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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Sengtown gravelly silt loam. Gravelly clay textures are below a depth of about 45 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Hickman County, Tennessee; by Douglas F. Clendenon, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A valley area that includes Etowah, Waynesboro, and Sengtown soils. These soils are well suited to cropland, pasture, and hay. (Soil Survey of Overton County, Tennessee; by Carlie McCowan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Sengtown series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands. They formed in residuum weathered from cherty limestone. Slopes are 2 to 60 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Paleudalfs
Solum thickness and depth to limestone bedrock are greater than 60 inches. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid except where limed. Average content of coarse fragments ranges between l5 and 35 percent in the solum. Transition horizons have colors and texture similar to adjacent horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for pasture, hay, small grain, tobacco, and corn. The remaining areas are in oak-hickory forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Highland Rim of Tennessee. The area is of large extent. Sengtown soils were formerly mapped in the Fullerton and Baxter series.
For additional information about the survey areas, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/TN08...
and...
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/TN13...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SENGTOWN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
UAE (NE002)
The Fujairah series is a very deep soil formed in alluvial deposits that are nearly all gravel, cobble, and stones, with less than 10% sand or finer-size particles.
Taxonomic classification: Typic Torriorthents, fragmental, mixed, hyperthermic
Typic Torriorthents are fixed on the driest Torriorthents. Typic Torriorthents are extensive soils in the intermountain States of the United States. Most of them have moderate or strong slopes and are used only for grazing. Others that have gentle slopes are irrigated. The gently sloping soils are mostly on fans or piedmont slopes where the sediments are recent and have little organic carbon.
The pH (1:1) ranges from 7.0 to 8.0 throughout the profile. The EC (1:1) is generally less than 1.0 dS/m in all horizons. Rock fragments ranging from gravel to stones and boulders cover the surface. A dark desert varnish is common on the exposed surfaces of the rock fragments. Due to the extremely coarse texture of this soil, the horizons described are thought to be more reflective of varying depositional episodes rather than pedogenic development.
The C horizons have hue of 7.5YR, or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. They are composed of 90% or more gravel, cobbles, and stones of varying proportions. The vertical and under-sides of rock fragments are coated with calcium carbonate in most places. The fine-earth fraction makes up less than 10% of the soil volume and ranges from coarse sand to sandy loam. Some pedons have no cementation.
As Sihebi soil series (NE020) UAE
The As Sihebi series is a very deep soil formed in loamy alluvial deposits with a thin eolian mantle.
Taxonomic classification: Typic Haplocambids, sandy over loamy, carbonatic, hyperthermic
Diagnostic subsurface horizon described in this profile is: Cambic horizon 15 to 180 cm.
The pH (1:1) ranges from 6.8 to 8.2 throughout the profile. The EC (1:1) ranges from 0.1 to 3.0. Gravel is less than 5% in this soil.
The A horizon ranges from about 10 to 30 cm thick. It has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is fine sand, or very fine sand..
The B horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value 5 to 7, and chroma is 3 or 4. Texture is dominantly very fine sandy loam, or loam, but thin layers of very fine sand or fine sand are in the upper part. In some pedons the B horizon extends to 200 cm or more.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR, value 5 or 6, and chroma 3 or 4. It is fine sand, very fine sand, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Some pedons do not have a C horizon within 200 cm.
These soils have 5 to 50 percent (by volume) plinthite in some horizon within 150 cm of the mineral soil surface. They are of small extent in the Southern United States. These soils are used as forest or have been cleared and are used as cropland or pasture.
Left: A soil profile of a "Plinthic Paleaquult" (Guangdong Province of China).
Center: Typical landscape associated with the soil profile (low-lying foreground).
Right: Redoximorphic feature in the lower subsoil (plinthite nodules) starting at about 110 cm and exceeding 5 percent at 130 cm
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".
Typic Torriorthents, sandy-skeletal, mixed, hyperthermic (Soil AD151) are deep to very deep, sandy soils having ≥35% rock fragments or gravels on the surface and in the profile. These soils typically occupy older land surfaces. They occur throughout the Emirate but particularly in the north and east where they have been influenced by outwash deposits from the Oman Mountains. They are typically excessively drained or somewhat excessively drained and have rapid to very rapid permeability.
These soils occur on older eroded sediment surfaces usually in the level to gently undulating piedmont plain or gently undulating deflation plain.
These soils remain as a barren land or in some places have been leveled for agroforestry or sometimes used for low intensity grazing by camel, sheep or goats. They frequently have less than 5% vegetation cover of Haloxylon salicornicum, Tribulus arabicus and Zygophyllum qatarense.
These soils are common but not widespread being confined to the piedmont plain in the northeastern part of Abu Dhabi Emirate near Al Ain where they have been identified as a component of several map units.
Plate 49: Typical soil profile and associated landscape for Typic Torriorthents, sandy-skeletal, mixed, hyperthermic (Soil AD151).
A representative profile of Clarendon soil series.
Depth Class: very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): moderately well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: moderately deep, common
Index Surface Runoff: low to medium
Permeability: moderately slow
Landscape: middle to upper coastal plain
Landform: uplands
Geomorphic Component: interfluves
Hillslope Profile Position: summit, shoulder
Parent Material: marine sediments
Slope: 0 to 6 percent
Elevation (type location):
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 65 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 45 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Plinthaquic Paleudults
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 18 to 30 inches, December to March
Rock Fragment content: ironstone, 0 to 10 percent in the A and E horizons and in the upper part of the Bt horizon, and 0 to than 2 percent in the lower part of the Bt horizon, by volume
Soil Reaction: is very strongly acid to slightly acid in the A horizon and extremely acid to strongly acid throughout the rest of the profile, except where limed
Thickness of solum: 60 to 80 or more inches
Depth to horizons with 5 percent or more plinthite: 20 to 58 inches
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: cropland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--growing tobacco, cotton, corn, soybeans, small grain, and pasture grasses. Where wooded--pine with scattered hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
Extent: large
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clarendon County, South Carolina; 1972.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CLARENDON.html
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Depth Class: Moderately deep to soft bedrock and deep or very deep to hard bedrock
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Low to high
Permeability: Moderate
Shrink-Swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Piedmont upland
Landform: Hill, ridge
Geomorphic Component: Interfluve, sideslope
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, back slope
Parent Material: Residuum weathered from mafic rock
Slope: 2 to 50 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
Depth to top of Argillic horizon: 4 to 15 inches
Depth to base of Argillic horizon: 20 to 40 inches
Depth to Bedrock: 20 to 40 inches to soft bedrock and 40 to 60 inches or more to hard bedrock
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 60 inches
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 5 percent, by volume quartz gravel throughout and 3 to 35 percent partially weathered gneiss or schist fragments in the lower B horizon and the C horizon
Soil Reaction: Moderately acid to very strongly acid throughout, unless limed
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, soybeans, hay, and pasture. Where wooded--Upland oaks, and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina
Extent: Small
For a detailed description, visit:
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Aquisalids are the salty soils in wet areas in the deserts where capillary rise and evaporation of water concentrate the salts near the surface. Some of these soils have redoximorphic depletions and concentrations. In other soils redoximorphic features may not be evident because of a high pH and the associated low redox potential, which inhibit iron and manganese reduction. These soils occur dominantly in depressional areas where ground water saturates the soils at least part of the year. The vegetation on these soils generally is sparse, consisting of salt-tolerant shrubs, grasses, and forbs. Although these soils may hold water at a tension less than 1500 kPa, the dissolved salt content makes the soils physiologically dry.
Anhydritic Aquisalids have an anhydric horizon within 100 cm of the soil surface. The anhydritic horizon is a horizon in which anhydrite has accumulated through neoformation or transformation to a significant exent. It typically occurs as a subsurface horizon. It commonly occurs in conjunction with a salic horizon.
Anhydrite is a mineral—anhydrous calcium sulfate, CaSO4. Distinctly developed crystals are somewhat rare, the mineral usually presenting the form of cleavage masses. The hardness is 3.5 and the specific gravity 2.9. The color is white, sometimes greyish, bluish, or purple. When exposed to water, anhydrite readily transforms to the more commonly occurring gypsum, (CaSO4·2H2O) by the absorption of water. This transformation is reversible, with gypsum or calcium sulfate hemihydrate forming anhydrite by heating to ~200°C under normal atmospheric conditions. Anhydrite is commonly associated with calcite and halite.
Identification of anhydrite is important when determining soil strength. Soils high in anhydrite exhibit fluidity and lack soil strength and load bearing capacity. Moisture content strongly influences soil’s consistence and a water table is commonly within the soil profile. The manner in which specimens of soil fail under increasing force ranges widely and usually is highly dependent on water state. To test for fluidity, a handful of soil material is squeezed in the hand. For moderately fluid materials after exerting full pressure, most flows through the fingers; a small residue remains in the palm of the hand.
For example, if some of the soil flows between the fingers with difficulty, the n value is between 0.7 and less than 1.0 (slightly fluid manner of failure class); if the soil flows easily between the fingers, the n value is 1 or more (moderately fluid or very fluid manner of failure class) depending on what remains in the palm of the hand.
Refer to:
A soil profile of Blanton sand. (Soil Survey of Screven County, Georgia; by Gary C. Hankins, Jr., Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Blanton series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained to moderately well drained, moderately to slowly permeable soils on uplands and stream terraces in the Coastal Plain. They formed in sandy and loamy marine or eolian deposits. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 67 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 55 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 45 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Grossarenic Paleudults
Solum thickness ranges from 60 to more than 80 inches. Content of gravel-sized fragments, dominantly quartz and ironstone pebbles, is less than 10 percent, by volume, in all horizons except the A and E horizons which may have as much as 35 percent, by volume. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout except where the surface has been limed. Depth to the Bt horizon is commonly 50 to 70 inches but ranges from 40 to 80 inches. Redoximorphic features that indicate wetness occur at depths of between 30 and 72 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for cropland, truck crops, improved pasture, and hayland. Natural vegetation consists of slash and longleaf pine, red, bluejack, and live oak with an understory of chinkapin, highland fern, huckleberry, and pineland threeawn, bluestem, panicum, and tickclover.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/screve...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BLANTON.html
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A calcium carbonate nodule from a calcic horizon in a Haplocalcid in the UAE. A volume of 5 percent or more nodules may be used to support a calcic horizon.
The calcic horizon (from L. calx , lime) is a horizon in which secondary calcium carbonate (CaCO3 ) has accumulated either in a diffuse form (calcium carbonate present only in the form of fine particles of 1 mm or less, dispersed in the matrix) or as discontinuous concentrations (pseudomycelia, cutans, soft and hard nodules, or veins).
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
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-...
DESCRIPTION (Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils; Version 3.0, p.2-10):
"Few to common, coarse, prominent, black iron-manganese nodules, moist, dendritic, in the matrix, weakly cemented, sharp"
This concentration formed in a very poorly drained sandy substratum below organic layers. It was weakly cemented by aluminum-humus complexes and other amorphous materials, including iron and manganese. They formed along old abandoned root channels where water ladened with these materials accumulated.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
The Chiswell series consists of shallow, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands. They formed in materials weathered from shale, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone. Slopes range from 2 to 80 percent. Mean annual air temperature is 55 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation is 42 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic, shallow Typic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 5 to 19 inches. Depth to soft bedrock ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Rock fragments of shale, siltstone, or fine-grained sandstone range from 5 to 70 percent in the A horizon, from 20 to 80 percent in the Bw horizon, and from 45 to 90 percent in the C horizon. Rock fragments average more than 35 percent in the textural control section. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through moderately acid, unless limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods and pines. Northern aspects of steeper slopes commonly are wooded. Southern aspects and lower slope gradients are usually cleared and used for pasture and hay crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia and possibly West Virginia, Maryland, and Tennessee. The series is of large extent.
Soils now within the range of the Chiswell series were correlated in Berks, Klinesville, Webbtown, and Weikert in several published soil surveys. The Chiswell soils are mapped on the Rome- Waynesboro formation.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CHISWELL.html
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FIHS S5.—Sandy Redox. A layer starting at a depth ≤15 cm (6
inches) from the soil surface that is at least 10 cm (4
inches) thick and has a matrix with 60 percent or more
chroma of 2 or less and 2 percent or more distinct
or prominent redox concentrations occurring as soft
masses and/or pore linings.
Redox concentrations include soft masses, pore linings, nodules, and concretions. For the purposes of the field indicators for hydric soils, nodules and concretions are excluded from the concept of redox concentrations unless otherwise specified by specific indicators. Zones of accumulation may be either coatings on a ped or pore surface or impregnations of the matrix adjacent to the pore or ped.
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
Pore linings are a very common indicator of hydric soils and is often used to identify the hydric/nonhydric soil boundary in sandy soils.
A description of the soils is essential in any soil survey. Standard technical terms and their definitions for soil properties and features are necessary for accurate soil descriptions. For some soils, standard terms are not adequate and must be supplemented by a narrative. Some soil properties change through time. Many properties must be observed over time and summarized if one is to fully understand the soil being described and its response to short-term environmental changes. Examples are the length of time that cracks remain open, the patterns of soil temperature and moisture, and the variations in size, shape, and hardness of clods in the surface layer of tilled soils.
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
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: The Caneyville series consists of moderately deep, well-drained soils formed in a thin silty mantle over fine textured residuum of limestone. The soils are on ridges and hillsides. Slopes range from 2 to 120 percent. (Soil Survey of Floyd County, Indiana; by Steven W. Neyhouse, Byron G. Nagel, and Dena L. Marshall, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Hayland in an area of Caneyville, Haggatt, and Navilleton soils on hills underlain by limestone.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
The solum thickness and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral in the A and Ap horizons and the upper part of the Bt horizon, and from moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the lower part of the Bt horizon. Fragments of limestone, chert, or sandstone (surface layer only) range from 0 to 10 percent in the A and upper Bt horizon, and 0 to 35 percent immediately above limestone bedrock.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in hay, pasture, or forest, and few are used for corn and small grain. Native forests are oaks, hickory, elm, hackberry, and redbud as the dominant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky and southern Indiana. Extent is large.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/indiana/IN043/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CANEYVILLE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Songjeong-like soils in Korea. These soils are similar to Songjeong soils, but have a thinner subsoil. The thinner subsoil is a result of severe soil erosion.
Landscape: Songjeong-like soils are on benches and mid- and upper sideslopes, formed in residuum weathered from granitic materials.
The Songjeong series are members of the fine loamy, mixed, mesic family of Typic Hapludults [Cutanic Alisols (Chromic) classified by WRB]. They are developed in rolling to hilly areas underlaid by very deeply weathered granitic rocks.
Songjeong soils have ochric epipedons and argillic horizons. Solum thickness ranges from 50 to 100 cm; however, these soils have a thinner solum (A and B horizons).
Depth to hard rock is more than 3 meters and ranges to more than 10 meters. Base saturation is less than 60 percent. Common fine and medium white and yellow micas are throughout the profiles. Reaction is very strongly acid. A horizons are brown to dark brown loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam. Bt horizons are yellowish red, reddish brown, reddish yellow, or red clay loam or silty clay loam. C horizons are red, yellowish red, or strong brown loam, silt loam, or very fine sandy loam very deep and extremely weathered granitic saprolites.
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The Murville series consists of very poorly drained soils that have rapid permeability in the A horizon and moderately rapid permeability in the Bh horizon. The soils formed from wet sandy marine and fluvial sediments. They are in flats or in slight depressions on broad interstream areas of uplands and stream terraces in the Coastal Plain. Slopes are less than 2 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, siliceous, thermic Umbric Endoaquods
Solum thickness ranges from 30 to 60 inches. Humus in the A and Bh horizons gives the sandy material a loamy feel and appearance. The soil is strongly acid to extremely acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Chiefly in cutover forests of pond pine, with a few scattered loblolly, longleaf pine, and red maple. Slash pine grow in the southern part of the range. Understory vegetation includes sweetbay, redbay, swamp cyrilla (red titi), zenobia, inkberry (bitter gallberry), large gallberry, greenbrier, switchcane, fetterbush lyonia, blueberry, loblollybay gordonia, southern bayberry (waxmyrtle), and a ground cover of sphagnum and club mosses, chainfern, broom sedge, and switchcane and maidencane in open areas. Where frequent burning has taken place only the understory species are present.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Lower Coastal Plain of North Carolina and Florida. The series is of moderate extent.
The Murville soils were formerly included in the Ridgeland series. However, Ridgeland soils are in a mixed mineralogy family. The April 1993 revision of this series changed the subgroup classification from Typic Haplaquods to Umbric Endoaquods.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MURVILLE.html
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A representative soil profile of the Speer soil series. (Soil Survey of Montgomery County, Arkansa; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service).
The Speer series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy sediments. These soils are on nearly level or very gently sloping flood plains or low terraces of major streams in the Ouachita Mountains, MLRA 119. Water runs off the surface slow to medium. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, active, thermic Ultic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to more than 60 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for tame pasture or for growing trees. The main trees are post oak, southern red oak, white oak, and a small amount of shortleaf pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Oklahoma and Arkansas. The series is of minor extent. They were formerly included in the Waynesboro or Sallisaw series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/AR097...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SPEER.html
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A representative soil profile of an Inceptisol (bordrline Oxisol) from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)
Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation (rangeland in the foreground and eucalyptus plantation in the background) occurring on interfluve in Brazil.
Inceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are more developed than Entisols. The central concept of Inceptisols is that of soils that are of cool to very warm, humid and subhumid regions and that have a cambic horizon and an ochric epipedon. The order of Inceptisols includes a wide variety of soils. In some areas Inceptisols are soils with minimal development, while in other areas they are soils with diagnostic horizons that merely fail the criteria of the other soil orders. Inceptisols have many kinds of diagnostic horizons and epipedons. This pedon had few plinthite nodules and ironstone concretions in the subsoil.
Oxisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. Oxisols are weathered soils that are low in fertility. They are most common on the gentle slopes of geologically old surfaces in tropical and subtropical regions. Their profiles are distinctive because of a lack of obvious horizons. Their surface horizons are normally somewhat darker than the subsoil, but the transition of subsoil features is gradual. Some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.
In the Brazil soil classification system, these Latossolos are highly weathered soils composed mostly of clay and weathering resistant sand particles. Clay silicates of low activity (kaolinite clays) or iron and aluminum oxide rich (haematite, goethite, gibbsite) are common. There are little noticeable horizonation differences. These are naturally very infertile soils, but, because of the ideal topography and physical conditions, some are being used for agricultural production. These soils do require fertilizers because of the ease of leaching of nutrients through the highly weathered soils.
For additional information about these soils, visit:
sites.google.com/site/soil350brazilsoilsla/soil-formation...
and...
For additional information about U.S. soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
A profile of a Weitchpec soil. These soils form in colluvium and residuum derived from serpentinite. They are 50 to 100 centimeters deep to bedrock. (Soil Survey of Redwood National and State Parks, California; by Joseph P. Seney and Alaina C. Frazier, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and James H. Popenoe, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Retired)
The Weitchpec series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils formed in residuum weathered mainly from serpentinitic rocks. Weitchpec are on mountains and slope ranges from 30 to 75 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1270 millimeters (50 inches) and mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C (53 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, magnesic, mesic Typic Haploxerepts
Soil moisture: The soil between the depths of 20 (8 inches) and 61 centimeters (24 inches) is usually dry in all parts from June 15 to October 15 and moist in all parts from November 15 to April 15. The soils have a xeric moisture regime.
Soil temperature: The mean annual soil temperature is 11 to 14 degrees C (52 to 57 degrees F). The difference between mean summer and mean winter temperature is 6 to 10 degrees C.
Base saturation is 60 to 80 percent (ammonium acetate).
Depth to lithic contact: 50 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches)
The particle-size control section:
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Some pedons have O horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for timber production and watershed. Native vegetation is Jeffrey pine, Douglas-fir, sugar pine ponderosa pine, incense cedar, tanoak, madrone, and manzanita.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North part of the Coast Ranges and Klamath Mountains in California and may occur in Oregon. The soils are not extensive. MLRA is 5. The Weitchpec soils were formerly classified as Regosols. Since most pedons have many coarse fragments, the series is now defined as a member of the loamy-skeletal family.
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/W/WEITCHPEC.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A soil profile of the seasonally ponded Grady soil. (Soil Survey of Webster County, Georgia)
Landscape: Grady sandy loam, ponded, which supports many species of wetland vegetation. (Soil Survey of Grady County, Georgia)
The Grady series consists of poorly drained, slowly permeable soils in upland depressions but are also along drains of the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area (MLRA 133A). They formed in thick beds of clayey marine sediments. Near the type location the mean annual temperature is about 67 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 53 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Paleaquults
Solum thickness ranges from 60 to more than 80 inches. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to extremely acid throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in woodland, but a few areas have been cleared, drained, and are used mostly for pasture. Native vegetation includes cypress, blackgum, live oak, and water oak. The undergrowth is water tolerant sedges and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The series is of large extent with about 26,000 acres in Miller County, Georgia.
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Landscapes: Plateau and mountains
Landforms: Ridge, hillslope, mountain slope
MLRA(s): 127 (Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains) and 125 (Cumberland Plateau and Mountains)
Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes, and nose slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, backslope
Parent Material: Residuum derived from of early Pennsylvania Period acid shale, siltstone, or fine-grained sandstone (members of the Pottsville Series or its analogue)
Depth Class: Moderately deep to soft bedrock
Slope: 3 to 70 percent
Elevation: 549 to 1067 m (1795 to 3500 feet)
Frost-free period: 140 to 180 days
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
Depth to the top of the Argillic: 13 to 51 cm (5 to 20 inches)
Depth to the base of the Argillic: 30 to 91 cm (12 to 36 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches); bedrock is dominantly very weakly to moderately cemented shale, siltstone, or fine-grained sandstone of early Pennsylvanian Period age (members of the Pottsville Group or its analogue)
Rock Fragment content (by volume): 0 to 25 percent in the upper solum, 15 to 65 percent in the BC and C horizon.
Soil Reaction: strongly acid to extremely acid throughout, except where limed or affected by forest fires.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland, pasture, and hay land, and minor urban development
Dominant Vegetation: Oak-hickory or mixed mesophytic forests.
Where wooded--scarlet, black, white, red, or chestnut oak, red maple, pignut or mockernut hickory, yellow poplar, American Holly, beech, and Virginia or white pine are the dominate species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: West Virginia, and possibly; Kentucky, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Extent: Moderate
The Clifftop series is limited to soils formed in materials weathered from early Pennsylvanian Period geologic parent materials (members of the Pottsville Group or its analogue).
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A representative soil profile of the Minong soil series. (Soil Survey of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan; by Lawrence M. Carey, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Minong series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained organic soils on wave-cut platfoms (lake benches) and rocky knolls. They formed in thin organic materials underlain in places by a very thin mineral horizon over bedrock. Permeability is moderately slow. Slopes range from 1 to 60 percent. Mean annual temperature is 45 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation is 32 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Euic, frigid Lithic Udifolists
The depth to bedrock commonly is 23 to 38 centimeters (9 to 15 inches) but ranges from 10 to 50 centimeters (4 to 20 inches). The organic portion commonly has pH of 5.0 to 6.5 in 0.01M CaCl2, but ranges from 4.5 to 7.7. The pedon is very strongly acid to mildly alkaline. Very thin mineral layers are at the interface in most pedons. The broken face of the surface layer has hue of 10YR to 5YR, and value and chroma of 2 to 4, or is neutral with value of 2 to 4. This layer is muck, mucky peat, and/or peat consisting primarily of conifer needles, deciduous leaves, and herbaceous fibers. The subsurface layers have hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. These layers are muck.
USE AND VEGETATION: Minong soils are forested. Common trees are northern whitecedar, balsam fir, white spruce, paper birch, and quaking aspen. Understory and ground vegetation consists of alder, thimbleberry, mosses, and big leaf aster.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Isle Royale National Park. The series is of small extent.
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The Edneytown series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on ridges and side slopes of the Blue Ridge (MLRA 130). These soils were formerly mapped as Edneyville. Edneyville is presently described without an argillic horizon and normally occurs at higher elevations. Edneytown soils formed in residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper part, and weathered from felsic to mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. Slopes range from 2 to 95 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludults
Thickness of the argillic horizon is 10 to 35 inches. Solum thickness is 20 to more than 40 inches. Depth to paralithic contact is more than 60 inches. The A and E horizons are extremely acid to moderately acid except where surface layers have been limed, and the B and C horizons are very strongly acid or strongly acid. Content of flakes of mica is few or common throughout. Content of coarse fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Forested to oak, hickory, and pine. Understory of native grasses, wild grape, rhododendron, mountain laurel, and dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Blue Ridge (MLRA 130) of South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
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Torripsamments are the cool to hot Psamments of arid climates. They have an aridic (or torric) moisture regime and a temperature regime warmer than cryic. Many of these soils are on stable surfaces, some are on dunes, some are stabilized, and some are moving. Torripsamments consist of quartz, mixed sands, volcanic glass, or even gypsum and may have any color. Generally, they are neutral or calcareous and are nearly level to steep. The vegetation consists mostly of xerophytic shrubs, grasses, and forbs. Many of these soils support more vegetation than other soils with an aridic moisture regime, presumably because they lose less water as runoff. Some of the soils on dunes support a few ephemeral plants or have a partial cover of xerophytic and ephemeral plants. The shifting dunes may be devoid of plants in normal years. Most of the deposits are of late-Pleistocene or younger age. These soils are used mainly for grazing. They are extensive in the Western United States.
Salidic Torripsamments have an ECe of more ha 8 to less than 30 dS/m in a layer 10 cm or more thick within 100 cm of the soil surface.
A representative soil profile of the Ostin series. The C horizon contains as much as 80 percent rock fragments, by volume. Ostin soils occur along channels of fast-flowing streams in mountain areas. (Soil Survey of Polk County, North Carolina; by Scott C. Keenan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Ostin series consists of nearly level to gently sloping, very deep, well and moderately well drained soils. They are on flood plains in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. These soils formed in coarse textured alluvium containing large amounts of sand, gravel, and cobbles. The alluvium has washed from nearby soils that formed in residuum and colluvium weathered from metamorphic and igneous rocks. Mean annual temperature is about 56 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 64 inches near the type location. Slope ranges from 0 to 5 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Typic Udifluvents
Depth to bedrock is greater than 5 feet. Rock fragment content ranges from 5 to 50 percent by volume in the A horizon and from 5 to 80 percent by volume throughout the C horizon. Rock fragment content averages more than 35 percent by volume in the control section. Fragments are dominantly gravel and cobbles but occasionally include stones. Reaction is very strongly acid to neutral. Content of mica flakes ranges from few to many.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in pasture. The rest is mainly in woodland. The major forages are tall fescue and ladino clover. Yellow poplar, American sycamore, river birch, red maple, black locust, black cherry, eastern hemlock, Virginia pine and eastern white pine are common canopy trees. Understory plant species include ironwood, doghobble, flowering dogwood, rhododendron, grape, green briar, trillium and Christmas fern.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Carolina, and possibly Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. The series is of small extent.
Ostin soils were formerly included with the Potomac series. However, Potomac soils formed in alluvium washed from soils derived from sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, shale, siltstone, and limestone, and contain fragments of those rocks. At lower elevations, this soil occurs adjacent to Southern Piedmont MLRA 136 and may be marginal to thermic in some areas.
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A representative soil profile of the Ridgebury series. (Photo provided by New England Soil Profiles)
The Ridgebury series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly and poorly drained soils formed in lodgment till (till formed below ancient glaciers that were forced or “lodged” into the underlying material) derived mainly from granite, gneiss and/or schist. They are commonly shallow to a densic contact. They are nearly level to gently sloping soils in depressions in uplands. They also occur in drainageways in uplands, in toeslope positions of hills, drumlins, and ground moraines, and in till plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and very low to moderately low in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 9 degrees C. and the mean annual precipitation is about 1143 mm.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, acid, mesic, shallow Aeric Endoaquepts
Depth to the dense till commonly is 36 to 49 cm. The A horizon has 5 to 25 percent gravel, 0 to 10 percent cobbles, and 0 to 25 percent stones by volume. The B and C horizons have 5 to 25 percent gravel, 0 to 5 percent cobbles and 0 to 5 percent stones. Rock fragments within the soil range from 5 to 35 percent by volume and are subangular fragments. The unlimed soil ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largely forested to gray birch, yellow birch, red maple, hemlock, elm, spruce and balsam fir. Cleared areas are used mainly for hay and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated landforms in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. (MLRAs 142, 144A, 145, and 149B) The series is extensive, about 350,000 acres..
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A representative soil profile of Xenia silt loam, 2 to 6 percent slopes, eroded. (Soil Survey of Bartholomew County, Indiana; by Mike Wigginton and Dena Marshall, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Xenia series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that are deep or very deep to dense till. Xenia soils formed in loess or other silty material and in the underlying loamy till on till plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 12 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1067 mm (42 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 11.1 degrees C (52 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Aquic Hapludalfs
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches)
Thickness of the loess or other silty material: 56 to 102 cm (22 to 40 inches)
Depth to carbonates: 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches)
Depth to densic contact: 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches)
Particle-size control section: averages 27 to 35 percent clay and less than 15 percent fine sand or coarser
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mainly in MLRAs 111A and 111D, and to lesser extent in MLRAs 108A, 114A, and 114B in central Indiana, southwestern Ohio, and eastern and central Illinois. The type location is in MLRA 111D. The series is of large extent. A bedrock substratum phase is currently recognized and may become a new series as subset soil surveys with this phase are updated.
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Backdoor series. (Soil Survey of Pinnacles National Monument, California; by Ken Oster, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Backdoor series consists of deep, well drained soils that formed in residuum weathered from granite. The Backdoor soils are on hills. Slopes range from 9 to 70 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 17 inches (432 millimeters) and the mean annual air temperature is about 61 to 63 degrees F (16 degrees C).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, thermic Typic Argixerolls
Depth to bedrock: more than 60 inches (150 centimeters).
Mean annual soil temperature: 61 to 53 degrees F (16 to 17 degrees C).
Soil moisture control section: dry in all parts from May 15 to November 15 (180 days), and moist in all parts from about January 15 to April 15 (90 days).
Particle size control section: 25 to 30 percent clay, 5 to 25 percent rock fragments mostly gravel from granite.
Base Saturation by sum of cations: 87 to 100%
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for watershed, wildlife habitat and recreation. Vegetation is Chamise chaparral or mixed chaparral.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: San Benito and Monterey Counties, California in MLRA 15 -- Central California Coast Range. These soils are of small extent. Source of name: rock formation in Pinnacles National Monument. This series was established based on limited acreage observed within the National Park Service Pinnacles National Monument boundary.
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Note: The left side of the profile is darker in color due to moistening. Colors on the right side are dry.
A representative soil profile of the Keith series. (Soil Survey of Sioux County, Nebraska; by Mark Willoughby, Dan Shurtliff, Bob Rayer, and Dave Vyain, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Keith series consists of very deep, well drained, soils that formed in calcareous loess. Keith soils are on upland hillslopes, tableland plains, and valley terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 6 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 46 centimeters (18 inches) and the mean annual air temperature is 11 degrees C (52 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Argiustolls
Mean annual soil temperature: 9 to 13 degrees C (48 to 55 degrees F)
Depth to argillic horizon: 8 to 51 centimeters (3 to 20 inches)
Depth to secondary calcium carbonate: 23 to 97 centimeters (9 to 38 inches)
Thickness of the mollic epipedon: 18 to 49 centimeters (7 to 19 inches)
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 20 to 34 percent
Ustic moisture regime bordering on aridic
USE AND VEGETATION: About 80 percent of the acreage of these soils is in cultivated cropland and 20 percent is principally native range. The main crops under dryland farming are alfalfa, grain sorghum, millet, and winter wheat. The dominant grasses on native range are blue grama, buffalograss, little bluestem, needleandthread, threadleaf sedge, and western wheatgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nebraska, northwestern Kansas, and southwestern South Dakota, eastern Wyoming, and northeastern Colorado in MLRAs 67 and 72. The acreage is of large extent.
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Magnetic surveying with a cesium vapor gradiometer (Geometrics, 2016) integrated with a global positioning system receiver (Trimble, 2016).
Magnetometry is a passive remote sensing method that records the magnitude of the Earth’s local magnetic field. Its sensors, called magnetometers, may be placed on the ground surface, in the air, in satellites, or in boreholes beneath the surface of the Earth. For measurements in agricultural fields, magnetometers are typically positioned within a couple of meters of the ground surface. Gradiometers, which are better adapted to emphasize magnetic field anomalies from shallow sources, are set up with two magnetometers mounted a short distance (< 1 m) apart. This arrangement allows the magnetic field gradient between them to be measured (fig. 6-14). Gradiometers have the added advantage of eliminating the need to make corrections for diurnal fluctuations in the magnetic field. Magnetic surveys using gradiometers have successfully found disturbances (e.g., backfilled trenches and excavated areas) in iron-rich soils (Rogers et al., 2005). This suggests the potential use of this technology to identify the extent and location of some anthropogenic soils, particularly in order 1 soil survey applications.
A representative soil profile of the Nowhere series near Lakeview Drive in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (Soil Survey of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina; by Doug Thomas and Anthony Khiel, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Nowhere series consists of very deep, poorly and very poorly drained soils in lower coves in the Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130B). They formed in colluvium from metasedimentary rock such as phyllite, metasandstone, and slate. Slopes range from 2 to 15 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, acid, mesic Typic Humaquepts
Solum thickness ranges from 28 to 50 inches and depth to metasedimentary bedrock is greater than 72 inches. Common medium and fine mica flakes throughout. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to very strongly acid. Fragment content is greater than 35 percent throughout. Fragments are metasedimentary gravels to boulders.
USE AND VEGETATION: Areas of this soil are covered in mixed hardwood forest and includes over-story vegetation of yellow poplar, white oak, northern red oak, red maple, buckeye, hemlock, and sweet birch. Understory vegetation includes poison ivy, buffalo nut, cinnamon fern, ironwood, New York fern, Christmas fern, basswood, red maple, Frazer magnolia, and arrowhead.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130B) of North Carolina and Tennessee. The series is of small extent. Nowhere soils are mapped in complex with Spivey and Santeetlah soils. Most areas of Nowhere soils are too small to delineate as a consociation map unit. These areas represent unique habitat for certain aquatic species.
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The Edneytown series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils. (Soil Survey of Grayson County, Virginia; by Robert K. Conner, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
These soils are on ridges and side slopes of the Blue Ridge (MLRA 130). These soils were formerly mapped as Edneyville. Edneyville is presently described without an argillic horizon and normally occurs at higher elevations. Edneytown soils formed in residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper part, and weathered from felsic to mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. Slopes range from 2 to 95 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludults
Thickness of the argillic horizon is 10 to 35 inches. Solum thickness is 20 to more than 40 inches. Depth to paralithic contact is more than 60 inches. The A and E horizons are extremely acid to moderately acid except where surface layers have been limed, and the B and C horizons are very strongly acid or strongly acid. Content of flakes of mica is few or common throughout. Content of coarse fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Forested to oak, hickory, and pine. Understory of native grasses, wild grape, rhododendron, mountain laurel, and dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Blue Ridge (MLRA 130) of South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Norfolk soil. Norfolk soils are characterized by a deep, loamy, yellowish brown subsoil that has redoximorphic features, areas of iron accumulations and iron depletions, in the lower part. (Soil Survey of Crawford and Taylor Counties, Georgia; by Alfred J. Green, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Corn (left) and wheat (right) growing in an area of Dothan-Norfolk complex, 2 to 6 percent slopes. Grass waterways and other conservation practices improve soil and water quality. (Soil Survey of Sumter County, South Carolina; by Charles M. Ogg, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Deep, transitory or very deep
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible to medium
Permeability: Moderate (Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high)
Landscape: Lower, middle, or upper coastal plain
Landform: Uplands or marine terraces
Geomorphic Component: Interfluve, side slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, backslopes
Parent Material: Marine deposits or fluviomarine deposits
Slope: 0 to 10 percent
Elevation (type location): Unknown
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 62 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 49 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kandiudults
Thickness of the sandy surface and subsurface layers: 3 to 19 inches
Depth to top of the Argillic horizon: 3 to 19 inches
Depth to the base of the Argillic horizon: 60 to more than 80 inches
Depth to top of the Kandic horizon: 3 to 19 inches
Depth to bedrock: Greater than 80 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 40 to 72 inches, January to March
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, throughout except where limed
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 5 percent, by volume throughout; mostly quartz pebbles or ironstone nodules
Plinthite Content: 0 to 4 percent to a depth of 60 inches and 0 to 10 percent or more below 60 inches
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Mostly cleared and used for general farm crops.
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, cotton, peanuts, tobacco, and soybeans. Where wooded--pines and mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
Extent: Large
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Soil profile: Luckenbach clay loam in an area of Luckenbach clay loam, 0 to 5 percent slopes. The topsoil is clay loam. The subsoil starts at about 15 inches (38 cm). Secondary carbonates occur at a depth of about 39 inches (99 cm).(Soil Survey of Mason County, Texas; by Julia A. McCormick, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: On the surface, native Indiangrass grows on an area of Luckenbach clay loam, 0 to 5 percent slopes. These soils occur on footslopes of alluvial plain remnants associated with the Hensell Sand formation. Luckenbach soils are in the Clay Loam ecological site.
The Luckenbach series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slowly permeable soils that formed in ancient loamy or clayey alluvium. These nearly level and gently sloping soils are on alluvial plain remnants or stream terraces and along narrow valleys on dissected plateaus. Slope ranges from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 660 ,mm (26 in) and mean annual temperature is about 18 degrees C (65 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Argiustolls
Soil moisture: Typic ustic moisture regime
Solum thickness: 150 to 200 cm (60 to 80 in)
Mollic epipedon: 30 to 50 cm (12 to 20 in)
Depth to identifiable secondary carbonates: 46 to 71 cm (18 to 28 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 35 to 55 percent
Fragments: 0 to 15 percent by volume
Soil moisture: Typic ustic moisture regime
Solum thickness: 150 to 200 cm (60 to 80 in)
Mollic epipedon: 30 to 50 cm (12 to 20 in)
Depth to identifiable secondary carbonates: 46 to 71 cm (18 to 28 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 35 to 55 percent
Fragments: 0 to 15 percent by volume
Luckenbach soils were formerly in the Pedernales series which does not have a mollic epipedon. This soil was changed from a Typic Argiustoll to Udic Argiustoll in August 1989 because of change in Soil Taxonomy. However, most of the acreage and the typical pedon are located in the Typic Ustic moisture regime. Other areas are mainly on the Udic/Ustic and Typic/Ustic line. Therefore, we are classifying this soil in the Typic subgroup in 1990. NSSL lab data near the series type location in Gillespie County, Texas identified high shrink swell and slickensides suggesting a vertic subgroup. Classification was not changed pending a study over the entire series extent.
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Soil profile: Typical profile of Hard Labor soil. The Hard Labor soils have a perched water table typically at a depth of 75 to 100 centimeters (gray iron depletions are visible in the photo). These soils commonly occur on toeslopes.
Landscape: The Hard Labor soils are on summits, side slopes, and toeslopes of the Piedmont uplands and are commonly in cultivation or pasture.
The Hard Labor series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in material weathered from felsic igneous and metamorphic rock, primarily granite and granite gneiss. The Hard Labor soils are on summits and side slopes of the Piedmont uplands. There is a perched water table in late winter and early spring. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is 60 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is 45 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Oxyaquic Kanhapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is more than 5 feet. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout the profile, unless limed. Limed soils typically are slightly acid or neutral in the upper part of the profile. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent by volume in the A and E horizons, and from 0 to 10 percent by volume in the B and C horizons. Fragments are dominantly pebbles in size. Most pedons have none to common flakes of mica in the A, E, and Bt horizons, and few to many flakes of mica in the BC and C horizons. Content of plinthite nodules ranges from 0 to 5 percent in the lower Bt and BC horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is in cultivation or pasture and the remainder is in forests of mixed hardwoods and pine. Common crops are cotton, corn, soybeans, and small grains.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Piedmont of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and possibly Virginia. The series is currently of small extent, but is anticipated to become of large extent with future examinations of areas in the Piedmont mapped as Appling, Durham, Vance, or Wedowee soils.
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Note: The left side of the photo exhibits natural soil structure. The right side has been smoothed.
The Broadax series consists of very deep and deep, well drained soils formed in loess on hills. Slopes are 0 to 40 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 16 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Calcic Argixerolls
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mostly for cropland but other minor uses include livestock grazing and timber production. Dryland small grains are common crops. Native vegetation is Idaho fescue, bluebunch wheatgrass, balsamroot, and scattered big sagebrush on the low precipitation phase and ponderosa pine with an understory of Idaho fescue, bluebunch wheatgrass, common snowberry and rose on the high precipitation phase.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Washington and northern Idaho. MLRA 8. The series is of moderate extent.
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soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BROADAX.html
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Plinthic soils contain a large amount of plinthite. In the soil classification scheme used by the FAO, an iron-rich soil horizon more than 15 cm thick and containing more than 15% plinthite...
...a plinthic horizon (from Greek plinthos, brick) is a subsurface horizon that is rich in Fe (in some cases also Mn) (hydr-)oxides and poor in humus. The clay is mostly kaolinitic, with the presence of other products of strong weathering, such as gibbsite. The plinthic horizon usually changes irreversibly to a layer of hard concretions or nodules or a hardpan on exposure to repeated wetting and drying with free access to oxygen.
It consists of mineral material and has within ≥ 15% of the volume, single or in combination: a. discrete concretions and/or nodules that in the moist state are at least firm, with a redder hue or stronger chroma than the surrounding material; or concentrations in platy, polygonal or reticulate patterns that in the moist state are at least firm, with a redder hue or stronger chroma than the surrounding material.
For more information about the FAO-WRB, visit;
www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf
For more information on Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/
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A representative soil profile of Estella fine sand in an area of Estella fine sand, 0 to 1 percent slopes. The argillic horizon begins at a depth of about 135 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Kenedy and Kleberg Counties, Texas; by Nathan I. Haile, and Dennis N. Brezina, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Estella series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained, moderately rapid permeable. These nearly level soils formed in sandy eolian deposits over loamy sediments on the Sandsheet of the South Texas Coastal Plain. Slope ranges from 0 to 1 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 23 degrees C (73 degrees F) and mean annual precipitation is about 660 mm (26 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, hyperthermic Oxyaquic Haplustalfs
Soil Moisture: An Ustic moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for more than 90 cumulative days in normal years. The SMCS is also either moist in some or all parts for 180 cumulative days or more, or moist for 90 consecutive days or more in normal years. November through April are the driest months, with a second low in July, while September is the wettest.
Mean Annual Soil Temperature: 22 to 23 degrees C (72 to 74 degrees F)
Depth to argillic horizon: 114 to 178 cm (45 to 70 in)
Depth to redox concentrations: 0 to 51 cm (0 to 20 in)
Depth to redox depletions: 91 to 203 cm (36 to 80 in)
Depth to endosaturation: 51 to 203 cm (20 to 80 in), from November to April.
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 10 to 18 percent
Sand content: 75 to 85 percent
CEC/clay ratio: 0.40 to 0.60
USE AND VEGETATION: The major uses are livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Vegetation consists of mid to tall grasses such as seacoast bluestem, gulf cordgrass, marshay cordgrass, gulfdune paspalum and threeawn. The ecological site is Sandy, PE 31-44 (R083EY706TX).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Sandsheet Prairie (MLRA 83E in LRR I) on the coastal plains of southern Texas. The series is of moderate extent.
This series was formerly included in the Sarita series. The series was separated based on the presence of redoximorphic concentrations within the upper 51 cm (20 in), fluctuating water table, and difference in drainage class. This soil would classify as loamy, mixed, active, hyperthermic Grossarenic Oxyaquic Haplustalfs if provided for in Soil Taxonomy.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/kenedykl...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/ESTELLA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of a Torriorthent in the Ras Al Khaimah Emirate, United Arab Emirates.
These very deep, sandy-skeletal soils are along a dry second level floodplain in Wadi Bih. They formed in sandy alluvial deposits with a large content of gravel, cobbles, and stones.
Torriorthents are fixed on the driest Torriorthents. Typic Torriorthents are extensive soils in the intermountain States of the United States. Most of them have moderate or strong slopes and are used only for grazing. Others that have gentle slopes are irrigated. The gently sloping soils are mostly on fans or piedmont slopes where the sediments are recent and have little organic carbon.
The particle-size control section has 35% or more rock fragments, including 15% or more cobbles and stones. The pH (1:1) ranges from 7.0 to 8.6 throughout the profile. The EC (1:1) is generally less than 1.0 dS/m in all horizons. Rock fragments ranging from gravel to stones and boulders cover the surface. A dark desert varnish is common on the exposed surfaces of the rock fragments.
The A horizon is 5 to 20 cm thick. It is 7.5YR or 10YR, value 3 to 6, and chroma 2 to 6. It is loamy sand, sand, or coarse sand, including very gravelly, extremely gravelly, very cobbly or extremely cobbly texture modifiers.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR, or 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is loamy sand, sand, or coarse sand, including very gravelly, extremely gravelly, very cobbly or extremely cobbly texture modifiers. Pockets or lenses of sandy loam up to 5 cm thick are in some pedons. The vertical and under-sides of rock fragments, in some places, are coated with calcium carbonate. The C horizon may be extremely weakly to moderately cemented with carbonates. However, roots appear to be able to penetrate with a spacing of less than 10 cm. Some pedons do not have cementation.
Wādī Al-Biḥ, is a river/wadi that crosses the North-Western Hajar Mountains from the United Arab Emirates, and traversing Oman before returning to the UAE. From the West to the East, it originates in Ras Al Khaimah on the Gulf, before crossing the Omani exclave at the tip of the Musandam Peninsula, past the village of Zighi and into Fujairah at Dibba Al-Hisn, on the Gulf of Oman. The wadi is a popular location for birdwatchers.
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
A representative profile of Belfon soil. (Soil Survey of Stevens County, Kansas; by Thomas C. Byrd, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Belfon series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy, eolian loess deposits of Holocene age. These soils are on level to very gently sloping plains and interdunes of the Southern High Plains, Northern part (MLRA 77A). Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 460 mm (18 in) and mean annual air temperature is about 13 degrees C (55 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Argiustolls
Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 in)
Thickness of mollic epipedon: 25 to 48 cm (10 to 19 in)
Depth to discontinuity: 33 to 94 cm (13 to 37 in)
Depth to secondary calcium carbonate: 20 to 81 cm (8 to 32 in)
Depth to calcic horizon (where present): 150 to greater than 203 cm (60 to greater than 80 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Silicate clay: 20 to 35 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Belfon soils are cultivated. Some of the acreage is irrigated. Wheat and grain sorghum are the principal dryland crops. Where irrigated, the principal crops are wheat, grain sorghum, corn, and alfalfa. Native vegetation is short and mid prairie grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle (MLRA-77A in LRR H). This soil is moderately extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/kansas/KS189/0...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BELFON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Texas State Soil
The Houston Black series occurs on about 1.5 million acres in the Blackand Land Prairie, which extends from north of Dallas south to San Antonio. Because of their highly expansive clays. Houston Black soils are recognized throughout the world as the classic Vertisols, which shrink and swell is markedly expressed with changes in moisture content. Common or many intersecting slickensides (surface of cracks produced in soils containing a high proportion of swelling clay) are in the AC and C horizons. These are cyclic soils, with cycles of microknolls and microbasins repeated at linear intervals of 6 to 12 feet. These soils formed under prairie vegetation and in calcareous clays and marls. Water enters the soils rapidly when they are dry and cracked and very slowly when they are moist. Houston Black soils are used extensively for grain sorghum, cotton, corn, small grain, and forage grasses. They also occur in several metropolitan areas, where their very high shrink-swell potential commonly is a limitation affecting building site development.
The Professional Soil Scientists Association of Texas has recommended to the State Legislature that the Houston Black series be designated the State soil. The series was established in 1902.
The Houston series consists of moderately well drained, slowly permeable, cyclic soils that formed in alkaline clays and chalk of the Blackland Prairies. These clayey soils have very high shrink-swell potential. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent.
(Authors: Julie Howe and Clay Robinson; Around the World, Soil Science Society of America)
For more information about "State Soils" click HERE.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Udic Haplusterts
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all is cultivated and used for growing cotton, sorghums, and corn. Cotton root rot is prevalent on most areas and limits cotton yields and the use of some legumes in rotations. Native vegetation consists of tall and mid grass prairies of little bluestem, big bluestem, indiangrass, switchgrass, and sideoats grama, with scattered elm, mesquite, and hackberry trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Land Resource Region J - Southwestern Prairies Cotton and Forage Region. East Central Texas. The Blackland Prairies (MLRAs 86A and 86B) and eastern part of the Grand Prairies (MLRA 85) of Texas. This soil is of large extent.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Brazoria County, Texas; 1902.
For more information about the Houston Black soil series using "Soil Data Explorer" click HERE
Soil scientists explore and seek to understand the earth’s land and water resources. Practitioners of soil science identify, interpret, and manage soils for agriculture, forestry, rangeland, ecosystems, urban uses, and mining and reclamation in an environmentally responsible way.
Soil survey or soil mapping, is the process of classifying soil types and other soil properties in a given area and geo-encoding such information. It applies the principles of soil science, and draws heavily from geomorphology, theories of soil formation, physical geography, and analysis of vegetation and land use patterns. Primary data for the soil survey are acquired by field sampling and by remote sensing.
In the past, a soil scientist would take hard-copies of aerial photography, topo-sheets, and mapping keys into the field with them. Today, a growing number of soil scientists bring a ruggedized tablet computer and GPS into the field with them.
The term soil survey may also be used as a noun to describe the published results. In the United States, these surveys were once published in book form for individual counties by the National Cooperative Soil Survey.
Today, soil surveys are no longer published in book form; they are published to the web and accessed on NRCS Web Soil Survey where a person can create a custom soil survey. This allows for rapid flow of the latest soil information to the user. In the past it could take years to publish a paper soil survey. The information in a soil survey can be used by farmers and ranchers to help determine whether a particular soil type is suited for crops or livestock and what type of soil management might be required.
An architect or engineer might use the engineering properties of a soil to determine whether it is suitable for a certain type of construction. A homeowner may even use the information for maintaining or constructing their garden, yard, or home. Soils are the basis of agriculture and play a critical role in agricultural production as they provide the medium upon which crops can grow. Yet, during the past few decades, focus on the importance of soils has diminished, coupled with harsh man-made and natural conditions that have resulted in soil erosion and soil nutrient depletion.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
A representative soil profile of the Pipestem series. (Soil Survey of New River Gorge National River, West Virginia; by Wendy Noll and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
MLRA(s): 127 (Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains) and 147 Northern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys
Depth Class: Very Deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well Drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: High
Landscape: Hills and mountains
Parent Material: Colluvium derived from inter-bedded sedimentary rocks
Slope: 3 to 80 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 10.8 degrees C. (51.5 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1059 mm (41.7 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Dystric Eutrudepts
Depth to the top of the Cambic: 3 to 23 cm (1 to 9 inches)
Depth to the base of the Cambic: 83 to 200 cm (33 to 79 inches)
Solum Thickness: 83 to 200 cm (33 to 79 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 152 cm (60 inches)
Rock Fragment content: 5 to 35 percent, by volume, in the A horizon; 5 to 60 percent in subhorizons of the B horizon; 15 to 75 percent in the C horizon, where present. Rock fragments consist of a mixture of channers, gravels, flagstones, and stones of siltstone, shale, fine-grained sandstone, and occasionally limestone. The volume and size of the rock fragments generally increases with depth.
Soil Reaction: Strongly acid to neutral.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Most areas are in woodland.
Dominant Vegetation: Mixed mesophytic forests; dominant overstory species include; American beech, basswood, black cherry, black locust, black oak, black walnut, buckeye, cucumber magnolia, sugar maple, northern red oak, tulip poplar, white ash. Common forest floor species include; blue cohosh, black cohosh, white baneberry, maidenhair fern, wood nettle.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: The anticipated distribution includes the Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains (MLRA 127) and the Northern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys (MLRA 147) regions of West Virginia, and possibly Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Extent: Moderate
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/west_virginia/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PIPESTEM.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of an Gleyosol from the Hungarian Soil Classification System (HSCS) by Prof. Blaskó Lajos (2008).
For more information about these soils, visit:
regi.tankonyvtar.hu/hu/tartalom/tamop425/0032_talajtan/ch...
GLEYSOLS: Soil saturated by groundwater near the surface for long periods (from the Russian, gley, meaning 'mucky mass') Gleysols occur mainly in lowland areas where the groundwater comes close to the surface and the soil is saturated with groundwater for long periods of time. Conditioned by excessive wetness at shallow depth, this type of soil develops gleyic colour patterns made up of reddish, brownish or yellowish colours on ped surfaces or in the upper soil layers, in combination with greyish/bluish colours inside the peds or deeper in the soil profile. Common international names are Gleyzems (Russia), Gley (Germany), meadow soil, groundwater soil and hydro-morphic soil. They cover 5 percent of Europe.
The current Hungarian Soil Classification System (HSCS) was developed in the 1960s, based on the genetic principles of Dokuchaev. The central unit is the soil type grouping soils that were believed to have developed under similar soil forming factors and processes. The major soil types are the highest category which groups soils based on climatic, geographical and genetic bases. Subtypes and varieties are distinguished according to the assumed dominance of soil forming processes and observable/measurable morphogenetic properties.
Profile of Benavides soil in an area of Benavides fine sandy loam, 2 to 5 percent slopes. Calcium carbonates dominate the soil profile because of the calcareous nature of the residuum and colluvium from which this soil formed. (Soil Survey of Duval County, Texas by John L. Sackett III, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Benavides series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in calcareous loamy sediments of the Goliad Formation. These nearly level to gently sloping soils are on sideslopes of interfluves. Slope ranges from 2 to 5 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 22 degrees C (72 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 610 mm (24 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Aridic Calciustolls
Soil Moisture: An ustic moisture regime bordering on aridic. The soil moisture control section remains moist in some or all parts for less than 90 days, consecutive, in normal years.
Mean annual soil temperature: 22 to 24 degrees C (72 to 76 degrees F)
Depth to secondary calcium carbonate: 13 to 30 cm (5 to 12 in)
Depth to calcic horizon: 30 to 76 cm (12 to 30 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 20 to 30 percent
Coarse Fragments: 0 to 14 percent petrocalcic gravel
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for livestock grazing and wildlife habbitat. Native woody vegetation includes the mountain laurel, mesquite, hog plum, cenizo, guayacan, prickly pear, coyotillo, amargosa, and catclaw. Grass species include plains bristlegrass, hooded windmillgrass, pink pappusgrass, Arizona cottontop and twoflower and fourflower trichloris. The ecological site is Gray Sandy Loam, PE 19-31 (R083CY456TX).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Rio Grande Plain, Texas; LRR I; MLRA 83C; large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX131/Du...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BENAVIDES.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of Panam fine sand in an area of Mustang-Panam complex, 0 to 2 percent slopes, occasionally flooded. This pedon exhibits masses of oxidized iron at a depth of about 60 centimeters, and evidence of reduced iron at a depth of 80 centimeters. The oxidation and reduction of iron is caused by a fluctuating water table. (Soil Survey of Kenedy and Kleberg Counties, Texas; by Nathan I. Haile, and Dennis N. Brezina, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Panam series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained, rapidly permeable soils that formed in sandy, eolian and storm washover sediments on barrier islands. These nearly level or very gently sloping soils are on low stabilized dunes on barrier flats. These soils are subject to occasional flooding by high storm surge from strong tropical storms. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 22 degrees C (72 degrees F) and mean annual precipitation is about 686 mm (27 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Hyperthermic, uncoated Aquic Quartzipsamments
Soil Moisture: An ustic soil moisture regime bordering on udic. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for less than 120 cumulative days in normal years. Although rainfall amounts are that of an ustic moisture regime, the effective precipitation is higher due to relative landscape position and a fluctuating water table. The water table occurs in most pedons at a depth of 76 to 127 cm (30 to 50 inches) for at least two months, in most years.
Mean annual soil temperature: 23 to 24 degrees C (74 to 76 degrees F)
Depth to masses of oxidized iron: 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in)
Depth to iron depletions: 64 to 102 cm (25 to 40 in)
Depth to endosaturation: 76 to 127 cm (30 to 50 in) for at least two months in most years.
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 1 to 4 percent
Sand content: 95 to 99 percent
Coarse seashell fragments: 0 to 4 percent
The particle-size control section has less than 5 percent silt plus clay
USE AND VEGETATION: Used primarily as wildlife habitat and for recreation. Native vegetation consists of seacoast bluestem, gulfdune paspalum, brownseed paspalum, partridge pea and false indigo. The ecological site is: Coastal Sand range site, PE 31-44, 150BY648TX.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Gulf Coast Saline Prairies (MLRA 150B in LRR T) on barrier islands along the lower Gulf Coast of southern Texas. The series is of moderate extent. The series was formerly included in the Galveston series. The series are separated based the difference in soil moisture regime and sand mineralogy.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/kenedykl...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PANAM.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
In prismatic structure, the individual units are bounded by flat to rounded vertical faces. Units are distinctly longer vertically, and the faces are typically casts or molds of adjoining units. Vertices are angular or subrounded; the tops of the prisms are somewhat indistinct and normally flat. Prismatic structures are characteristic of the B horizons or subsoils. The vertical cracks result from freezing and thawing and wetting and drying as well as the downward movement of water and roots.
There are five major classes of macrostructure seen in soils: platy, prismatic, columnar, granular, and blocky. There are also structureless conditions. Some soils have simple structure, each unit being an entity without component smaller units. Others have compound structure, in which large units are composed of smaller units separated by persistent planes of weakness.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
A representative soil profile of the Eldridge series. (Photo provided by Jim Turenne, UADS-NRCS; New England Soil Profiles)
The Eldridge series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils on glacial lake plains, terraces, and glacial outwash areas. The soils formed in sandy glaciofluvial or aeolian deposits underlain by loamy estaurine or glaciolacustrine deposits. Permeability is rapid in the solum and moderately slow or slow in the substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 34 inches and mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy over loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Aquic Udorthents
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for hay and pasture. Some areas are used for growing row crops. Some areas are wooded. Common trees are white pine, sugar maple, gray birch, and elm.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and eastern New York. MLRA 142, 144A, 144B, and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about New England soils, visit:
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/ELDRIDGE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Delphine series which are shallow to bedrock. (Soil Survey of Channel Islands National Park, California; by Alan Wasner, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Delphine series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum from schist. Delphine soils are on summits and side slopes of hills on islands. Slopes range from 30 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches (457 millimeters) and the mean annual temperature is about 66 degrees F. (19 degrees C.)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Typic Haploxeralfs
The mean annual soil temperature is 59 to 71 degrees F. (15 to 19 degrees C.) The soil moisture control section is dry in all parts from about mid-June to mid-November and is usually moist the rest of the time.
Depth to paralithic bedrock is 11 to 19 inches (28 to 48 centimeters).
Depth to lithic bedrock is 17 to 22 inches (42 to 56 centimeters). Series is best represented by a depth to lithic bedrock greater than 20 inches (50 centimeters).
The particle-size control section averages 18 to 35 percent clay and 35 to 85 percent rock fragments.
USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife habitat, recreation and building site development. Vegetation is low shrubs and annual grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Santa Barbara County, California on Santa Cruz Island. The soil is not extensive. MLRA 20.
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/D/DELPHINE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Westsum series. (Soil Survey of Noble County, Oklahoma; by Gregory F. Scott, Troy L. Collier, Jim E. Henley, R. Dwaine Gelnar, and Karen B. Stevenson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Westsum series consists of very deep, well drained, very slowly permeable soils formed in residual material weathered from gray Permian shale. These very gently sloping to gently sloping soils are on lower hillslopes on uplands in the Central Rolling Red Plains (MLRA 80A). Slopes range from 1 to 5 percent. Mean annual temperature is 60 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 32 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Udertic Argiustolls
The thickness of the solum is over 55 inches, and the depth to shale is over 60 inches. Thickness of the mollic epipedon ranges from 12 to 18 inches. Depth to secondary carbonates ranges from 10 to 23 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: The principal use is for cropland or rangeland. The principle crop is wheat. Native vegetation is little bluestem, big bluestem, indiangrass, sideoats grama, hairy grama, blue grama, and buffalograss.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Rolling Red Prairies of Oklahoma and Kansas. The series is of small extent. These soils were formerly mapped in the Summit series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/oklahoma/OK103...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WESTSUM.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit: