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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Nagseo soil in Korea.
Landscape: Nagseo soils are developed in residuum from schist and some gneiss in mountainous areas. Bedrocks occur within 50 cm of the surface.
The Nagseo series are members of the loamy-skeletal, mixed, mesic family of Lithic Udorthents [Leptic Regosols (Dystric Skeletic) classified by WRB].
These soils have ochric epipedons. Depth of the Nagseo soils is about 30 cm and ranges from 25 to 50 cm over hard rock. Base saturation is less than 60 percent and the reaction is very strongly acid throughout the profiles. Unweathered schist fragments comprise more than 50 percent of the control section. White and yellow micas are common. A horizons are reddish brown or brown channery loam or silt loam. C horizons are red, reddish brown, or yellowish red very channery loam or silt loam.
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A representative soil profile and landscape of the Cegin soil series from England. (Photos and information provided by LandIS, Land Information System: Cranfield University 2022. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK. Last accessed 14/01/2022). (Photos revised.)
These and associated soils are slowly permeable seasonally waterlogged fine silty and clayey soils. Some fine silty and fine loamy soils with slowly permeable subsoils and slight seasonal waterlogging on slopes. Well drained fine loamy soils over rock in places.
They are classified as Dystric Stagnosols by the WRB soil classification system. (www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf)
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Typic Xerothents, welded. (Soil Survey of Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; by Andrew E. Conlin, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typic Xerorthents, tephra-Typic Xerorthents,
welded, complex, 2 to 50 percent slopes in the foreground, as viewed from the top of Cinder Cone in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California.
General location: Painted Dunes
Landscape: Mountains
Landform: Tephra-covered lava flows
Landform position (two-dimensional): Footslope
Landform position (three-dimensional): Mountainbase
Slope range and aspect: 2 to 50 percent, north aspects
Parent material: Tephra from Cinder Cone
Elevation: 6,150 to 6,530 feet (1,876 to 1,991 meters)
Mean annual precipitation: 31 to 35 inches (787 to 889 millimeters)
Mean annual air temperature: 43 to 44 degrees F (6 degrees C)
Frost-free period: 70 to 90 days
Map Unit Composition
Typic Xerorthents, tephra component: 85 percent
Typic Xerorthents, welded component: 10 percent
Xerorthents, welded consist of very shallow and shallow, excessively drained soils that formed in tephra from Cinder Cone. These soils are on knolls on lava flows. Slopes range from 2 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 31 inches (787 millimeters), and the mean annual air temperature is about 43 degrees F. (6 degrees C).
TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION: Frigid, shallow Typic Xerorthent
NOTE: The horizon designation provided in the soil profile is as published in the Soil Survey Report, (p. 475-476). An alternative sequence for horizon designation: C1, C2, C3, Cqm, Cq, Cqm', C', Cq', C''1, C''2, C''3, C''4, C"5)
Depth to restrictive feature: 7 to 20 inches (17 to 51 centimeters) to welded material
Mean annual soil temperature: 45 to 47 degrees F (7 to 8 degrees C)
Period that soil moisture control section is dry: July to October (about 90 days)
Particle-size control section (weighted average): 1 percent clay and 28 percent rock fragments
Surface fragments: 80 to 90 percent gravel, 0 to 2 percent cobbles, and 0 to 1 percent stones
Welded surface crust: Discontinuous, platy, and 1 to 1.5 centimeters thick
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/las...
Soil profile: The Breakneck series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils. They formed in residuum affected by soil creep in the upper part, and weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rocks, primarily metasandstone. (Soil Survey of Graham County, North Carolina; by Brian Wood and Southern Blue Ridge Soil Survey Office, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A high mountain grassy bald on Huckleberry Knob in an area of Breakneck-Pullback complex, windswept, 15 to 30 percent slopes, very rocky. Areas such as this are highly desirable for wildlife and were once used as summer pasture.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, isotic, frigid Typic Humudepts
Breakneck soils are on strongly sloping to very steep summits and side slopes in the high elevations of the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. Slope ranges from 8 to 95 percent. Solum thickness and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The content of rock fragments is less than 35 percent by volume throughout. Reaction is extremely acid to strongly acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is in public ownership and is used for watershed protection, recreation, and wildlife habitat. In areas higher than about 5,400 feet, red spruce and fraser fir are the dominant trees. At the lower elevations, northern red oak, chestnut oak, American beech, yellow birch, black cherry, sugar maple, eastern hemlock, and yellow buckeye are common trees. Common understory plants are serviceberry, striped maple, American chestnut sprouts, silverbell, pin cherry, rhododendron, flame azalea, and blueberry. Common forbs are hay-scented fern, woodfern, New York fern, Solomons seal, yellow mandarin, and trillium. A small acreage is covered by heath balds. These balds are vegetated with rhododendron, mountain laurel, blueberry, flame azalea, hawthorn, and mountain ash. Vegetation ranges for spruce/fur to northern hard woods, heath and grass balds.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Higher elevations of the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B of Tennessee and North Carolina. This series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_carolina...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BREAKNECK.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Crider series; the State Soil of Kentucky.
Landscape: Many areas are undulating to rolling karst topography. Nearly all of the soil is used for growing crops and pasture. The chief crops are corn, small grains, soybeans, tobacco, and hay; truck crops are grown in a few places.
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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. Also, representative soils have been selected for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
The Crider soils, the state soil of Kentucky, are extensive making up about 500,000 acres in Kentucky and occurring in 35 counties in the state. Most areas are used for crops or pasture. Corn, small grain, soybeans, tobacco, and hay are the main crops. Crider soils are highly productive. Many acres of these soils are prime farmland. The Crider series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands.
Crider soils formed in a mantle of loess and the underlying limestone residuum. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. They are on nearly level to moderately steep uplands. Many areas are undulating to rolling karst topography. The average annual precipitation is about 48 inches, and the average annual temperature is about 57 degrees F. The Crider series was established in Caldwell County, Kentucky, in 1957. It is named after a community in the county.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CRIDER.html
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Figure 3-27. Redoximorphic features that consist of a redox concentration, as an iron mass (reddish area along ped surface) and an iron depletion (light-colored area surrounding the root channel in ped interior). (Soil Survey Manual, USDA Handbook No. 18; issued March 2017).
For more information about the major principles and practices needed for making and using soil surveys and for assembling and using related soils data (Soil Survey Manual), visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
Note the clay and finer soil particles coating the pore wall and fine root running the length of the pore. The lighter soil color along the exterior of the pore is formed by stripping of iron as water concentrates and moves downward carrying away iron in solution ("redoximorphic” process).
Redoximorphic features consist of color patterns in a soil that are caused by loss or gain of pigment compared to the matrix color, formed by oxidation/reduction of iron and/or manganese coupled with their removal, translocation, or accrual; or a soil matrix color controlled by the presence of iron. The composition and responsible formation processes for a soil color or color pattern must be known or inferred before it can be described as redoximorphic.
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-...
The Icknuun series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in organic material interlayered with thin strata of mineral material. Icknuun soils are in depressions on till plains. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Euic Fluvaquentic Cryohemists
USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife habitat and recreation. The natural vegetation is mainly sedges, sphagnum moss, bog birch, Labrador tea, and other low-growing shrubs and forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cook Inlet-Susitna Lowlands. The series is of small extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/I/ICKNUUN.html
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Soil profile: Profile of Lakeland sand. Lakeland soils are very deep, are excessively drained, and formed in thick beds of sands. The thickness of the sand exceeds 80 inches. Lakeland soils are in nearly level to steep areas of the Coastal Plain uplands and on side slopes. (Soil Survey of Washington County, Florida; by Milton Martinez, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A paved road in an area of Lakeland sand, 8 to 12 percent slopes. Loamy fill is needed from an offsite location before paving in areas of the Lakeland soils. This map unit is not suited to cultivated crops because it is too droughty. It is very limited as a site for recreational
development because it is too sandy.
Lakeland soils formed in thick beds of eolian or marine and/or fluvio-marine sands in the Southern Coastal Plain MLRA (133A), the Carolina and Georgia Sandhills (MLRA 137), the Eastern Gulf Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 152A) and the Atlantic Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 153A).Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 67 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 52 inches. Slopes are dominantly from 0 to 12 percent but can range to 85 percent in dissected areas.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Thermic, coated Typic Quartzipsamments
Thickness of the sand exceeds 80 inches. Silt plus clay in the 10 to 40-inch control section ranges from 5 to 10 percent. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout except where the surface has been limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for peanuts, watermelons, peaches, corn, tobacco, and improved pasture. The natural vegetation consists of blackjack oak, turkey oak, post oak; scattered long leaf pine with an understory of creeping bluestem, sandy bluestem, lopsided indiangrass, hairy panicum, fringeleaf paspalum, and native annual forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain and sand hills of the thermic belt from Mississippi to Virginia. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/florida/washin...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LAKELAND.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: Typical pedon of a Snaggletooth soil in an area of Snaggletooth-Carrizo association, 1 to 8 percent slopes. (Interim Report for the Soil Survey of Chemehuevi Wash Off-Highway Vehicle Area, California; by Leon Lato, Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, and Heath McAllister, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typical area of a Snaggletooth soil. Snaggletooth soils are on fan remnants. Slopes range from 1 to 4 percent. These soils formed in alluvium from granite. Elevations are 285 to 500 meters (about 900 to 1600 feet). The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and warm, dry winters.
The Snaggletooth series consists of very deep, well drained soils The mean annual precipitation is about 100 millimeters (about 4 inches) and the mean annual air temperature is about 24 degrees C (about 75 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Typic Calciargids
Soil moisture control section: usually dry throughout, rarely moist in some part during summer or winter. The soils have a typic-aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 22 to 26.7 degrees C (72 to 80 degrees F).
Depth to argillic horizon: 2 to 50 centimeters.
Depth to base of argillic horizon: 150 to 200 centimeters.
Depth to calcic horizon: 2 to 50 centimeters.
Organic matter: 0 to 0.5 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Snaggletooth soils are used for recreation and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly creosote bush and burrobush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Lower Colorado Desert of southeastern California, U.S.A.; MLRA 31. These soils are of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA6...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SNAGGLETOOTH.html
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A soil profile and landscape of Birch Creek soil in Idaho. The Birchcreek series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvium, colluvium, and residuum derived from mica schist and quartzite or from andesite. Birchcreek soils are on mountains. Slopes are 4 to 55 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 360 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 5.6 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, smectitic, frigid Typic Argixerolls
Soil moisture: Usually moist in the moisture control section in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall; xeric moisture regime that borders on aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature: 6 to 8 degrees C.
Mollic epipedon thickness: 25 to 46 cm; includes the Bt1 and Bt2 horizons.
Depth to bedrock: 50 to 100 cm to a lithic contact.
Reaction: Neutral or slightly alkaline.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: Averages 40 to 50 percent.
Rock fragments: 45 to 60 percent, mainly cobbles and gravel in the upper part and cobbles and stones in the lower part. Lithology of fragments is metamorphic rocks such as mica schist and quartzite or volcanic rock such as andesite.
USE AND VEGETATION: Birchcreek soils are used for livestock grazing. The vegetation is mountain big sagebrush, low sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, and Idaho fescue. Some areas support stands of singleleaf pinyon and Utah juniper.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Idaho and eastern Nevada. These soils are moderately extensive. The original series concept is in MLRA 25 in Idaho, while the main acreage occurs in MLRA 28B in Nevada.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BIRCHCREEK.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#birchcreek
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
Soil profile: Typical profile of Clifton clay loam. Clifton soils are very deep over saprolite. In Buncombe County, they occur on intermountain hills and low or intermediate mountains, predominantly in the central and southern parts. (Soil Survey of Buncombe County, North Carolina; by Mark S. Hudson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Differences in soil properties can occur within short distances in the same field. Pictured are clayey Clifton soil (foreground) under hayland management and loamy Tate soils (left of center).
Clifton clay loam, 2 to 8 percent slopes, moderately eroded
Setting
Landscape: Intermountain hills and low mountains of the Asheville Basin in the central and southern parts of the county
Elevation range: 2,000 to 2,400 feet
Landform: Ridges
Landform position: Summits
Shape of areas: Long and narrow or irregular
Size of areas: Up to 102 acres
Composition
Clifton soil and similar inclusions: 85 percent
Dissimilar inclusions: 15 percent
Typical Profile
Surface layer:
strong brown clay loam
Subsoil:
red clay over yellowish red clay loam
Underlying material:
variegated loam saprolite in shades of red, brown, yellow, and white
Soil Properties and Qualities
Depth class: Very deep
Drainage class: Well drained
General texture class: Clayey
Permeability: Moderate in the surface layer and subsoil and moderately rapid in the underlying material
Available water capacity: High
Depth to seasonal high water table: More than 6.0 feet
Hazard of flooding: None
Shrink-swell potential: Low
Slope class: Gently sloping
Soil slippage potential: None
Extent of erosion: Moderate, about 25 to 75 percent of the original surface layer has been removed
Hazard of water erosion: Severe
Organic matter content of surface layer: Low or moderate
Potential frost action: Moderate
Soil reaction: Very strongly acid to slightly acid throughout the profile
Parent material: Residuum weathered from felsic or mafic high-grade metamorphic or igneous rock high in ferro-magnesium minerals
Depth to bedrock: More than 60 inches
Other distinctive properties: Subsoil with a high clay content
Land Use
Dominant Uses: Cropland, pasture, and hayland
Other Uses: Building site development, woodland, and wildlife habitat
Agricultural Development
Cropland
Suitability: Well suited
Management concerns: Erodibility, equipment use, tilth, root penetration, soil fertility, and pesticide retention
Management measures and considerations:
• Using resource management systems that include contour farming, conservation tillage, crop residue management, stripcropping, winter cover crops, and crop rotations which include grasses and legumes helps to minimize soil erosion, maximize rainfall infiltration, increase the available water capacity, and improve soil fertility.
• The slope may limit the use of equipment in the steeper areas.
• Avoiding tillage during wet periods, incorporating crop residue into the soil, or leaving residue on the soil surface helps to minimize clodding and crusting and increases rainfall infiltration.
• Chisel plowing and subsoiling help to break through clay pans and allow increased root penetration and rainfall infiltration.
• Using perennial grasses and legumes in rotation helps to penetrate and break up the clayey root zone.
• Following lime and fertilizer recommendations from soil tests helps to increase the availability of plant nutrients and maximizes crop productivity.
• Applying large granules or banding of phosphorus helps to overcome phosphorus fixation.
• This soil may retain soil-applied herbicides and other pesticides due to the high clay content. The concentration of pesticides may be damaging to future crops.
• Plant-applied pesticides may be more effective than soil-applied pesticides, which are tied up by the high clay content.
Pasture and hayland
Suitability: Well suited
Management concerns: Equipment use, erodibility, root penetration, soil fertility, and pesticide retention
Management measures and considerations:
• The slope may limit the use of equipment in the steeper areas when harvesting hay crops.
• Preparing seedbeds on the contour when renovating pastures and establishing seedbeds helps to prevent further soil erosion and increases germination.
• Using perennial grasses and legumes in rotation helps to penetrate and break up the clayey root zone.
• Following lime and fertilizer recommendations from soil tests helps to increase the availability of plant nutrients and maximizes productivity when establishing, maintaining, or renovating pasture and hayland.
• Applying large granules or banding of phosphorus helps to overcome phosphorus fixation.
• Using rotational grazing, implementing a well planned clipping and harvesting schedule, and removing livestock in time to allow forage plants to recover before winter dormancy help to maintain pastures and increase productivity.
• This soil may retain soil-applied herbicides and other pesticides due to the high clay content. The concentration of pesticides may be damaging to future crops.
• Plant-applied pesticides may be more effective than soil-applied pesticides, which are tied up by the high clay content.
Land capability classification: 2e
For additional information about the Soil Survey area, visit:
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-buncombe-county-n...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CLIFTON.html
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Soil profile: Windy Creek soils are coarse-silty, mixed, active, subgelic Typic Histoturbels. Windy Creek soils have moderately deep mixed loess and alluvium over permafrost. (Soil Survey of Greater Nenana Area, Alaska; by Dennis Mulligan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Windy Creek soils occur on alluvial fans and terraces. Vegetation is stunted black spruce (P. mariana) forest with an understory of mixed shrubs that include Labrador tea (L. groenlandicum), blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), lingonberry (vaccinium vitis-idea) and various willows (Salix spp.) with a thick ground cover of peat mosses (sphagnum spp.).
Depth class: moderately deep
Drainage class: poorly drained
Parent material: loess and alluvium
Landform: alluvial fans
Slopes: 0 to 2 percent
Mean annual precipitation: about 11 inches, 280 mm
Mean annual temperature: about 25 degrees F., -4 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, active, acid, subgelic Typic Histoturbels
Particle-size control (section weighted average):
Percent clay in the control section: 5 to 13 percent
Soil moisture regime: aquic
Mean annual soil temperature: 26 degrees F., 50 cm
Thickness of organic materials: 8 to 11 inches, 20 to 28 cm
Texture of the loess and alluvium mantle: silt loam or silt
Texture of the permafrost substratum: permanently frozen material
Percent clay in the loess and alluvium mantle: 5 to 13 percent
Thickness of histic epipedon 8 to 11 inches, 20 to 28 cm
Thickness of redoximorphic concentrations: from 11 to 72 inches, 27 to 183 cm.
Thickness of redoximorphic depletions: from 11 to 72 inches, 27 to 183 cm.
Thickness of cryoturbation and gelic materials: from 11 to 72 inches, 27 to 183 cm.
Depth to Permafrost: from 11 to 38 inches, 28 to 99 cm.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for recreation and wildlife habitat. The native vegetation includes stunted black spruce forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 229, Interior Alaska lowlands the series is of limited extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/alaska/AK655/0...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WINDY_CREEK.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soils of the Groseclose series are very deep and well drained with slowly permeable subsoils. They formed in materials weathered from limestone, shale, siltstone, and sandstone. Slopes range from 0 to 75 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches, and mean annual temperature is about 54 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 30 to 60 inches. In some pedons, variegated colors in the solum occur at depths from 20 to 40 inches below the soil surface. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments of chert, siltstone, shale, and sandstone range from 0 to 75 percent in the A horizon and from 0 to 35 percent in the Bt and C horizon. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid, unless limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for row crops, hay, or pasture. Corn and small grains are the principal row crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The series is of moderate extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GROSECLOSE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Juanalo series. (Soil Survey of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah; by Michael W. Burney, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Juanalo soils are on mesas and structural benches. They formed in residuum derived from Juana Lopez limestone, member of the Mancos Shale formation
The Juanalo series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum derived from limestone. Slopes range from 1 to 6 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 9 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 56 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Lithic Torriorthents
Soil moisture: Typic aridic moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 54 to 58 degrees F
Depth to lithic contact: 10 to 20 inches to Juana Lopez limestone
Depth to cambic horizon: 1 to 4 inches
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 35 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland. Native vegetation is galleta, alkali sacaton saltbush, fringed sage and cactus.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Colorado; MLRA 35; minor 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/J/JUANALO.html
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Translocated clay along ped faces is called clay films or argillans. They appear as a waxy coating. Soil horizons with sufficient clay illuviation are argillic horizons.
This soil is dominated by iron minerals. Hematite weathers to reddish color, while goethite weathers to yellowish color.
Cecil soils were originally mapped in Cecil County, Maryland in 1899. More than 10 million acres (40,000 km²) of the Cecil soil series (Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults) are now mapped in the Piedmont region of the southeastern United States. It extends from Virginia through North Carolina (where it is the state soil), South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, with the typic Cecil pedon actually located in Franklin County, NC.
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-...
Center-pivot irrigation (sometimes called central pivot irrigation), also called waterwheel and circle irrigation, is a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers. A circular area centered on the pivot is irrigated, often creating a circular pattern in crops when viewed from above (sometimes referred to as crop circles).
An area of the dark red Greenville soil--a fine, kaolinitic, thermic Rhodic Kandiudult.
For additional information about the soil series, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GREENVILLE.html
For information about extent, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Holdredge series; the State Soil of Nebraska.
The Holdrege series consists of deep, nearly level to gently sloping, well-drained soils on uplands. These soils formed in silty, calcareous loess. The average annual precipitation is about 22 inches, and the annual average snowfall is about 22 inches. The average annual air temperature is about 50 degrees. (Soil Survey of Sherman County, Nebraska; by Frank E. Wahl and Larry G. Ragon, Soil Conservation Service)
Landscape: Holdrege soils are extensive, making up about 1.8 million acres in south-central Nebraska. Slopes typically range from 0 to 6 percent, but they are as much as 15 percent in some areas. Most areas of these soils are used for crops, pasture, or rangeland. Corn, soybeans, and small grain are the main crops grown under dryland conditions. Many areas are irrigated.
The Holdrege series was established in Phelps County, Nebraska, in 1917. it is named after a community in the county. It was selected as the Nebraska State soil in 1979.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/nebraska/NE163...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HOLDREGE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Calcic Petrogypsids UAE (Classification by UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy)
Calcic Petrogypsids are the Petrogypsids that have a calcic horizon above a petrogypsic horizon. The calcic horizon is an illuvial horizon in which secondary calcium carbonate or other carbonates have accumulated to a significant extent. The petrogypsic horizon is a horizon in which visible secondary gypsum has accumulated or has been transformed. The horizon is cemented (i.e., extremely weakly through indurated cementation classes), and the cementation is both laterally continuous and root limiting, even when the soil is moist. The horizon typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils.
Petrogypsids are the Gypsids that have a petrogypsic horizon that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. These soils occur in very arid areas of the world where the parent material is high in content of gypsum. When the petrogypsic horizon is close to the surface, crusting forms pseudohexagonal patterns on the soil surface. Petrogypsids occupy old surfaces. In Syria and Iraq, they are on the highest terraces along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These soils are not extensive in the United States but are extensive in other countries.
Gypsids are the Aridisols that have a gypsic or petrogypsic horizon within 100 cm of the soil surface. Accumulation of gypsum takes place initially as crystal aggregates in the voids of the soils. These aggregates grow by accretion, displacing the enclosing soil material. When the gypsic horizon occurs as a cemented impermeable layer, it is recognized as the petrogypsic horizon. Each of these forms of gypsum accumulation implies processes in the soils, and each presents a constraint to soil use. One of the largest constraints is dissolution of the gypsum, which plays havoc with structures, roads, and irrigation delivery systems. The presence of one or more of these horizons, with or without other diagnostic horizons, defines the great groups of the Gypsids. Gypsids occur in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, West Asia, and some of the most arid areas of the western part of the United States. Gypsids are on many segments of the landscape. Some of them have calcic or related horizons that overlie the gypsic horizon.
Aridisols, as their name implies, are soils in which water is not available to mesophytic plants for long periods. During most of the time when the soils are warm enough for plants to grow, soil water is held at potentials less than the permanent wilting point or has a content of soluble salts great enough to limit the growth of plants other than halophytes, or both. There is no period of 90 consecutive days when moisture is continuously available for plant growth. Because of an extreme imbalance between evapotranspiration and precipitation, many Aridisols contain salts. The dominant process is one of accumulation and concentration of weathering products. The accumulation of salts is the second most important constraint to land use.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
"United Arab Emirates Keys to Soil Taxonomy" and "ICBA News"
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:
L: In place platy structure.
R: Intact plates removed from matrix.
www.flickr.com/photos/jakelley/53410253540/in/dateposted-...
Soil Peds are aggregates of soil particles form as a result of pedogenic processes; this natural organization of particles forms discrete units separated by pores or voids. The term is generally used for macroscopic (visible; i.e., greater than 1 mm in size) structural units when observing soils in the field. Soil peds should be described when the soil is dry or slightly moist, as they can be difficult to distinguish when wet.
Platy soil structure is characterized by peds that are flat and platelike. They are generally oriented horizontally. A special form, lenticular platy structure, is recognized for plates that are thickest in the middle and thin toward the edges. Platy structure is usually found in subsurface soils that have been subject to leaching or compaction by animals or machinery. The plates can be separated with little effort by prying the horizontal layers with a pen knife. Platy structure tends to impede the downward movement of water and plant roots through the soil.
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:
Soil profile: The Cataloochee series consists of moderately deep, well drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils on mountain summits and side slopes at the higher elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. They formed in residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper part, and weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rock. Slope ranges from 8 to 95 percent. (Soil Survey of Buncombe County, North Carolina; by Mark S. Hudson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: High mountain summer pasture in an area of Oconaluftee-Guyot-Cataloochee complex, windswept, 15 to 30 percent slopes, bouldery. Open areas such as these provide good habitat diversity for wildlife.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, isotic, frigid Typic Humudepts
Depth to paralithic contact is 20 to 40 inches. Depth to lithic contact is greater than 40 inches. The soil is ultra acid to strongly acid throughout. Content of mica flakes is none or few throughout. Content of rock fragments is less than 35 percent throughout, and are mainly channers in size.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all of this soil is in forest. Common trees at the lower elevation range are northern red oak, black birch, American beech, yellow birch, black cherry, sugar maple, eastern hemlock, and yellow buckeye. At higher elevations, red spruce and fraser fir become the dominant tree species. In many areas the trees are stunted due to wind and ice damage and a "windswept" phase is recognized. The understory species are serviceberry, striped maple, American chestnut sprouts, pin cherry, rhododendron, mountain-laurel, silverbell, blueberry, and flame azalea. Common forbs are hay-scented fern, wood fern, New York fern, Solomon's seal, yellow mandarin, and trillium. A small acreage is covered by heath balds vegetated with rhododendron, flame azalea, blueberry, hawthorn, and mountain ash.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Higher elevations of the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B of Tennessee and North Carolina and possibly Virginia. This series is of moderate extent.
The Cataloochee series was formerly included with the Oconaluftee series. However, Oconaluftee soils are greater than 60 inches to bedrock. Fine-loamy particle-size class placement is based on the presence of amorphous (non-crystalline) clay-size material associated with the relatively high organic matter content found in these soils. Although field estimates, laboratory measurements, and calculated values may vary, clay content in the particle-size control section is generally less than 25 percent. Although Cataloochee soils may exhibit some of the characteristics of andic soil properties, they lack the volcanic glass found in soils of similar taxa in the Western United States.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_carolina...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CATALOOCHEE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Dickson series; the State Soil of Tennessee. (Soil Survey of Cannon County, Tennessee; by Jerry L. Prater, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Soybeans on an area of Dickson soils. They are on nearly level to undulating ridges on uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 12 percent, but are commonly less than 8 percent. The soil formed in 2 to 4 feet of a silty mantle underlain by residuum of limestone.
The Dickson series was established in 1923 in Dickson County, Tennessee, where it was first mapped in the Soil Survey of Dickson County, Tennessee (published 1926). At the time of the first soil survey about 50% of the acreage was being cultivated with the remaining acreage in forestland. Hugh Hammond Bennett collected samples of Dickson soils from both cultivated and forested settings and studied the moisture retention of the soils. Dickson was selected by the Tennessee NRCS Soil Survey Staff as the state soil due to its acreage and extent mapped within Tennessee.
The Dickson series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that have a slowly permeable fragipan in the subsoil. These soils formed in a silty mantle 2 to 4 feet thick and the underlying residuum of limestone. They are on nearly level to sloping uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 12 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Glossic Fragiudults
Depth to the fragipan ranges from 18 to 36 inches. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid except where lime has been added. Fragments of gravel range from none to 10 percent in the lower Btx horizon and up to 35 percent in the 2Bt horizon. Depth to hard bedrock is greater than 5 feet. Transition horizons have color and textures similar to adjacent horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and used for growing hay, pasture, small grains, corn, soybeans, and tobacco. Some areas are in forest chiefly of oaks, yellow-poplar, hickories, gums, and maples.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Highland Rim in Tennessee, Northern Alabama, and the Pennyroyal of Kentucky. The series is of large extent, over 500,000 acres.
For more information about this state soil. visit:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/tn-state-soi...
For information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/cann...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DICKSON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Figure 3-21. Sand grains (visible as individual quartz grains) coated and bridged with illuvial clay (smooth yellowish color). (Soil Survey Manual, USDA Handbook No. 18; issued March 2017).
For more information about the major principles and practices needed for making and using soil surveys and for assembling and using related soils data (Soil Survey Manual), visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
Clay bridging is oriented clay that binds or bridges sand grains. It is used as criteria for the identification of an argillic horizon, primarily in sandy soils. Argillic horizons form in natural soil by the illuviation and accumulation of silicate clay minerals.
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 Williams series; North Dakota State Soil.
Landscape: Williams soils are on level to steep glacial till plains and moraines. Slopes commonly are less than 9 percent but range from 0 to 35 percent. The soils formed in calcareous glacial till of mixed mineralogy. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 34 to 45 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation from 12 to 19 inches. (Harvested wheat on a Williams soil in North Dakota (credit: USDA-NRCS Soil Survey Staff).
Many states have a designated state bird, flower, fish, tree, rock, etc. And, many states also have a state soil–one that has significance or is important to the state. The Williams is the state soil of North Dakota. Soils form the foundation of North Dakota, which is firmly recognized in the state’s motto “Strength from the Soil”.
In North Dakota, the Williams soil series is among the most extensive and economically important soils in the state. The native vegetation of the Williams series includes species such as western wheatgrass, blue grama, needleandthread, green needlegrass, and prairie junegrass.
These soils have high natural fertility and their content of organic matter creates highly productive landscapes. Most level to gently rolling areas of Williams soils are used for growing small grain crops such as wheat, barley, oats, flax, and sunflowers, whereas the steeper rolling and hilly areas are used as rangeland.
The soil name is derived from Williams County, North Dakota, although the type location is in Mountrail County, near the town of White Earth. In 1900, the Williams series was recognized as an official soil series for North Dakota. William soils formed under short grass prairies and were mostly converted to small grain production and working rangelands upon settlement. These working landscapes are still present today, although more recently the region where these soils predominant has been focused on great amounts of oil and gas extraction.
The Williams series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slow or slowly permeable soils formed in calcareous glacial till. These soils are on glacial till plains and moraines and have slope of 0 to 35 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 40 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is about 14 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Argiustolls
Depth to carbonates ranges from 10 to 30 inches. The soil typically contains 1 to 10 percent coarse fragments but ranges up to 20 percent. Stony and cobbly phases are recognized.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cultivated areas are used for growing small grains, flax, corn, hay or pasture. Native vegetation is western wheatgrass, needleandthread, blue grama, green needlegrass and prairie junegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North-central South Dakota, central, and northwestern North Dakota and northeastern Montana. The soil is extensive.
For more information about this soil, visit:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/nd-state-soi...
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_dakota/N...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WILLIAMS.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil is the unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the Earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants. The word “soil,” like many common words, has several meanings. In its traditional meaning, soil is the natural medium for the growth of land plants, whether or not it has discernible soil horizons. This meaning is still the common understanding of the word, and the greatest interest in soil is centered on this meaning. People consider soil important because it supports plants that supply food, fibers, drugs, and other wants of humans and because it filters water and recycles wastes. Soil covers the earth’s surface as a continuum, except on bare rock, in areas of perpetual frost or deep water, or on the bare ice of glaciers. In this sense, soil has a thickness that is determined by the rooting depth of plants.
Although you may not have considered this area as soil--but an area of miscellaneous land (dune land)--note the plants naturally growing up the side of the star dune.
Originally mapped in Cecil County, Maryland in 1899, more than 10 million acres (40,000 km²) of the Cecil soil series (Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults) are now mapped in the Piedmont region of the southeastern United States. It extends from Virginia through North Carolina (where it is the state soil), South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, with the typic Cecil pedon actually located in Franklin County, NC. A map showing the actual extent of the Cecil series is available at the Center for Environmental Informatics.
For a detailed description of the soil, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/sde/?series=cecil#osd
The Cecil series developed over igneous rock such as granite, and metamorphic rock which is chemically similar to granite. Virgin Cecil soils support forests dominated by pine, oak and hickory, and have a topsoil of brown sandy loam. The subsoil is a red clay which is dominated by kaolinite and has considerable mica. Few Cecil soils are in their virgin state, for most have been cultivated at one time or another. Indifferent land management has allowed many areas of Cecil soils to lose their topsoils through soil erosion, exposing the red clay subsoil. This clay is amenable to cultivation, responds well to careful management, and supports healthy growth of pine where allowed to revert to forest. Like other well-drained Ultisols, it is ideal for urban development; however, in common with other kaolinite-dominated clays, it has little ability to recover from soil compaction. Total potassium in the Cecil is higher than typical for Ultisols due to the presence of mica.
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 Tannahill series.
Landscape: Tannahill soils are on steep south- and west-facing canyon slopes and have gradients of 7 to 90 percent. They formed in residuum from fine grained igneous rocks, mainly basalt with some loess in the upper layers. Elevations are 1,200 to 2,800 feet. The climate is dry subhumid. Average annual precipitation is typically 12 to 16 inches with most of it coming as rainfall. In northeastern Oregon, the average annual precipitation ranges to 25 inches.
The Tannahill series consists of deep, well drained soils that formed in material weathered from fine grained igneous rocks, mainly basalt, with some loess in the surface horizons. Tannahill soils are on south and west facing canyon slopes and have gradients of 7 to 90 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 14 inches and the average annual air temperature is about 52 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Calcic Argixerolls
Depth to bedrock is 40 to 60 inches or more. The mollic epipedon is 10 to 20 inches thick and may include the upper part of the argillic horizon. The top of the argillic horizon is within 24 inches of the surface and this horizon contains more than 35 percent rock fragments. Average annual soil temperature ranges from 49 to 56 degrees F. Average summer soil temperature ranges from 65 to 70 degrees F. The soils are usually moist but are dry for 45 to 90 days in the summer.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most is used for grazing by livestock and big game animals, some for recreation. The natural vegetation is mainly bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, arrowleaf balsamroot and pear cactus.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West-central Idaho, northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington; MLRA 9. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TANNAHILL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Tihonet series. (Photo provided by New England Soil Profiles)
The Tihonet series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils that formed in thick sandy glaciofluvial deposits. They are on excavated landscapes where the original solum and substratum has been excavated to the depth of the water table. Slope ranges from 0 through 3 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high. Mean annual temperature is about 48 degrees F. (9 degrees C.) and mean annual precipitation is about 43 inches (1092 millimeters).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Typic Psammaquents
Depth to bedrock is greater than 165 centimeters. Rock fragments range from 0 through 35 percent throughout and typically consist of gravel size granite, gneiss, and schist. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through moderately acid. Human transported materials range from 0 to 40 centimeters.
USE AND VEGETATION: Tihonet soils are used for cranberry production in southeastern Massachusetts. Other areas are idle abandoned gravel pits and replicated wetlands. Most areas are vegetated with Hardhack, Threeleaf Goldenrod, Pussywillow, Cranberry, Sheeplaurel, Bayberry, Red Maple, Sphagnum moss, Sweet Pepper Bush, and sedges.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Massachusetts. MLRA's 144A and 149B. The series is of small extent.
For additional information about New England soils, visit:
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TIHONET.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: El Cacique soil in an area of El Cacique-La Taína complex, 20 to 60 percent slopes. El Cacique soils are characterized by a surface layer of gravelly clay loam and a subsurface layer of very paragravelly clay over hard, fractured, consolidated serpentinite bedrock. They are in the udic soil moisture regime. (Soil Survey of San Germán Area, Puerto Rico; by Jorge L. Lugo-Camacho, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Forestland in an area of El Cacique-La Taína complex, 20 to 60 percent slopes. El Cacique and La Taína soils are subject to slippage.
The El Cacique series consists of shallow, well drained, moderately slowly permeable soils on summits and side slopes of the serpentinite hills and mountains of the Humid Mountains and Valleys MLRA. They formed in material that weathered from serpentinite bedrock. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 81 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 80 inches. Slopes range from 5 to 90 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, magnesic, isohyperthermic, shallow Typic Argiudolls
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of El Cacique soils are used for forestland, grazing, or wildlife habitat. The vegetation consists of Maricao doncella, Cupey delmonte, and Algarrobo trees, Cariaquillo, Leucaena, Arbol de navidad del pobre, and Carrasco shrubs, along with lamina and guinea grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Summits and side slopes of the humid serpentinite hills and mountains of southern Puerto Rico. This series is not extensive. These soils were formerly included in the Maresua series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/puerto_rico/PR...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/EL_CACIQUE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil Profile: The Lake Charles series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, very slowly permeable soils that formed in clayey sediments. These soils are on broad coastal prairies. Slopes are mainly less than 1 percent, but range from 0 to 8 percent. (Photos by W.L. Miller, USDA-NRCS, retired)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, hyperthermic Typic Hapluderts
Classification changed from thermic Typic Pelluderts to hyperthermic Typic Hapluderts 3/94 based on Amendment 16 to Soil Taxonomy. Temperature regime changed based on local data and study by Texas Agriculture Experiment Station. The series type location was moved to the current location during the Soil Data Join and Recorrelation initiative to a location that is more central to the map unit concept.
Landscape: Lake Charles soils are mainly in cultivation and native pasture. Crops are corn, cotton, rice, and grain sorghum. Native grasses include little bluestem, indiangrass, eastern gamagrass, switchgrass, big bluestem, and brownseed paspalum. Most areas have scattered live oak, water oak, elm, hackberry, and huisache trees. Pine trees have encroached in some areas.
This is a cyclic soil and undisturbed areas have gilgai microrelief with microknolls 15 to 38 cm (6 to 15 in) higher than microdepressions. Distance from the center of the microknoll to the center of the microdepression ranges from 1.2 to 4.9 m (4 to 16 ft). The microknoll makes up about 20 percent, the intermediate or area between the knoll and depression about 60 percent, and the microdepression about 20 percent or less. The angle of the slickenside ranges from about 10 to 65 degrees from horizontal and tend to be more vertical in microknolls than in microdepressions. The amplitude of waviness between mollic colored matrix in the upper part of the solum and the higher value colors in the lower part ranges from 30 to 60 inches. When dry, the soil has cracks 1 to 5 cm (1/2 to 2 in) wide at the surface and extend to a depth of 30 cm (12 in) or more. Cracks remain open for 60 to 90 cumulative days in most years.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeast Texas mainly between the Colorado and Trinity Rivers of Texas. Land Resource Region T; Major Land Resource Area 150A. The series is extensive.
For additional information about Texas Vertisols, visit:
cristinemorgan.tamu.edu/research/crack_data/Vertisol-SSH_...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LAKE_CHARLES.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: The Spivey series consists of very deep, well drained, soils with moderately rapid permeability. They formed in colluvium derived from materials weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rocks.
Landscape: The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is a rare example of an old-growth hardwood forest. The dominant cove soils in this area are Spivey, Whiteoak, and Santeetlah.
Spivey soils occur along drainageways, on benches and fans, and in coves in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains (MLRA 130B). Slope ranges from 2 to 95 percent. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 56 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation is 51 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, mesic Typic Humudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 30 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Fragments of low-grade metasedimentary rocks such as metasandstone, metagraywacke, slate, phyllite, or arkose, range from 15 to 75 percent in the A and Bw1 horizons, from 35 to 90 percent in the Bw2, BC and C horizon. Reaction is moderately acid to extremely acid throughout. Flakes of mica range from none to common.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in forest. Below 3,000 feet the dominant forest type is yellow poplar. As elevation increases the forest type is more mixed and consists of northern red oak, black cherry, sugar maple, American beech, black oak, black birch, yellow birch, sweet birch, yellow-poplar, eastern hemlock, and black locust. At elevations above 4,000 feet yellow birch replaces yellow-poplar as a common tree. In the drier, warmer part of MLRA 130B, upland oaks, hickory, black gum, red maple, and eastern white pine are associated. Flowering dogwood, mountain-laurel, silverbell, striped maple, serviceberry, rhododendron, red maple, blueberry, trillium, Solomons seal, and wood fern are common understory species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130B) of North Carolina, Tennessee and possibly Georgia, and Virginia The series is of large extent. Spivey soils formerly have been included in the Tusquitee, Hayter, and Barbourville series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_carolina...
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SPIVEY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Figure 3-3. A soil (a Glacistel in Alaska) with a permanently frozen ice layer (designated “Wf”) between depths of 60 and 130 cm.
(Soil Survey Manual, USDA Handbook No. 18; issued March 2017).
Glacistels are the Histels that are saturated with water for 30 or more cumulative days during normal years and that have both a glacic layer within 100 cm of the soil surface; and less than three-fourths (by volume) Sphagnum fibers in the organic soil material to a depth of 50 cm or to a densic, lithic, or paralithic contact, whichever is shallower.
Histels have organic soil materials that meet one or more of the following:
1. Overlie cindery, fragmental, or pumiceous materials and/or fill their interstices and directly below these materials have either a densic, lithic, or paralithic contact; or
2. When added with the underlying cindery, fragmental, or pumiceous materials, total 40 cm or more between the soil surface and a depth of 50 cm; or
3. Comprise 80 percent or more, by volume, from the soil surface to a depth of 50 cm or to a glacic layer or a densic, lithic, or paralithic contact, whichever is shallower.
Soil Profile: These somewhat poorly drained soils have very high runoff. The saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the alluvium mantle and impermeable in the permafrost.
Landscape: The soils are used for recreation and wildlife habitat. The native vegetation includes black spruce and rose. In the US, they occur mostly in the Interior Alaska Highlands. The series is of small extent.
The central concept of Gelisols is that of soils with gelic materials underlain by permafrost. Freezing and thawing are important processes in Gelisols. Gelic materials are mineral or organic soil materials that show evidence of cryoturbation (frost churning) and/or ice segregation in the active layer (seasonal thaw layer) and/or the upper part of the permafrost.
Permafrost is defined as a thermal condition in which a material (including soil material) remains below 0 degrees C for 2 or more years in succession. Those gelic materials having permafrost contain the unfrozen soil solution that drives cryopedogenic processes. Permafrost may be impregnated by ice or, in the case of insufficient interstitial water, may be dry. The frozen layer has a variety of ice lenses, vein ice, segregated ice crystals, and ice wedges. The permafrost table is in dynamic equilibrium with the environment.
A glacic layer is massive ice or ground ice in the form of ice lenses or wedges. The layer is 30 cm or more thick and contains 75 percent or more visible ice.
For more information about describing, sampling, classifying, and/or mapping soils, please refer to the following references: "Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils", "Keys to Soil Taxonomy", and the "Soil Survey Manual".
Alabama State Soil:
[www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/al-state-soi...]
[www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9QK7grSM-E]
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Bama series; the State Soil of Alabama. (Soil Survey of Bibb County, Alabama by Lawrence E. McGhee, Natural Resources Conservation Service).
Landscape: Bama soils are very deep, well drained soils on summits of broad ridges and high stream terraces. Crops commonly grown include corn, cotton, soybeans, wheat, and pecans.
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. Also, representative soils have been selected for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
The Bama series formed in thick beds of loamy marine and fluvial sediments on high stream or marine terraces in the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A). Near the type location, the average annual air temperature is about 19.4 degrees C (67 degrees F) and the average annual precipitation is about 1600 millimeters (63 inches). Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Typic Paleudults
Solum thickness is more than 152 centimeters (60 inches). Percent by volume of ironstone concretions and/or quartz gravel, 2 to 20 mm in diameter, ranges from 0 to 15 percent throughout the solum. Silt content of the particle-size control section ranges from 20 to 46 percent. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the A, Ap, E, BE, EB, BA and AB horizons except where the surface has been limed. Reaction in the Bt, BC and C horizons is very strongly acid or strongly acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Bama soils are used for cultivated crops, pasture, hayland, orchards or urban development. Crops commonly grown include corn, cotton, soybeans, wheat, and pecans. Some areas are in woodland that consist of longleaf pine, loblolly pine and slash pine with scattered oak, sweetgum, hickory and dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Coastal Plain of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/alabama/AL007/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BAMA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: Faywood soils are well drained with medium or rapid runoff. Permeability is moderately slow or slow.
Landscape: Faywood soils are on ridgetops and side slopes of dissected uplands. Some areas have rock outcrops and some are karst. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent. These soils formed in limestone residuum interbedded with thin layers of shale. Some areas are interbedded with siltstone. Lowell and Faywood soils are dominant in the Outer Bluegrass region. (Photo by Chad Lee; Kentucky Soil Atlas by Anastasios D. Karathanasis, University of Kentucky)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness and depth to bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Limestone and shale flagstones and channers range from 0 to 15 percent in the solum and up to 35 percent in the substratum. The reaction ranges from mildly alkaline to strongly acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing hay and pasture. Some areas are used for growing corn, small grains, and tobacco. A few areas are idle or wooded. Native vegetation was dominantly upland oaks, hickory, black walnut, black locust, white ash, beech, hackberry and eastern redcedar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and possibly Indiana and Virginia. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about Kentucky soils, visit:
uknowledge.uky.edu/pss_book/4/
For a detailed description, please visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/F/FAYWOOD.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
General setting: White Rim region of The Maze and Island in the Sky Districts, Canyonlands National Park
Elevation: 3,980 to 5,210 feet (1,214 to 1,587 meters)
Mean annual precipitation: 5 to 9 inches (127 to 229 millimeters)
Mean annual air temperature: 53 to 59 degrees F (11.7 to 15.0 degrees C)
Mean annual soil temperature: 55 to 61 degrees F (12.8 to 16.1 degrees C)
Frost-free period: 175 to 195 days
Major Land Resource Area: 35–Colorado Plateau
Map Unit Composition
Goblin and similar soils: 90 percent
Minor Components:
• Rock outcrop (Moenkopie Formation sandstone, Schnabkaib Member)
• Moderately deep gypsic soils–Desert Gypsum Loam (Torrey Mormon tea)
Taxonomic classification: Loamy-skeletal, gypsic, mesic Lithic Haplogypsids
Landform: Hills
Geology: Moenkopie Formation Sandstone, Schnabkaib Member (Triassic)
Parent material: gypsiferous residuum weathered from sandstone
Slope: 6 to 45 percent, north to northwest aspects
Ground Cover: (% Cover) (fig. 42)
Plant Canopy: 25-30
Litter <5mm: 3-8
Rock Fragments: 12-20
Bare Soil: 0-5
Cyanobacteria Crust: 8-12
Lichen Crust: 30-40
Moss Crust: 0-5
Salt Crust: 0
Gypsum Crust: 5-10
Depth to restrictive feature(s): 6 to 16 inches to bedrock, lithic
Drainage class: somewhat excessively drained
Slowest permeability: 2.0 to 6.0 in/hr (moderately rapid)
Available water capacity total inches: about 0.5 (very low)
Shrink-swell potential: about 1.5 LEP (low)
Flooding hazard: none
Ponding hazard: none
Seasonal water table minimum depth: greater than 60 inches
Runoff class: very high
Hydrologic group: D
Calcium carbonate maximum: about 5 percent
Gypsum maximum: about 40 percent
Salinity maximum: about 8 mmhos/cm (slightly saline)
Sodium adsorption ratio maximum: about 0 SAR (nonsodic)
Ecological site name: Desert Very Shallow Gypsum (Torrey’s Jointfir)
Ecological site number: R035XY142UT
Present vegetation (in most areas): shadscale saltbush, rubber rabbitbrush, galleta,
Torrey Mormon tea, scarlet globemallow, buckwheat
Land capability (non irrigated): 7s
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GOBLIN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: Typical profile of Dellwood gravelly fine sandy loam. Dellwood soils formed formed from material deposited by streams and consist mainly of sand, gravel, and cobbles. They occur predominantly at the upper end of flood plains throughout Buncombe County. (Soil Survey of Buncombe County, North Carolina; by Mark S. Hudson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Burley tobacco in an area of Dellwood-Reddies complex, 0 to 3 percent slopes, occasionally flooded, produces high crop yields when properly managed.
Setting
Landscape: Mountain valleys of low and intermediate mountains throughout the county
Elevation range: 2,100 to 2,800 feet
Landform: Flood plains dominantly at the upper end of mountain valleys
Landform position: Planar to slightly convex bottomland slopes
Shape of areas: Long and narrow
Size of areas: Up to 197 acres
Composition
Dellwood soil and similar inclusions: 60 percent
Land Use
Dominant Uses: Cropland and ornamental crops
Other Uses: Pasture, hayland, recreation, woodland, and wildlife habitat
Agricultural Development
Cropland
Suitability: Suited
Management concerns: Flooding, droughtiness, pesticide retention, soil fertility,
nutrient leaching, and climate
Management measures and considerations:
• The Dellwood soil is limited for crop production because of the high content of rock fragments.
• While most flooding occurs during the winter months, there is a risk of crop loss during the growing season.
• These soils have a low available water capacity and become droughty during periods of low rainfall.
• Using conservation tillage, winter cover crops, crop residue management, and crop rotations which include grasses and legumes helps to increase the available water capacity and improve soil fertility.
• These soils may retain soil-applied herbicides and other pesticides due to the high content of organic matter in the surface layer. The concentration of pesticides may be damaging to future crops.
• Using plant-applied pesticides rather than soil-applied ones may increase their effectiveness.
• Following lime and fertilizer recommendations from soil tests helps to increase the availability of plant nutrients and maximizes crop productivity.
• Using split applications of lime and fertilizer helps to increase their effectiveness and helps to avoid the leaching of plant nutrients below the rooting zone and into the water table.
• Using frequent and light applications of irrigation water helps to avoid the leaching of plant nutrients below the rooting zone.
• Slow air drainage and frost pockets may allow late spring frost to damage new growth in some years.
• The Dellwood soil is limited for crop production due to the high content of rock fragments.
Pasture and hayland
Suitability: Suited
Management concerns: Flooding, droughtiness, pesticide retention, soil fertility, nutrient leaching, and erodibility
Management measures and considerations:
• While most flooding occurs during the winter months, there is a risk of crop loss during the growing season.
• These soils have a low available water capacity and become droughty during periods of low rainfall.
• Using supplemental irrigation and crop varieties adapted to droughty conditions helps to increase crop production.
• These soils may retain soil-applied herbicides and other pesticides due to the high content of organic matter in the surface layer. The concentration of pesticides may be damaging to future crops.
• Using plant-applied pesticides rather than soil-applied ones may increase their effectiveness.
• Following lime and fertilizer recommendations from soil tests helps to increase the availability of plant nutrients and maximizes productivity when establishing, maintaining, or renovating pasture and hayland.
• Using split applications of lime and fertilizer helps to increase their effectiveness and helps to avoid the leaching of plant nutrients below the rooting zone and into the water table.
• Using rotational grazing, implementing a well planned harvesting schedule, and removing livestock in time to allow forage plants to recover before winter dormancy help to maintain pastures and increase productivity.
• Fencing livestock from creeks and streams helps to prevent streambank erosion and sedimentation.
Orchard and ornamental crops
Suitability for orchards: Unsuited
Suitability for ornamental crops: Dellwood—poorly suited; Reddies—suited
Management concerns: Dellwood—flooding, droughtiness, root disease, climate, soil fertility, nutrient leaching, pesticide retention, and ball and burlap harvesting; Reddies—flooding, droughtiness, root disease, climate, soil fertility, nutrient
leaching, and pesticide retention
Management measures and considerations:
• Because of the potential for flooding, these soils can be difficult to manage for orchard or ornamental crops.
• These soils have a low available water capacity and become droughty during periods of low rainfall.
• Due to the seasonal high water table and flooding, phytophthora root disease is a potential limitation affecting Fraser fir and other susceptible ornamentals.
• In areas where water concentrates, such as toeslopes and drainageways, Fraser fir and other ornamentals are susceptible to phytophthora root disease. These areas should be avoided.
• Slow air drainage and frost pockets may allow late spring frost to damage new growth in some years.
• Following lime and fertilizer recommendations from soil tests helps to increase the availability of plant nutrients and maximize productivity.
• Using split applications of lime and fertilizer helps to increase their effectiveness and helps to avoid the leaching of plant nutrients below the rooting zone and into the water table.
• Using frequent and light applications of irrigation water helps to avoid the leaching of plant nutrients below the rooting zone.
• These soils may retain soil-applied herbicides and other pesticides due to the high content of organic matter in the surface layer. The concentration of pesticides may be damaging to future crops.
• Using plant-applied pesticides rather than soil-applied ones may increase their effectiveness.
• Avoiding ball and burlap harvesting during dry periods helps to prevent the fracture of the ball and the separation of the soil from the roots caused by the low moisture and minimal clay contents of the Reddies soil.
• Ball and burlap harvesting is severely limited in areas of the Dellwood soil due to the high content of rock fragments.
Woodland Management and Productivity
Potential for commercial species: Moderately high for cove hardwoods
Suitability: Well suited
Management concerns: Flooding and pesticide retention
Management measures and considerations:
• The potential for flooding is a consideration in the placement of haul roads and log landings.
• Soil-applied herbicides are retained due to herbicide-organic matter bonding, which may damage tree seedlings when cropland is converted to woodland.
Urban Development
Dwellings
Suitability: Unsuited
Management concerns:
• This map unit is severely limited for dwellings because of flooding and wetness. A site should be selected on better suited soils.
Septic tank absorption fields
Suitability: Unsuited
Management concerns:
• This map unit is severely limited for septic tank absorption fields because of wetness and a poor filtering capacity. The local Health Department should be contacted for additional guidance.
Local roads and streets
Suitability: Unsuited
Management concerns:
• This map unit is severely limited for roads and streets because of flooding. A site should be selected on better suited soils.
Lawns and landscaping
Suitability: Suited
Management concerns: Dellwood—flooding, droughtiness, pesticide retention, soil fertility, nutrient leaching, root disease, climate, and high content of rock fragments; Reddies—flooding, droughtiness, pesticide retention, soil fertility, nutrient leaching, root disease, and climate
Management measures and considerations:
• Because of the flooding, these soils are difficult to manage and have severe limitations during periods of inundation.
• Using lime, fertilizer, mulch, irrigation, and varieties adapted to droughty conditions helps to establish lawns and landscape plants. Using split applications of lime and fertilizer helps to increase their effectiveness.
• Using frequent and light applications of irrigation water helps to avoid the leaching of plant nutrients below the rooting zone.
• These soils may retain soil-applied herbicides and other pesticides due to the high content of organic matter in the surface layer. The concentration of pesticides may be damaging to landscape plants.
• Using plant-applied pesticides rather than soil-applied ones may increase their effectiveness.
• Due to the seasonal high water table and flooding, phytophthora root disease is a potential limitation affecting Fraser fir and other susceptible ornamentals.
• In areas where water concentrates, such as toeslopes and drainageways, Fraser fir and other ornamentals are susceptible to phytophthora root disease. These areas should be avoided.
• Slow air drainage and frost pockets may allow late spring frost to damage new growth in some years.
• The Dellwood soil is severely limited for lawns and landscaping due to the high content of rock fragments.
Interpretive Groups
Land capability classification: Dellwood—3s; Reddies—2w
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_carolina...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DELLWOOD.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Carnasaw series in an area of Littlefir-Carnasaw complex, 1 to 8 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Carnasaw series consists of deep to bedrock, well drained, slowly permeable upland soils. Carnasaw soils are on nearly level to very steep sideslopes of the Ouachita Mountains and the Arkansas Valley and Ridges. Slopes are 1 to 60 percent. These soils formed in residuum weathered from shale of Pennsylvanian age.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
Solum thickness and depth to shale bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly as woodland. Some less sloping areas are used for cropland or tame pasture. Native forest vegetation is blackjack oak, loblolly pine, post oak, red oak, white oak, hickory, and shortleaf pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ouachita Mountains and the Arkansas Valley and Ridges (MLRA 118) (MLRA 119) of Arkansas and Oklahoma. The series is of moderate extent. Carnasaw soils formerly were included in the Enders series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/pikeA...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CARNASAW.html
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Soil profile: Benchley clay loam. An accumulation of organic matter is evident in the thick, dark surface layer. (Soil Survey of Robertson County, Texas; by Harold W. Hyde, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Soybeans on an area of Benchley clay loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Lee County, Texas; by Maurice R. Jurena, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service)
These nearly level to moderately sloping soils are on ridges on dissected plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent but are dominantly 1 to 3 percent. Typically cultivated crops are cotton, grain sorghum, corn, soybeans and small grain. Bermudagrass pastures are common. Native vegetation includes little bluestem, big bluestem, Indiangrass, brownseed paspalum and various forbes.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Udertic Argiustolls
Soil Moisture: An ustic soil moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for more than 90 days in normal years.
Soil Depth: 152 to more than 203 cm (60 to more than 80 in).
Rock fragments: amount-0 to 5 percent; kind-ironstone nodules, or sandstone; roundness-rounded or angular; cementation-indurated; size-gravel.
Thickness of mollic epipedon: 33 to 48 cm (13 to 19 in)
Depth to argillic horizon: 15 to 33 cm (6 to 13 in)
Depth to slickensides: 38 to 74 cm (15 to 29 in)
Depth to secondary carbonates: 124 to 203 cm (49 to 80 in)
Depth to redox features (when present): 15 to 23 cm (6 to 9 in)
Depth to gypsic horizon (when present): 157 to 203 cm (62 to 80 in)
Depth to densic material (when present): 152 to 203 cm (60 to 80 in)
Particle size control section: 35 to 55 percent
Clay content: 25 to 100 cm (10 to 40 in)
Surface features: When dry, cracks about 1 cm (1/2 in) wide are in the argillic horizon and extend to a depth of 30 cm or more (12 in or more).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Blackland Prairies of East Central Texas (MLRA 86B). The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX395/0/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BENCHLEY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Sand pit from Wadi Bih, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. Note the major cracking of the fines at the bottom of the pit due to the extreme weather conditions. A recent flood had filled the pit with fine textured materials that cracked when dried.
Center-pivot irrigation (sometimes called central pivot irrigation), also called waterwheel and circle irrigation, is a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers. A circular area centered on the pivot is irrigated, often creating a circular pattern in crops when viewed from above (sometimes referred to as crop circles).
Redoximorphic features (RMFs) consist of color patterns in a soil that are caused by loss (depletion) or gain (concentration) of pigment compared to the matrix color, formed by oxidation/reduction of iron and/or manganese coupled with their removal, translocation, or accrual; or a soil matrix color controlled by the presence of iron. The composition and responsible formation processes for a soil color or color pattern must be known or inferred before it can be described as an RMF.
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-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
The Cleveland series consists of shallow, somewhat excessively drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils affected by soil creep. They formed in residuum weathered from felsic or mafic igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks such as granite, hornblende gneiss, granodiorite, biotite gneiss, and high-grade metagraywacke.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, mesic Lithic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness and depth to lithic contact range from 10 to 20 inches. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 45 percent by volume throughout. The soil is extremely acid to moderately acid throughout the profile. Content of flakes of mica is few or common throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Common trees are chestnut oak, scarlet oak, hickory, eastern white pine, Virginia pine, and pitch pine. The understory includes rhododendron and mountain laurel.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130B) of South Carolina and North Carolina, and possibly Maryland and Virginia. The series is moderately extensive.
The 12/97 revision places this soil in the loamy, mixed, active, mesic Lithic Dystrochrepts family per 7th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy (1996). CEC activity class placement was based on information provided from sampled pedons of soils forming in similar materials (Ashe, Edneyville, Chestnut). The 2/99 revision updates classification to 8th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy.
Organic soils comprise about 2% of the Earth's ice-free land surface. This includes 0.8% organic soils with permafrost. Organic soils can form in virtually any climate, even in arid areas, as long as water is available. They are most prevalent in the cool, humid boreal forest areas of northern Asia, Europe, and North America. Every province of Canada and almost every state in the USA has organic soil. More than 95% of the total peat reserves of the world are located in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. In these areas precipitation usually exceeds evapotranspiration and summers are relatively cool. At lower latitudes organic soils occur locally on humid coastal plains, for example, South-East Asia, Indonesia, and east North America.
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-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Vay series. The Vay series consists of deep and very deep, well drained soils that formed in material derived from granite, gneiss, or schist with a thick mantle of volcanic ash.
Landscape: Vay soils are on mountains and ridgetops. They formed in material derived dominantly from granite, gneiss, and schist with a thick mantle of volcanic ash. Slopes are 15 to 75 percent. Elevations are 3,200 to 6,500 feet. The climate is cold, humid with cool, moist summers and cold, wet winters.
The Vay series consists of deep and very deep, well drained soils on mountains and ridgetops. They formed in material derived from granite, gneiss, or schist with a thick mantle of volcanic ash. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately rapid to rapid in the substratum. Slopes are 15 to 75 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 40 inches and the average annual air temperature is about 42 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Medial over loamy-skeletal, amorphic over isotic Vitric Haplocryands
Soil moisture - usually dry for 25 to 45 consecutive days late July to mid-September, moist in the fall through early summer
Average annual soil temperature - 39 to 43 degrees F
Average summer soil temperature - 44 to 46 degrees F with an O horizon Depth to soft bedrock - 40 to 60 inches or more
Volcanic ash mantle - 14 to 24 inches thick
Volcanic glass content in the 0.02 to 2.0 mm fraction - 25 to 65 percent
Acid-oxalate extractable Al + 1/2 Fe - 2.0 to 4.0 percent
Phosphate retention - 80 to 100 percent
15-bar water retention on air dried samples - 15 to 18 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for timber production, wildlife habitat, livestock grazing, recreation, and watershed. Potential natural vegetation is mainly western redcedar, grand fir, Douglas-fir, western white pine, western larch, and western hemlock, with an understory of myrtle pachystima, northern twinflower, goldthread, and queencup beadlily. At higher elevations, the potential natural vegetation is subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, and mountain larch, with an understory of rustyleaf menziesia, big blueberry, western thimbleberry, Utah honeysuckle, Scouler willow, Sitka mountain ash, elk sedge, and common beargrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Idaho and eastern Washington. This soil is moderately extensive.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/V/VAY.html
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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.
Consolidation of Sediments. When deposited on a sinking sea-bottom, sediments often accumulate in masses of great thickness, and in such cases the lower portions tend to consolidate from the weight of the overlying masses. We may safely infer that this weight is not without effect. These materials my be affected by one or more cycles with or without intervening soil formation dependent on time of surface exposure as with fluctuating sea levels.
If these sediments are affected by soil genesis, they may develop diagnostic horizons or features such as soil structure, areas of translocated clay, fragic soil properties, and/or redoximorphic features. If unaltered (or relatively unaltered), these consolidated sediments meet the criteria for densic materials if they are root limiting.
The area of difficulty for soil scientists is determining if the materials are geogenic (altered by geologic processes) or pedogenic (soil forming processes). For example: densic material (C horizon) versus a fragipan (B horizon). Both layers are non-cemented, dense, compact, and root limiting. A subjective determination as to their origin and development must be made to consistently describe and classify the soils.
In plinthic soils, these underlying layers act as an aquitard restricting water movement, facilitating the formation of plinthite.
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-...
Kentucky State Soil
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Crider series. (Soil Survey of Floyd County, Indiana; by Steven W. Neyhouse, Byron G. Nagel, and Dena L. Marshall, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
archive.org/details/FloydIN2007
When photographing soils, a soil scientist will commonly use a knife to pick the profile face to show natural soil structure (left side of profile). Or, they may use a knife or shovel to smooth the surface (right side of the profile) which helps show change in color or horizonation.
Landscape: Wheat in an area of Crider silt loam, 2 to 6 percent slopes. These soils are on nearly level to sloping uplands. Slopes commonly range from 0 to 12 percent. Many areas are undulating to rolling karst topography. The upper 50 to 100 centimeters of the solum formed in loess and the lower part formed in limestone residuum or old alluvium. (Soil Survey of Christian County, Kentucky, by Ronald D. Froedge, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Crider series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands. They formed in a loess mantle and the underlying residuum from limestone. Slopes range from 0 to 30 percent. Near the type location, the mean annual precipitation is 48 inches and the mean annual temperature is 57 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Paleudalfs
Thickness of the solum ranges from 60 to more than 100 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 60 to more than 160 inches; commonly more than 100 inches. Fragments of chert ranges from 0 to about 15 percent; in some pedons it ranges 0 to 35 percent below the lithologic discontinuity. Reaction is from neutral to strongly acid to a depth of 40 inches, and from moderately acid to very strongly acid below 40 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all of the soil is used for growing crops and pasture. The chief crops are corn, small grains, soybeans, tobacco,and hay; truck crops are grown in a few places. The original vegetation was mixed hardwood forest, chiefly of oaks, maple, hickory, elm, ash, and hackberry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Pennyroyal and the western Outer Bluegrass of Kentucky; the northern part of the Highland Rim of Tennessee, and Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri. The soil is of large extent, about 1 million acres.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CRIDER.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soils are critical to life on Earth. Indeed, they are as essential as water for the sustenance of humans and a multitude of other species. They serve many crucial functions - from food production to groundwater storage to carbon sequestration. It might not seem obvious, but soils store more carbon than is contained in all aboveground vegetation and regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Unfortunately, soils have been in decline over the past decades. Studies show that some 33% of the world’s soils suffer from moderate to severe degradation. From erosion to salinization to nutrient depletion to loss of soil biodiversity, soils are under threat from man-made and natural factors.
So it is very important to ensure their sustainable use for food production and other purposes. And building awareness is a first step in this direction.
There are a number of dedicated soil museums in different countries, including the UAE. They serve to spread knowledge about the importance of soils and promote efforts on environmental protection and sustainable development.
However, until recently, there was no up-to-date, comprehensive information about the status of soil museums worldwide.
So a major study published recently in Advances in Agronomy sought to fill this gap. The study collected the latest information about soil museums and museums with permanent exhibitions on soils around the world, including the Emirates Soil Museum hosted by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA).
Conducted by an international team of soil experts, the study identified 38 soil museums specifically dedicated to soils, 34 permanent soil exhibitions, and 32 collections of soils that are accessible by appointment. It also analyzed the number of soil museums since the early 1900s, as well as information about their locations, contents, and visitors.
According to the study, the number of soil museums has increased since the early 1900s, and there was a noticeable growth between 2015 and 2019. It shows that Europe, East and South-East Asia have the highest concentration of soil museums and permanent exhibitions related to soils, with Russia having the largest number of soil monoliths exhibited and the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) - World Soil Museum having the richest and most diverse collection of soil monoliths.
The study also notes that various soil museums are increasingly offering fun activities, including interactive animations for children and adults, guided tours, and conferences. Some museums are also using advanced technologies to attract more visitors, including augmented reality applications, videos, animations, 3D models, and interactive games.
Speaking of the study, Ms. Mai Shalaby, Curator of the Emirates Soil Museum and co-author of the study, said: “Soil museums play a huge role when it comes to building awareness about soils and their link to sustainable development. At the Emirates Soil Museum - a unique facility in the Gulf region established in 2016 - we have been continuously making efforts to disseminate information about soils and threats facing them. Over the years, our museum has become a knowledge hub and has benefitted thousands of students, researchers, professionals, environmentalists, decision- and policy-makers.”
According to the authors, soil museums play a significant role in educating the general public about environmental protection and sustainable development. Therefore, it is important to support them in every way possible. Moreover, the study concludes that, though relatively numerous overall, soil museums and exhibitions still remain sparse in some parts of the world.
Posted Monday, November 30, 2020
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Mimosa soil series. (Soil Survey of Macon County. Tennessee, by Charlie McCowan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Mimosa soils are on gently sloping to steep uplands extending from the edge of the Highland Rim down into the outer Central Basin, and on outlying knobs and hills within the inner Central Basin.
The Mimosa series consists of deep, well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in clayey residuum from phosphatic limestone. These soils are on gently sloping to steep uplands with medium to rapid runoff. Near the type location, average annual precipitation is 49 inches and average annual air temperature is 60 degrees F. Slopes range from 2 to 45 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness and depth to rock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 25 percent in the surface layer and 5 percent or less below. The fragments are mostly chert and most areas have less than 15 percent in the surface layer. The soil is medium acid to very strongly acid except the layer just above bedrock is medium acid to mildly alkaline. Phosphorous content of each horizon is medium to high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage of these soils have been cleared, but some areas reverted back to trees. Most cleared areas are used for growing pasture and hay. Wooded areas are in oak, hickory, black walnut, elm, maple, hackberry, black and honey locust, and redcedar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Central Basin of Tennessee and possibly in northern Alabama. The soil is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/maco...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MIMOSA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of Sorter very fine sandy loam in an area of Sorter-Dallardsville complex, 0 to 1 percent. (Soil Survey of Tyler County, Texas; by Levi Steptoe, Jr., Natural Resources Conservation Services).
The Sorter series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils. These nearly level to very gently sloping soils formed in loamy fluviomarine deposits of the Lissie Formation of early to mid-Pleistocene age. Slope ranges from 0 to 1 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 19.5 degrees C (67 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 1295 mm (51 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, superactive, thermic Natric Vermaqualfs
Soil Moisture: An aquic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 20.6 to 21.7 degrees C (69 to 71 degrees F)
Crayfish krotovinas range from 50 to 70 percent in the upper 100 centimeters.
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 4 to 12 percent
CEC/clay ratio: 0.65 to 1.0
Exchangeable Sodium Percentage: 7 to 15 in the particle-size control section and 1 to 15 throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in forest. Some areas have been cleared for pasture. Native vegetation includes lobolly and shortleaf pine and water oak, willow oak, red oak, and sweetgum. Understory includes blackgum, post oak, yaupon, persimmon, wax myrtle, American elm, and American beautyberry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana; LRR T; The Western Gulf Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 152B); series of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX457/0/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SORTER.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
(Classification by UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy)
Gypsic Haplosalids, aquic are the Haplosalids that have a gypsic horizon that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface and are saturated with water in one or more layers for 1 month or more in normal years at a depth of more than 100–200 cm from the soil surface.
Haplosalids are the arid soils that have a high concentration of salts but do not have the saturation that is associated with the wetter Aquisalids. Haplosalids may be saturated for shorter periods than Aquisalids or may have had a water table associated with a past climate.
Salids are most common in depressions (playas) in the deserts or in closed basins in the wetter areas bordering the deserts. In North Africa and in the Near East, such depressions are referred to as Sabkhas depending on the presence or absence of surface water for prolonged periods. Under the arid environment and hot temperatures, accumulation of salts commonly occurs when there is a supply of salts and a net upward movement of water in the soils. In some areas a salic horizon has formed in salty parent materials without the presence of ground water. The most common form of salt is sodium chloride (halite), but sulfates (thenardite, mirabilite, and hexahydrite) and other salts may also occur.
Salids are Aridisols that are unsuitable for agricultural use, unless the salts are leached out. Leaching the salts is an expensive undertaking, particularly if there is no natural outlet for the drainage water.
Aridisols, as their name implies, are soils in which water is not available to mesophytic plants for long periods. During most of the time when the soils are warm enough for plants to grow, soil water is held at potentials less than the permanent wilting point or has a content of soluble salts great enough to limit the growth of plants other than halophytes, or both. The concept of Aridisols is based on limited soil moisture available for the growth of most plants. In areas bordering deserts, the absolute precipitation may be sufficient for the growth of some plants. Because of runoff or a very low storage capacity of the soils, or both, however, the actual soil moisture regime is aridic.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Carnasaw series. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Littlefir-Carnasaw complex, 1 to 8 percent slopes. This map unit is well suited to pasture and hayland. Carnasaw soils are on nearly level to very steep sideslopes of the Ouachita Mountains and the Arkansas Valley and Ridges. Slopes are 1 to 60 percent. These soils formed in residuum weathered from shale of Pennsylvanian age.
The Carnasaw series consists of deep to bedrock, well drained, slowly permeable upland soils.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
Solum thickness and depth to shale bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly as woodland. Some less sloping areas are used for cropland or tame pasture. Native forest vegetation is blackjack oak, loblolly pine, post oak, red oak, white oak, hickory, and shortleaf pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ouachita Mountains and the Arkansas Valley and Ridges (MLRA 118) (MLRA 119) of Arkansas and Oklahoma. The series is of moderate extent. Carnasaw soils formerly were included in the Enders series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/pikeA...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CARNASAW.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit: