to a variety of flora and fauna. Fossil remains indicate the presence of several animal species, such as hippopotamus, water buffalo, and long-horned cattle. The lakes also contained small snails, ostracods, and when conditions were suitable, freshwater clams. Deposits of calcium carbonate and opal phytoliths indicate the presence of plants and algae.
There is also evidence of human activity dating from 3,000 to 2,000 years ago, including chipped flint tools, but no actual human remains have been found. The region is classified as "hyper-arid", with typical annual rainfall of less than 3 centimetres (1.2 in). Daily maximum temperatures average at 47 °C (117 °F) and can reach as high as 51 °C (124 °F). Fauna includes arachnids (e.g. scorpions) and rodents, while plants live throughout the Empty Quarter. As an ecoregion, the Rub' al Khali falls within the Arabian Desert and East Saharo-Arabian xeric shrublands. The Asiatic cheetahs, once widespread in Saudi Arabia, are regionally extinct from the desert.
Geologically, the Empty Quarter is one of the most oil-rich sites in the world. Vast oil reserves have been discovered underneath the sand dunes.[citation needed] Sheyba, at the northeastern edge of the Rub' al Khali, is a major light crude oil-producing site in Saudi Arabia. Ghawar, the largest oil field in the world, extends southward into the northernmost parts of the Empty Quarter.
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An area of Cecil soil in North Carolina. The Cecil soil series is the State Soil of North Carolina. What is a State Soil? A state soil is a soil that has special significance to a particular state. Each state in the United States has selected a state soil, twenty of which have been legislatively established. These “Official State Soils” share the same level of distinction as official state flowers and birds.
A plinthic soil contains a significant amount of plinthite. Plinthite (Gr. plinthos, brick) is an iron-rich, humus-poor mixture of clay with quartz and other highly weathered minerals. It commonly occurs as reddish redox concentrations in a layer that has a polygonal (irregular), platy (lenticular), or reticulate (blocky) pattern. Plinthite irreversibly hardens upon exposure to repeated wetting and drying, especially if exposed to heat from the sun. Other morphologically similar iron-rich materials that do not progressively harden upon repeated wetting and drying are not considered plinthite. The horizon in which plinthite occurs commonly has 2.5 percent (by mass) or more citrate dithionite extractable iron in the fine-earth fraction and a ratio between acid oxalate extractable Fe and citrate-dithionite extractable Fe of less than 0.10.
In soil science, the "C" horizon is the soil layer consisting more or less of weathered parent rock or deposited material that is little affected by pedogenesis (soil formation). If an overlying horizon contains a significant amount of clay, over time, the clay may be transported into and along vertical cracks or along channels within macropores creating clay coats or clay flows.
The dark red zone in the lower part of this profile is an example of the aquitard layer below a well developed plinthic B horizon of a coastal plain soil. This layer seasonally perches water facilitating plinthite formation. The horizon exhibits very weak very coarse blocky structure with very thick clay coating on internal seams or cracks. Clay coating is common in the very deep layers (3-4 meters or more below the soil surface) where pedogenesis is thought to be minimal or not present. The red area has a sandy loam to sandy clay loam texture, whereas the gray area has texture of clay loam or clay.
The gray tubes or channels throughout the aquitard layer are thought to be formed by biological activity at a time when the sediments were being deposited. In the current environment, they commonly contain coarse roots within elongated macropores. The macropores may be completed filled with soil material or they be open (areas that once contained live roots, but are currently void of roots due to decomposition), allowing for the transmission of air and water within the channel.
Because of the dark red color and dense characteristics, these layers are referred to by the local soil scientists as the "brick" layer.
For more information about a plinthic horizon, visit;
www.researchgate.net/publication/242649722_Rationale_for_...
or;
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00167061220043...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
Plinthite is a material that is made up of iron oxides and forms deep in soils under certain specific conditions. Petroplinthite forms from the hardening of continuous phase plinthite. In many parts of the world, petroplinthite is mined, cut into shape, and used as building blocks. It has not been recognized in the US.
In progression are:
Plinthite--non-cemented to moderately cemented
Petroplinthite--nodular and strongly cemented or very strongly cemented
Litho-plinthite--vesicular (tubular) strongly cemented or very strongly cemented (obsolete)
Ironstone--indurated
The soil layer illustrated in this photo was cemented (had hardened upon exposure), but the degree of cementation was less than strongly cemented.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Walong series. The moderately deep to soft bedrock Walong soils have a mollic epipedon, weak structure, and a paralithic contact of gneiss at a depth of 50 to 100 centimeters. (Supplement to the Soil Survey of Los Angeles County, California, Southeastern Part; by Randy L. Riddle and Christopher “Kit” Paris, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Walong soil on a steep side slope at the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park. Walong soils are on uplands and have gradients of 15 to 75 percent. They formed in material weathered from granite. Elevations are 800 to 5,800 feet. The climate has cold moist winters and hot dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 10 to 30 inches. The mean annual temperature ranges from 57 to 62 degrees F.; the mean January temperature is about 47 degrees F.; and the mean July temperature is about 83 degrees F. The frost free season is 150 to 250 days.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Haploxerolls
Depth to a paralithic contact with weathered granitic rock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The soil between depths of 8 to 24 inches is usually dry all the time from late May until mid November (or 1/2 the time), and is moist in some part for more than 90 consecutive days. The mean annual soil temperature is 59 to 64 degrees F. Organic matter is more than 1 percent to a depth of 14 to 18 inches and decreases regularly to less than 1 percent at this depth. An 01 horizon is present in some pedons where there has been some accumulation of organic matter or litter. Rock fragments 2 mm to 2 cm in diameter range from 0 to 15 percent by volume, and rock fragments 7 to 25 cm in diameter range from 0 to 10 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for range, wildlife, watershed, and recreation. Vegetation is annual grasses, blue oaks, ad=nd live oaks.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Foothills of the southern Sierra Neveda and the Tehachapi Mountains. The soils are moderately extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/los...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WALONG.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil scientists preparing to sample soils. Spodic soils refer to a diagnostic subsurface horizon defined by the illuvial accumulation of organic matter. Iron oxide can be present or absent, and the soil is generally derived from a sandy parent material. Spodic may also refer to the taxonomic soil order spodosols.
For more information about Describing and Sampling soils, visit;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For more information about Soil Taxonomy, visit;
Farmers bring their loose grass to a central location where it is baled and prepared for shipping and sale. I observed two areas where this occurred. The other was along the al Ain truck road.
www.flickr.com/photos/jakelley/35965802685/in/album-72157...
Most of the UAE's cultivated land is taken up by date palms, which in the early 1990s numbered about 4 million. They are cultivated in the arc of small oases that constitute the Al Liwa Oasis. Both federal and emirate governments provide incentives to farmers. For example, the government offers a 50 percent subsidy on fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. It also provides loans for machinery and technical assistance. The emirates have forty-one agricultural extension units as well as several experimental farms and agricultural research stations. The number of farmers rose from about 4,000 in the early 1970s to 18,265 in 1988.
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Typic Xerorthents, tephra. (Soil Survey of Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; by Andrew E. Conlin, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typic Xerorthents, tephra consist of very deep, excessively drained soils that formed in tephra from Cinder Cone. These soils are on tephra-covered moraines, outwash plains, lake terraces, and lava flows. Slopes range from 2 to 50 percent. (Photo: Lassen Peak and Chaos Crags are in the background and Cinder Cone is in the middle ground.)
Taxonomic Classification: Frigid Typic Xerorthents
Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Tephra deposits are common in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Many soils have a few inches of tephra, and in some cases the whole soil profile to a depth of 60 inches formed in tephra. The more recent deposits show a distinct boundary at the buried soil profile, and the initial depositional beds are clearly visible.
Older tephra deposits have been mixed with the underlying soil profile by living organisms, such as ants and burrowing animals, and by tree throws and are not as obvious. Different volcanic vents have produced different characteristics, such as the mineralogy and size, thickness, and variability of the ejecta. The size, thickness, and variability within the deposit are also influenced by the proximity to the vent and the direction from the vent.
Major sources of recent tephra are Chaos Crags, Lassen Peak, and Cinder Cone. Tephra from Chaos Crags is pumicious and contains more volcanic glass than the basaltic andesite scoria from Cinder Cone. This difference in mineralogy can affect the rate of weathering. The weathering stage of a soil influences physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics that impact soil behavior. Soils that formed from some of the thicker deposits of tephra from Cinder Cone are Typic Xerorthents, Typic Xerorthents, tephra and Typic Xerorthents, welded.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/las...
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil’s agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being spread on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area. Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soyabeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand.
Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soya, beans, maize and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
Soils of the cerrado are in the order of Oxisols. Oxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are classified as ferralsols in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources; some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.The main processes of soil formation of oxisols are weathering, humification and pedoturbation due to animals. These processes produce the characteristic soil profile. They are defined as soils containing at all depths no more than 10 percent weatherable minerals, and low cation exchange capacity. Oxisols are always a red or yellowish color, due to the high concentration of iron(III) and aluminium oxides and hydroxides. In addition they also contain quartz and kaolin, plus small amounts of other clay minerals and organic matter.
Oxisol:
www.flickr.com/photos/jakelley/51868408510/in/album-72157...
For more information on Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/
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The Polkton series consists of moderately deep, moderately well drained, very slowly permeable soils on uplands of the Triassic Basins in the Southern Piedmont. They formed in residuum weathered from Triassic siltstone, mudstone, shale, and sandstone.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Oxyaquic Vertic Hapludalfs
Polkton soils are gently sloping to moderately steep and are on ridges and side slopes. Slopes range from 2 to 25 percent. These soils formed in residuum weathered from Triassic siltstone, mudstone, shale, sandstone, or conglomerate.
In prismatic structure, the individual units are bounded by flat to rounded vertical faces. Units are distinctly longer vertically, and the faces are typically casts or molds of adjoining units. Vertices are angular or subrounded; the tops of the prisms are somewhat indistinct and normally flat. Prismatic structures are characteristic of the B horizons or subsoils. The vertical cracks result from freezing and thawing and wetting and drying as well as the downward movement of water and roots.
There are five major classes of macrostructure seen in soils: platy, prismatic, columnar, granular, and blocky. There are also structureless conditions. Some soils have simple structure, each unit being an entity without component smaller units. Others have compound structure, in which large units are composed of smaller units separated by persistent planes of weakness.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil’s agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area. Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soyabeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand. Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soya, beans, maize and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
Soils of the cerrado are in the order of Oxisols. Oxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are classified as ferralsols in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources; some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils. The main processes of soil formation of Oxisols are weathering, humification and pedoturbation due to animals. These processes produce the characteristic soil profile. They are defined as soils containing at all depths no more than 10 percent weatherable minerals, and low cation exchange capacity. Oxisols are always a red or yellowish color, due to the high concentration of iron(III) and aluminium oxides and hydroxides. In addition they also contain quartz and kaolin, plus small amounts of other clay minerals and organic matter.
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Cowboy series. (Soil Survey of Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah; by Michael W. Burney, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Cowboy clay loam, 3 to 10 percent slopes. Claysprings-Badland complex, 2 to 40 percent slopes is in the background. Cowboy soils are on fan piedmonts, drainageways, and flood plains. Slopes range from 1 to 12 percent. These soils formed on slope alluvium, alluvium, and residuum derived from Mancos Shale. Elevation ranges from 4,800 to 5,700 feet.
The Cowboy series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvium and slope alluvium derived from Mancos Shale. Cowboy soils are on flood plains drainageways and fan piedmonts. Slopes range from 1 to 12 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 9 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 54 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Leptic Haplogypsids
Note: Cowboy soil as used in this survey, is a taxadjunct because the gypsic horizon is deeper than typical for the series. This does not affect use and management of the soils.
Soil moisture regime: Typic aridic
Mean annual soil temperature: 54 to 58 degrees F
Depth to paralithic contact: 60 inches or more
Depth to gypsum accumulations: 2 to 10 inches
Depth to gypsic horizon: 3 to 7 inches
Expansive features: cracks to 20 inches, .75 inch wide, 3 or 4 inches apart
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 40 to 60 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 5 percent sedimentary gravel
USE AND VEGETATION: Cowboy soils are used for grazing. Native vegetation is bottlebrush squirreltail, Gardner saltbush, and little barley.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Colorado; MLRA 35. This series is of small extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arizona/glenca...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/COWBOY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit: