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.

For additional information about the survey areas, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/webste...

and...

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/GA131/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GRADY.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#grady

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).

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/west_virginia/...

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CLIFFTOP.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#clifftop

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.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/michigan/IsleR...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MINONG.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#minong

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.

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/EDNEYTOWN.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#edneytown

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.

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/O/OSTIN.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#ostin

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..

For additional information about New England soils, visit:

nesoil.com/images/images.htm

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/R/RIDGEBURY.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#ridgebury

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.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/indiana/IN005/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/X/XENIA.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#xenia

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.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA7...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BACKDOOR.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#backdoor

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.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/nebraska/sioux...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/K/KEITH.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#keith

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.

Soil Survey Manual, Ag. Handbook 18, 2017, (p. 377).

A representative soil profile of Sapelo fine sand, in an area of Mascotte-Sapelo complex. This profile is unique with intermittent pockets of clean white sand surrounded by spodic material. (Soil Survey of Suwannee County, Florida; by Robert L. Weatherspoon, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

Depth Class: very deep

Drainage Class (Agricultural): somewhat poorly and poorly drained

Internal Free Water Occurrence: very shallow, persistent

Index Surface Runoff: negligible to low

Permeability: moderate

Landscape: Coastal Plain

Landform: flats

Hillslope Profile Position:

Geomorphic Component: talf and dips

Parent Material: marine sediments

Slope: 0 to 2 percent

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, siliceous, thermic Ultic Alaquods

Depth to the top of the Spodic: 10 to 30 inches

Depth to the top of the Argillic: 40 to 70 inches

Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches

Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 0 to 18 inches, November to April

Soil Reaction: extremely acid to strongly acid, except where limed

Other Features: silt plus clay in the 10 to 40 inch PSCS ranges from 5 to 15 percent

USE AND VEGETATION:

Major Uses: mostly wooded

Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded-- Natural vegetation consists of longleaf pine, loblolly pine, pond pine, blackgum, and water oak. Understory plants are gallberry, sawtooth palmetto, and dwarf huckleberry.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Distribution: Lower Coastal Plain of Georgia, Florida and possibly North Carolina and South Carolina.

Extent: moderate

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/florida/FL121/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SAPELO.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#sapelo

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.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/TN64...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NOWHERE.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#nowhere

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.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/VA077...

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/EDNEYTOWN.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#edneytown

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

For additional information about the survey areas, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/GA630/...

and...

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/south_carolina...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NORFOLK.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#norfolk

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.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/masonTX2...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LUCKENBACH.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#luckenbach

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.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/greene...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HARD_LABOR.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#hard%20labor

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.

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BROADAX.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#broadax

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/

For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:

www.flickr.com/photos/soilscience/sets/72157622983226139/

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#estella

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#belfon

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:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#pipestem

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#benavides

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#panam

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:

nesoil.com/images/images.htm

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/ELDRIDGE.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#eldridge

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#delphine

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#westsum

Idaho State Soil

A representative soil profile of the Threebear soil series in Idaho. The Threebear series consists of moderately deep to a fragipan, moderately well drained soils formed in loess and reworked loess with a thick mantle of volcanic ash. They are mountain slopes, structural benches, and hills on plateaus. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is low and slopes range from 3 to 40 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 36 inches and the average annual temperature is about 42 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Medial over loamy, amorphic over mixed, superactive, frigid Oxyaquic Udivitrands

Depth to fragipan - 23 to 40 inches

Depth to argillic horizon - 15 to 36 inches

Average annual soil temperature - 39 to 45 degrees F. (Frigid temperature regime)

Soil moisture regime - usually moist year round and not dry for 30 consecutive days during June to October. (Udic soil moisture regime)

Thickness of volcanic ash mantle - 14 to 23 inches

Volcanic glass content - 15 to 50 percent

Acid-oxalate extractable Al + 1/2 Fe - 1.0 to 2.7 percent

15 bar water retention - weighted average for all horizons with andic soil properties range from 12 to 17 percent

Phosphate retention - 55 to 95 percent

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for timber production, wildlife habitat and watershed. Potential natural vegetation is western hemlock, western redcedar, grand fir, Douglas-fir, western larch, and western white pine with an understory of queencup beadlily, longtube twinflower, oneleaf foam flower, goldthread, starry false Solomons-seal, myrtle pachystima, common snowberry and Columbia brome.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North central Idaho; Threebear soils are moderately extensive. MLRA 43A.

For additional information about Idaho soil, please visit:

storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/THREEBEAR.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#threebear

Typical profile of a Carlinton soil. (Soil Survey of Clearwater Area, Idaho; by Glenn Hoffman, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Carlinton series consists of moderately deep to a fragipan, moderately well drained soils on hills and ridges on basalt plateaus or on mountain slopes and canyon benches. They formed in material weathered from loess and reworked loess with an influence of volcanic ash. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high above the fragipan and moderately low through the fragipan. Slope ranges from 2 to 40 percent. The average annual air temperature is about 43 degrees F and the average annual precipitation is about 27 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, frigid Vitrandic Fragixeralfs

Depth to fragipan - 22 to 40 inches

Depth to bedrock - greater than 60 inches

Solum thickness - greater than 60 inches

Moisture control section - dry 45 to 60 days following the summer solstice, moist - rest of the year

Average annual soil temperature - 41 to 46 degrees F.

Average summer soil temperature - 59 to 63 degrees F. without an O horizon

Depth to seasonally perched water table - 14 to 36 inches from February to May

Vitrandic feature thickness - 7 to 23 inches

Volcanic glass content in the 0.02 to 2.0 mm fraction - 5 to 20 percent

Acid-oxalate extractable Al plus 1/2 Fe - 0.4 to 1.0 percent

Phosphate retention - 19 to 35 percent

15-bar water retention on air dried samples - 7 to 10 percent

Moist bulk density - 1.20 to 1.35 g/cc

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for timber production, hay, pasture, livestock grazing, and some areas of dry cropland production. Potential natural vegetation is mainly grand fir, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, western larch, Pacific yew, with an understory of creambrush oceanspray, common snowberry, myrtle pachystima, mallow ninebark and American trailplant.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The series is moderately extensive.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/clearwat...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CARLINTON.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#carlinton

State soil of Alabama--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.

[www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/al-state-soi...]

[www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9QK7grSM-E]

Profile of a Bama soil. Bama soils formed in thick deposits of loamy sediments. They are very deep, well drained soils on summits of broad ridges and high stream terraces (Soil Survey of Bibb County, Alabama by Lawrence E. McGhee, Natural Resources Conservation Service).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Typic Paleudults

Setting

Landform: High stream terraces; ridges

Landform position: Summits

Shape of areas: Irregular

Size of areas: 15 to 200 acres

Composition

Bama and similar soils: 95 percent

Dissimilar soils: 5 percent

Typical Profile

Surface layer:

0 to 6 inches—brown fine sandy loam

6 to 10 inches—dark brown fine sandy loam

Subsoil:

10 to 72 inches—red sandy clay loam

72 to 80 inches—red sandy loam

Soil Properties and Qualities

Depth class: Very deep

Drainage class: Well drained

Permeability: Moderate

Available water capacity: High

Seasonal high water table: None within a depth of 6 feet

Shrink-swell potential: Low

Flooding: None

Content of organic matter in the surface layer: Low

Natural fertility: Low

Depth to bedrock: More than 80 inches

Minor Components

Dissimilar soils:

• The moderately well drained Savannah soils, which are at the slightly lower elevations and have a fragipan

• The clayey Colwell soils, which have a dark red subsoil

Similar soils:

• Scattered areas of Bama soils that have a surface layer of loam

• Scattered areas of Bama soils that have gravelly strata below a depth of 60 inches

• Scattered areas of Lucedale soils, which have dark red colors throughout the subsoil

• Scattered areas of Smithdale soils, which have a significant decrease in clay content in the lower part of the subsoil

Land Use

Dominant uses: Cropland, pasture, and hayland

Other uses: Forestland and homesites

Cropland

Suitability: Well suited

Commonly grown crops: Corn, cotton, soybeans, and truck crops

Management concerns: No significant limitations affect management of cropland.

Management measures and considerations:

• Applying lime and fertilizer on the basis of soil testing increases the availability of nutrients to plants and maximizes productivity.

Pasture and hayland

Suitability: Well suited

Commonly grown crops: Bermudagrass and bahiagrass

Management concerns: No significant limitations affect management of pasture and hayland.

Management measures and considerations:

• Applying lime and fertilizer on the basis of soil testing increases the availability of nutrients to plants and maximizes productivity.

Interpretive Groups

Land capability classification: 1

Prime farmland status: Prime farmland

Hydric soil status: Not hydric

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#bama

A soil scientist is a person who is qualified to evaluate and interpret soils and soil-related data for the purpose of understanding soil resources as they contribute to not only agricultural production, but as they affect environmental quality and as they are managed for protection of human health and the environment. The university degree should be in Soil Science, or closely related field (i.e., natural resources, environmental science, earth science, etc.) and include sufficient soils-related course work so the Soil Scientist has a measurable level of understanding of the soil environment, including soil morphology and soil forming factors, soil chemistry, soil physics, and soil biology, and the dynamic interaction of these areas.

www.flickr.com/photos/jakelley/50801565657/in/photolist-Q...

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 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:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM

(L) View of polygonal or irregularly shaped mottling in a Dothan soil from the upper coastal plain of South Carolina. These soils commonly have 5 to more than 35 percent plinthite in the subsoil, decreasing with depth to a dense, compact aquitard layer that facilitates plinthite formation.

(R) View of reticulate mottling in a paleosol at Cabrillo National Monument. The term “reticulate” defines the well-defined pattern or network of soil colors. Reticulate mottling is a feature of paleosols at Cabrillo National Monument. Reticulate mottling consists of a network of mottles or redoximorphic features. These features are commonly associated with plinthite. Plinthite is a redoximorphic feature in mineral soils. It forms from the segregation of iron and aluminum in a mixture of clay and quartz. If plinthite is repeatedly subject to wetting and drying, it hardens irreversibly to form ironstone (Soil Survey Staff, 1999). (Soil Survey of Cabrillo National Monument, California; United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service).

For additional information about the Soil Survey area, visit:

archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-cabrillo-national...

For more information about a plinthic horizon, visit;

www.researchgate.net/publication/242649722_Rationale_for_...

or;

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00167061220043...

(South Dakota State Soil)

The Houdek series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in glacial till on uplands. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately slow in the underlying material. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 22 inches, and mean annual air temperature is about 47 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Argiustolls

The depth to carbonates ranges from 14 to 24 inches. Thickness of the mollic epipedon ranges from 8 to 20 inches and includes all or part of the Bt horizon. The soil contains 0 to 10 percent by volume of coarse fragments as pebbles. Some pedons contain up to 20 percent by volume of stones throughout.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cultivated. Small grain, corn, alfalfa, and feed grains are the principal crops. Native vegetation is big bluestem, little bluestem, western wheatgrass, green needlegrass, needleandthread, sideoats grama, blue grama, sedges, and forbs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East-central South Dakota. The series is of large extent.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Spink County, South Dakota, 1955.

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HOUDEK.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#houdek

A representative soil profile of the Podova series. (Supplement to the Soil Survey of Los Angeles County, California, Southeastern Part; by Randy L. Riddle and Christopher “Kit” Paris, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Padova series consists of deep, well drained soils that formed in residuum from gneiss and igneous rock sources. Padova soils are on foothills. Slopes range from 15 to 55 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 584 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 18 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Mollic Haploxeralfs

Soil Moisture: The soil becomes moist below a depth of about 30 cm some time from October to December and remains moist in some part between depths of about 30 to 90 centimeters until April or May.

Soil Temperature: 16 to 20 degrees C. The soil temperature usually does not go below 8 degrees C.

Rock fragments: 0 to 5 percent by volume.

Depth to lithic contact: Typically greater than 100cm. Bedrock has areas with fractures less than 10 cm apart, but the rock is still dominantly greater than strongly cemented.

USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for open space, wildlife, recreation, watershed, and some limited residential development. Vegetation is primarily annual grasses, sage and laurel sumac.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The soils are not extensive and are mapped in MLRA 20, Southern California Mountains.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/los...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PADOVA.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#padova

The Goldston series consists of shallow, well drained to excessively drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils that formed in residuum weathered from fine-grained metasedimentary or metavolcanic rocks in the Carolina Slate Belt. This soil averages more than 35 percent coarse fragments by volume. Slope ranges from 2 to 60 percent. Thickness of the solum and depth to paralithic contact is 25 to 50 cm from the soil surface. This soil has a weighted average of more than 35 percent coarse fragments by volume. Depth to lithic contact is 50 to 100 cm or more from the soil surface.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, thermic, shallow Typic Dystrudepts

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the areas are in forests of blackjack, white, post, and red oaks, hickory, dogwood, cedar, and shortleaf pine. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the areas have been cleared in the past but most have been allowed to revert to forest. Cleared areas are used mainly for growing grain sorghum, small grain, corn, pasture, and hay.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Piedmont of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is extensive.

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GOLDSTON.html

A Typic Aquisalid and landscape in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Aquisalids are the Salids that are saturated with water in one or more layers within 100 cm of the mineral soil surface for 1 month or more in normal years. These salty soils are 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.

Salids are the Aridisols soils with an excessive amount of salts that are more soluble than gypsum. This is implicit in the definition, which requires a minimum absolute EC of 30 dS/m in 1:1 extract (about 2 percent salt) and a product of EC and thickness of at least 900. As a rule, Salids 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.

For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:

www.biosaline.org/publications/united-arab-emirates-keys-...

A soil profile of Miami silt loam, 6 to 12 percent slopes, eroded. (Soil Survey of Bartholomew County, Indiana; by Mike Wigginton and Dena Marshall, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Miami series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that are moderately deep to dense till. Miami soils formed in as much as 46 cm (18 inches) of loess or silty material and in the underlying loamy till. They are on till plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. Mean annual precipitation is 1016 mm (40 inches), and mean annual temperature is 11.1 degrees C (52 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs

Thickness of the loess or silty material: 0 to 46 cm (0 to 18 inches)

Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 61 to 102 cm (24 to 40 inches)

Depth to densic contact: 61 to 102 cm (24 to 40 inches)

Depth to carbonates: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)

Depth to bedrock: greater than 203 cm (80 inches)

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used to grow corn, soybeans, small grain, and hay. Much of the more sloping part is in permanent pasture or forest. Native vegetation is deciduous forest.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Indiana, southern Michigan, central and northern Illinois, southeastern Wisconsin, and western Ohio; mainly in MLRAs 111A and 111D, and lesser extents in MLRAs 95B, 97, 98, 108A, 110, 114A, and 115C. The type location is in MLRA 111A. The series is of large extent, more than 1,300,000 acres.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/indiana/IN005/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MIAMI.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#miami

A representative profile of Chapett fine sandy loam. (Soil Survey of Polk County, Minnesota; by Charles T. Saari and Rodney B. Heschke, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Chapett series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in calcareous loamy glacial till. These soils are typically on convex slopes on ground and end moraines. The permeability is moderate. Slopes range from 1 to 40 percent. The mean annual temperature is about 40 degrees F and mean annual precipitation is about 24 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Alfic Argiudolls

Depth to the base of the argillic or to free carbonates is 14 to 22 inches, but ranges to 28 inches. The mollic epipedon ranges from 7 to 10 inches in thickness. Rock fragments of mixed lithology make up 2 to 10 percent by volume of the profile. The soil moisture control section is not dry in all parts for as long as 45 consecutive days for the 120 days following the summer solstice. It is also not dry in any part for as long as 90 cumulative days per year in 6 out 10 years.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cropped to small grain, corn, soybeans and hay. Some areas are in woodland or pasture. Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods and prairie grasses.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwest and West-central Minnesota. Moderately extensive.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/minnesota/MN11...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CHAPETT.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#chapett

A representative soil profile of the Tarrus soil series in North Carolina.

Soils of the Tarrus series are deep and well drained. They have moderate permeability. They formed in residuum from argillite or other fine-grained metavolcanic rocks of the Carolina Slate Belt. These soils are on uplands of the Piedmont physiographic region. Slopes range from 0 to 50 percent. (Soil Survey of Randolph County, North Carolina; by Perry W. Wyatt, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults

Solum thickness ranges from 30 to 60 inches. Depth to soft bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Depth to hard bedrock is more than 60 inches. The upper 20 inches of the Bt horizon ranges from 35 to 60 percent clay. The soil is very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout unless limed. Rock fragments of quartz or other fine-grained rock range from 0 to 40 percent in individual horizons throughout. Flakes of mica may be present throughout the soil.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly in woodland of mixed hardwoods and pine. Some acreage is in cultivated crops and pasture. Crops are mostly corn, small grain, hay, and soybeans.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: In the thermic Piedmont Plateau in North Carolina, and possibly South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia. The 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 soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TARRUS.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#tarrus

A soil profile of a Hapludalf. Note the light-colored E horizon that extends to a depth of about 10 inches. Clay content of the argillic horizon decreases noticeably below a depth of about 1 meter. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)

Hapludalfs have an argillic (clay accumulation) subsoil horizon that typically extends to a depth of less than 150 cm. In many areas, the argillic horizon is at a depth of less than 100 cm. Where undisturbed, these soils generally have a thin, very dark brown A horizon that is 5 to 10 cm thick, over a lighter-colored brownish eluvial horizon. The eluvial horizon grades into a finer textured argillic horizon, generally at a depth of about 30 to 45 cm in loamy materials. Because these soils have been cultivated extensively, many of those on slopes have lost their eluvial horizons through erosion.

Hapludalfs formed principally in late-Pleistocene deposits or on a surface of comparable age. Temperature regimes are mesic or thermic. Hapludalfs are extensive in the northeastern States, excluding New England, and in Europe, excluding most of Scandinavia. In the United States, the vegetation was deciduous broadleaf forest but these soils are now mostly farmed.

For additional information about soil classification, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...

A soil profile of the top 24 inches of Derroc very cobbly sandy loam. The water-worn cobbles are indicative of this soil’s alluvial origin. (Soil Survey of Rockbridge County, Virginia; by Mary Ellen Cook, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Derroc series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in alluvium derived from limestones, shales, quartzites, and sandstones on flood plains. Permeability is moderately rapid or rapid. Slope ranges from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 38 inches, and mean annual air temperature is about 55 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, mesic Dystric Fluventic Eutrudepts

Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 5 to 60 percent in the A and Ap horizons and from 30 to 80 percent in the Bw and C horizons with an average of 35 percent or more between depths of 10 and 40 inches. Reaction is moderately acid to neutral throughout.

USE AND VEGETATION: Derroc soils are mainly used for the production of forest products. The remaining areas are cultivated. Pasture, hay, small grain, and corn are the principal crops.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 128. In the Valley and Ridge physiographic province in Virginia, and possibly, West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The area is of moderate extent.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/rockb...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DERROC.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#derroc

A representative soil profile of an Gypsisol 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...

GYPSISOLS: Soil of dry areas with secondary accumulation of gypsum (from the Latin, gypsum, meaning the evaporite calcium sulphate). Gypsisols have substantial secondary accumulation of gypsum in the subsurface. Most areas of Gypsisols are in use for low volume extensive grazing. They occur in the driest parts of the arid climate zone, which explains why leading soil classification systems label them Desert soil (USSR), Aridisols (Soil Taxonomy), Yermosols or Xerosols (FAO). Dominant in only very small part of Europe (less than 0.1 percent).

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.

Soil profile: A typical profile of Deno ashy silt loam in an area of Rockly-Deno complex, 0 to 15 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Spokane County, Washington; by Scott H. Bare, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

Landscape: Typical area of Rockly-Deno complex, 0 to 15 percent slopes. The Rockly soil is in foreground under rangeland ecological site R009XY301WA. Stiff sagebrush (Artemisia rigida) is the dominant shrub on the Rockly soil. The Deno soil is on mounds and supports rangeland ecological site R009XY102WA.

Landscape--channeled scablands

Landform--mounds on basalt plateaus

Slope--0 to 15 percent

Parent material--loess mixed with volcanic ash in upper part over basalt; minor amount of glaciofluvial deposits in lower part of some pedons

Mean annual precipitation--about 430 mm

Mean annual air temperature--about 9 degrees C

Depth class--deep

Drainage--well drained

Soil moisture regime--xeric

Soil temperature regime--mesic

Soil moisture subclass--typic

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Vitrandic Haploxerolls

USE AND VEGETATION:

Use--dominantly homesite development, crop production, and livestock grazing; some wildlife habitat and watershed

Common crops--small grain, hay, pasture

Potential natural vegetation--basin wildrye, common snowberry, Idaho fescue, bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, Wyeth eriogonum, common yarrow, lupine, rose, threadleaf sedge

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Washington; MLRA 9; small extent. The Ritter series appears to be very similar to this series. It should be investigated further to determine vitrandic features.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/washington/spo...

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DENO.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#deno

Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Plinthic Kandiudult in Lee County, South Carolina..

Landscape: Cotton on an area of Plinthic Kandiudults in South Carolina.

Plinthic Kandiudults that have 5 percent or more (by volume) plinthite in one or more horizons within 150 cm of the mineral soil surface.

Kandiudults are the Udults that are very deep and have a kandic horizon and a clay distribution in which the percentage of clay does not decrease from its maximum amount by as much as 20 percent within a depth of 150 cm from the mineral soil surface, or the layer in which the clay percentage decreases has at least 5 percent of the volume consisting of skeletans on faces of peds and there is at least a 3 percent (absolute) increase in clay content below this layer. These soils do not have a fragipan or a horizon in which plinthite either forms a continuous phase or constitutes one-half or more of the volume within 150 cm of the mineral soil surface. Kandiudults are of moderate extent in the Southeastern United States.

Ultisols are soils that have an argillic or kandic horizon with low base saturation. They may have any soil temperature regime and any soil moisture regime except aridic. There is more precipitation than evapotranspiration at some season, and some water moves through the soils and into a moist or wet substratum. The release of bases by weathering usually is equal to or less than the removal by leaching, and most of the bases commonly are held in the vegetation and the upper few centimeters of the soils. Base saturation in most Ultisols decreases with increasing depth because the vegetation has concentrated the bases at a shallow depth.

Cultivation, therefore, is a shifting cultivation unless soil amendments are applied. Ultisols are most extensive in warm, humid climates that have a seasonal deficit of precipitation. They are mainly on Pleistocene or older surfaces. They formed in a very wide variety of parent materials, but very few have many primary minerals that contain bases other than some micas. Some of the few that have a supply of bases are intensively cultivated. Kaolin, gibbsite, and aluminum-interlayered clays are common in the clay fraction. Smectites also may be present if they are in the parent materials. Extractable aluminum normally is high. A calcium deficient argillic horizon is common in the Ultisols in the United States. Most of the Ultisols in the United States had a vegetation of coniferous or hardwood forests at the time of settlement.

For additional information about soil classification, visit:

sites.google.com/site/dinpuithai/Home

A representative soil profile of Silsbee fine sandy loam, 5 to 12 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Hardin County, Texas; by Jonathan K. Wiedenfeld, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Silsbee series consists of very deep, well drained soils. These gently sloping to strongly soils formed in loamy fluviomarine deposits of the Lissie Formation of early to mid Pleistocene age. Slope ranges from 3 to 12 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 19.4 degrees C (67 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 1397 mm (55 in).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Paleudults

Soil Moisture: An udic soil moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is 10 to 30 cm (4 to 12 in) below the soil surface and remains dry less than 90 cumulative days in most years.

Mean annual soil temperature: 20.6 to 21.7 degrees C (69 to 71 degrees F)

Depth to argillic horizon: 20 to 58 cm (8 to 23 in)

Particle-size control section (weighted average)

Clay content: 26 to 35 percent

Base saturation: 25 to 35 percent

USE AND VEGETATION: Used primarily for woodland and wildlife habitat. Some areas are used for pastureland. Pastures are bahiagrass and improved bermudagrass. Native vegetation is longleaf pine, yaupon, bluestems, panicums and paspalums. The most common commercially grown pine is loblolly.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeast Texas generally east of the Trinity River; LRR T; MLRA 152B (Western Gulf Coast Flatwoods). The series is of moderate extent. The Silsbee soils were formerly included with the Otanya and Attoyac series.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX199/0/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SILSBEE.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#silsbee