A representative soil profile of Truce fine sandy loam. This soil is underlain by shale at a depth of about 110 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Jack County, Texas; by Wilfred E. Crenwelge, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Truce series consists of soils that are deep over claystone bedrock. These well drained, slowly permeable soils formed in loamy colluvium and/or slope alluvium over clayey residuum derived from claystone of Pennsylvanian age. These soils are on gently sloping to steep, convex ridges. Slopes are typically 1 to 5 percent, but range from 1 to 40 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 813 mm (32 in) and the mean annual air temperature is about 18.3 degrees C (65 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Udic Paleustalfs

Soil Moisture: Udic-ustic soil moisture regime

Depth to densic bedrock: 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 in)

Surface Fragments: 0 to 20 percent; cobbles and stones of ironstone and sandstone.

Particle-size control section (weighted average)

Clay content: 35 to 55 percent

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly used as rangeland. A few small areas are cropped to small grains and sorghums. Climax vegetation is an open post oak savannah with tall and mid grasses such as indiangrass, big and little bluestem, and sideoats grama. Most areas contain other woody plants such as blackjack oak and elm with invading mesquite, cedar, and lotebush. Present herbaceous vegetation consists mainly of sideoats grama, Texas needlegrass, hairy grama, threeawns, sand dropseed, and other low producing perennials and annuals with western ragweed, Engelmann-daisy, bundleflower, prairie clover, primrose, and gayfeather.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Texas North Central Prairies (MLRA 80B) and West Cross Timbers of Texas. The series is extensive.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX237/0/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Clay illuviation versus mechanical clay infiltration:

Saprolite (the white-colored area) is weathered bedrock which still retains the original lithic fabric and characteristics. The nature of the saprolite is influenced by the type of rock from which it develops (if residual), and it determines the chemical and physical properties of the associated soils. It also is used to identify any soil parent material below the subsoil that has not been affected by pedogenesis, such as unaltered alluvium or colluvium.

The saprolite (the white-colored area) in this image is from a fluvomarine sediment formed by the joint action of river and sea marine deposits.

In soil science, the "C" horizon is the soil layer consisting more or less of weathered parent rock or deposited material that is little affected by pedogenesis (soil formation). However, if an overlying horizon contains a significant amount of clay, over time, the clay may be transported into and along vertical cracks or along channels within macropores creating thick clay coats or clay flows.

The question for this horizon is the origin of the clay and degree of transport. Is the concentration of clay the result of translocation from overlying horizons or in-situ weathering, or some combination?

Clay films are a coating of oriented clay on the surface of sand grains (clay bridging), soil aggregates, or peds. Clay films also line pores or root channels. This form of orientated clay is a relatively thin film and is considered a pedogenetic process resulting in diagnostic soil features.

The thick (>1-2mm) zones of clay accumulation (yellow to red area) in this substratum appears to be inflows and the thin (<1mm coatings or red splotches) appear to have formed in place.

What is the appropriate horizonation for this layer?

The "t" designation is most commonly associated with an argillic horizon. It indicates an accumulation of silicate clay that either has formed within a "horizon" and subsequently has been translocated within the horizon or that has been moved into the horizon by illuviation, or both. At least some part of the horizon shows evidence of clay accumulation, either as coatings on surfaces of peds or in pores, as lamellae, or as bridges between mineral grains.

However, is the "t" designation appropriate with all layers where clay coats or films are present? The use of a "t" has been recognized with non-pedogenic materials such as paralithic materials where the faces of pararock fragments are coated with clayey material (Crt). Therefore, is a "Ct" designation appropriate where clay coats or flows are present on plains of separation or along vertical cracks. (See footnote--Keys to Soil Taxonomy, p. 340; "Indicates weathered bedrock or saprolite in which clay films are present.")

A C/B horizon has discrete, intermingled bodies of two horizons: C material dominates, with lesser but discrete bodies of B material; however, is this horizonation appropriate if the "B" part is entirely structureless translocated clay?

This condition leads to a possible separation of the historical pedogenic clay films from in-filling of clayey material, i.e., "clay flows".

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618298...

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-...

This soil is on level plains in coastal sabkha. It is along the edge of intertidal lagoons and on the adjacent, slightly higher salt flats in coastal sabkha. The surface commonly has a salt crust a few cm thick that may be blistered and raised in a polygonal pattern due to salt crystal growth and subsequent surface heaving.

This soil is poorly drained. Median measured saturated hydraulic conductivity class for the surface layer is very low due to the permanently high water table in this soil.

This soil is mostly used for natural areas. Commonly described vegetation species include Avicennia marina, Halopeplis perfoliata, Halocnemum strobilaceum, Zygophyllum qatarense, and Zygophyllum simplex. Vegetation cover is 1 to 10%.

This soil occurs in coastal sabkha, mostly in a narrow band between Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah. The main distinguishing feature of this soil is the concentration of gypsum in the soil surface, the permanently high water table, and the elevated salinity levels. It is not suited to agriculture or building sites. This soil provides valuable habitat for shorebirds and other coastal plant and animal species.

A representative soil profile of the Williams series; North Dakota State Soil. (USDA-NRCS Soil Survey Staff). Credit: Smithsonian Institution’s Forces of Change.)

Many states have a designated state bird, flower, fish, tree, rock, etc. And, many states also have a state soil–one that has significance or is important to the state. The Williams is the state soil of North Dakota. Soils form the foundation of North Dakota, which is firmly recognized in the state’s motto “Strength from the Soil”.

In North Dakota, the Williams soil series is among the most extensive and economically important soils in the state. The native vegetation of the Williams series includes species such as western wheatgrass, blue grama, needleandthread, green needlegrass, and prairie junegrass.

These soils have high natural fertility and their content of organic matter creates highly productive landscapes. Most level to gently rolling areas of Williams soils are used for growing small grain crops such as wheat, barley, oats, flax, and sunflowers, whereas the steeper rolling and hilly areas are used as rangeland.

The soil name is derived from Williams County, North Dakota, although the type location is in Mountrail County, near the town of White Earth. In 1900, the Williams series was recognized as an official soil series for North Dakota. William soils formed under short grass prairies and were mostly converted to small grain production and working rangelands upon settlement. These working landscapes are still present today, although more recently the region where these soils predominant has been focused on great amounts of oil and gas extraction.

The Williams series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slow or slowly permeable soils formed in calcareous glacial till. These soils are on glacial till plains and moraines and have slope of 0 to 35 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 40 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is about 14 inches.

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

Depth to carbonates ranges from 10 to 30 inches. The soil typically contains 1 to 10 percent coarse fragments but ranges up to 20 percent. Stony and cobbly phases are recognized.

USE AND VEGETATION: Cultivated areas are used for growing small grains, flax, corn, hay or pasture. Native vegetation is western wheatgrass, needleandthread, blue grama, green needlegrass and prairie junegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North-central South Dakota, central, and northwestern North Dakota and northeastern Montana. The soil is extensive.

For more information about this soil, visit:

www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/nd-state-soi...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WILLIAMS.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Soil profile: The Shelocta series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in colluvium weathered from acid shale and sandstone. These sloping to steep soils are on concave side slopes and footslopes in the Cumberland Plateau and Mountains. Slopes range from 5 to 35 percent. Typical pedon of Shelocta silt loam, 20 to 35 percent slopes; in Scott County, TN; on a north-facing side slope, 100 feet east of a logging road south of Green Branch, 600 feet southeast of the confluence of Smoky Creek and Green Branch, about 2.4 miles south of the community of Hembree; lat. 36 degrees 12 minutes 08 seconds N. and long. 84 degrees 25 minutes 04 seconds W.; USGS Fork Mountain Quadrangle:

Landscape: Pasture in an area of Allegheny-Cotaco complex, occasionally flooded, is in the foreground. Pasture in an area of Shelocta silt loam, 5 to 12 percent slopes, is the middle ground and to the right. An area of Gilpin-Bouldin-Petros complex, 25 to 75 percent slopes, very stony, is in the background on the mountainsides. (Soil Survey of Scott County Area, Tennessee; by Harry C. Davis and Jennifer R. Yaeger, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludults

Solum thickness ranges from 40 to to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is more than 40 inches. Content of rock fragments ranges from 2 to 35 percent in the A horizon, from 5 to 50 percent in the individual B horizons, and from 15 to 70 percent in the 2B or C horizons. Reaction of the unlimed soils is strongly acid to extremely acid. Some pedons have A horizons that are medium acid or slightly acid.

USE AND VEGETATION: About 25 percent of Shelocta soils are cleared and used for general crops and pasture. Wooded areas have mixed hardwoods-- oaks, gum, maple, yellow-poplar, cucumber, and some pine and hemlock.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The plateau and mountain areas of Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The series is of large extent.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/TN60...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Soil profile: Profile of Laidig soil in an area of Laidig channery loam, 3 to 15 percent slopes, rubbly. (Soil Survey of New River Gorge National River, West Virginia by Wendy Noll and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

Main feature: Fragipans are dense subsurface soil layers that severely restrict water flow and root penetration. They are considered a pedogenic horizon, but their exact genesis is not well understood.

The Laidig series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in colluvium from sandstone, siltstone, and some shale. They are gently sloping to very steep soils on benches and foot slopes. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid above the fragipan and moderately slow or slow in the fragipan. Slope ranges from 0 to 55 percent. Near the type location, the mean annual precipitation is about 34 inches, and the mean annual temperature is about 51 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, active, mesic Typic Fragiudults

Typic Fragiudults are the Udults that have a fragipan with an upper boundary within 100 cm of the mineral soil surface. Perched ground water is above the pan at some period during the year, and many of the soils have thick, gray clay depletions near the top of the fragipan and in vertical seams between structural units. The vegetation on the Fragiudults in the United States has been a forest either of conifers or of broadleaf deciduous trees.

Correlation Note: The Laidig soils in New River Gorge National River are a taxadjunct to the series because the depth to the fragipan is below 100cm. With the fragipan starting at a depth of 122 cm, the pedon classifies as a Fragic Hapludult.

Fragic soil properties are the essential properties of a fragipan. Aggregates with fragic soil properties have a firm or firmer rupture-resistance class and a brittle manner of failure when soil water is at or near field capacity. Air-dry fragments of the natural fabric, 5 to 10 cm in diameter, slake when they are submerged in water. Aggregates with fragic soil properties show evidence of pedogenesis, including one or more of the following: oriented clay within the matrix or on faces of peds, redoximorphic features within the matrix or on faces of peds, strong or moderate soil structure, and coatings of albic materials or uncoated silt and sand grains on faces of peds or in seams. Peds with these properties are considered to have fragic soil properties regardless of whether or not the density and brittleness are pedogenic.

Soil aggregates with fragic soil properties must:

1. Show evidence of pedogenesis within the aggregates or, at a minimum, on the faces of the aggregates; and

2. Slake when air-dry fragments of the natural fabric, 5 to 10 cm in diameter, are submerged in water; and3. Have a firm or firmer rupture-resistance class and a brittle manner of failure when soil water is at or near field capacity; and

4. Restrict the entry of roots into the matrix when soil water is at or near field capacity

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/L/LAIDIG.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of Tela sandy clay loam, 0 to 1 percent slopes, rarely flooded. This soil occurs in water receiving positions. The productivity of this soil is limited mostly by the droughty nature of the South Texas climate. Tela soils are rarely flooded by overland flow as a result of high rainfall, often associated with tropical events. (Soil Survey of Duval County, Texas; by John L. Sackett III, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Tela Series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy alluvium. These nearly level, occasionally flooded soils occur along drainageways. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 559 mm (22 in) and mean annual air temperature is about 22 degrees C (72 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Aridic Argiustolls

Soil Moisture: An aridic ustic moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is moist in some or all parts for less than 90 consecutive days in normal years.

Mean annual soil temperature: 22 to 23 degrees C (72 to 74 degrees F)

Solum thickness is more than 203 cm (80 in)

Depth to argillic: 15 to 35 cm (6 to 14 in)

Depth to identifiable secondary carbonates: 31 to 86 cm (12 to 34 in)

Particle-size control section (weighted average):

Clay content: 20 to 35 percent

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. A few areas are used for crop production of grain sorghum. Native vegetation is mostly a thick overstory of mesquite, whitebrush, huisache, a ground cover of trichloris, lovegrass tridens, plains bristlegrass, and hooded windmillgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Rio Grande Plain, Texas; LRR I; MLRA 83B; moderate 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/T/TELA.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of Turbeville loam. This soil has a dark brown surface layer and a subsoil of reddish brown and red clay. (Charles City County, Virginia; by Robert L. Hodges and Pamela J. Thomas, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)

Soils of the Turbeville series are very deep and well drained. They formed in old alluvium. They are nearly level to steep soils on high terraces in the Piedmont and upper Coastal Plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 44 inches and mean annual temperature is about 59 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kandiudults

Solum thickness ranges from 60 to 80 inches or more. Rock fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the control section. They consist of rounded quartz, gneiss, or schist gravel or cobblestones. The soil is very strongly acid or moderately acid unless limed.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is cleared and used for cultivated crops and pasture. Native vegetation consists of oaks, dogwood, maple, with some loblolly, shortleaf, and Virginia pines.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont Plateau and portions of the upper Coastal Plain of Virginia and North Carolina. The series is of moderate extent. In older surveys these soils were correlated as Wickham, high terrace phase, and in more recent surveys as Hiwassee, light colored variant. The April, 2003 version moves the type location from Campbell County, Virginia to Halifax County, North Carolina.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/VA036...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

The Loring series consists of moderately well drained soils with a fragipan. These soils formed in loess on level to strongly sloping uplands and stream terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Oxyaquic Fragiudalfs

Thickness of solum ranges from 45 to more than 80 inches. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 14 to 35 inches. Depth to a discontinuity to loamy coastal plains sediments (2Btx horizon) is more than 48 inches. The soil has a single clay maximum in the Bt horizon. Sand content throughout the solum is usually less than 10 percent but may range up to 15 percent. The A and B horizons range from moderately acid through very strongly acid. The C horizon ranges from slightly acid through very strongly acid.

USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all areas are cleared. The main uses are for growing cotton, small grains, soybeans, hay, and pasture. Wooded areas are in oaks, hickory, elm, maple, tulip poplar, and locust.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. The series is of large extent.

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of Cotulla clay loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes. There is an accumulation of exchangeable sodium in the soil. (Soil Survey of Live Oak County, Texas; by Paul D. Holland, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Cotulla series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, very slowly permeable soils that formed in calcareous, saline-sodic, clayey residuum derived from mudstone. These nearly level to gently sloping soils are on foot slopes and side slopes of broad interfluves. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 559 mm (22 in) and the mean annual temperature is about 21.7 degrees C (72 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, hyperthermic Sodic Haplusterts

Soil Moisture: An aridic ustic moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is moist in some or all parts for less than 90 consecutive days in normal years. .

Mean annual soil temperature: 22.2 to 24.4 degrees C (72 to 76 degrees F)

Solum thickness: ranges from 102 to 203 cm (40 to 80 in)

Depth to slickensides: 12 to 38 cm (4 to 15 in).

Cracks: 1 to 5 cm (0.4 to 2 in) wide at the surface when dry and extend to a depth of 51 cm (20 in) or more.

Depth to salt accumulations: 25 to 85 cm (10 to 33 in).

Electrical conductivity: increases with depth in the upper 102 cm (40 in).

Exchangeable sodium percentage: 15 or more in the upper 102 cm (40 in) of the solum (SAR of 13 or more)

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly as rangeland; however, a few areas are cultivated. Grain sorghum, small grain and perennial introduced grasses are grown in the cultivated areas. Native vegetation includes grasses such as curlymesquite, plains bristlegrass, lovegrass tridens, pink pappusgrass, white tridens, and threeawn. Woody plants include running mesquite, upright mesquite, twisted acacia, lotebush, condalia, guayacan, spiny hackberry, pricklypear, and dwarf screwbean. Saladillo (Texas varilla) occurs in some areas.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western and Central Rio Grande Plain, Texas; LRR I, MLRA 83B and 83C. large extent (about 117,000 acres correlated). These soils were formerly included in Catarina series, but has a soil moisture regime that will support nonirrigated crops.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX297/0/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

North Carolina State Soil

Soil profile: The Cecil series consists of very deep, well drained moderately permeable soils that are deep to saprolite and very deep to bedrock. They formed in residuum weathered from felsic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont uplands.

Landscape: Cecil soils are on ridges and side slopes of the Piedmont uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. (Soil Survey of Wake County, North Carolina; Natural Resources Conservation Service)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults

The Bt horizon is at least 24 to 50 inches thick and extends to 40 inches or more. Depth to bedrock ranges from 6 to 10 feet or more. The soil ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the A horizons and is strongly acid or very strongly acid in the B and C horizons. Limed soils are typically moderately acid or slightly acid in the upper part. Content of coarse fragments range from 0 to 35 percent by volume in the A horizon and 0 to 10 percent by volume in the Bt horizon. Fragments are dominantly gravel or cobble in size. Most pedons have few to common flakes of mica in the Bt horizon and few to many flakes of mica in the BC and C horizons.

USE AND VEGETATION: About half of the total acreage is in cultivation, with the remainder in pasture and forest. Common crops are small grains, corn, cotton, and tobacco.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Piedmont of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is of large extent, with an area of more than 5 million acres. Cecil soil is a Benchmark soil. A benchmark soil is one of large extent (aerial extent of 100,000 acres in LRR or 10,000 + acres in MLRA) within one or more major land resource areas (MLRAs), one that holds a key position in the soil classification system, one for which there is a large amount of data, one that has special importance to one or more significant land uses, or one that is of significant ecological importance.

The June 1988 revision changed the classification to Typic Kanhapludults and recognized the low activity clay properties of this soil as defined in the Low Activity Clay Amendment to Soil Taxonomy, August 1986. The December 2005 revision changed the type location from Catawba County, North Carolina to a more representative location.

For more information on Soil Taxonomy, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/

For a detailed description of the soil, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Casa Grande soil series; the State Soil of Arizona.

Landscape: Casa Grande soils are on nearly level fan terraces and relict basin floors. They are used for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat and irrigated cropland. Vegetation is desert saltbush, linear-leaf saltbush, wolfberry and scattered mesquite.

The Casa Grande series was first identified in 1936. It is named after the city of Casa Grande and the nearby Casa Grande National Monument, home of a large earthen building constructed by the Hohokam Indians nearly 1,000 years ago. The Spanish words “Casa Grande” mean “Big House.” The Indians used irrigation to remove excess salts from Casa Grande soils and raised cotton, grain, and vegetables on these productive soils, much as farmers do today.

The Casa Grande series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in old mixed alluvium. Casa Grande soils are on fan terraces and relict basin floors and have slopes of 0 to 5 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 7 inches (175 mm) and the mean annual air temperature is about 72 degrees F. (22.2 degrees C.)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Typic Natrargids

Soil moisture- Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during July-September and December-February. Driest during May and June. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.

Soil temperature: 72 to 78 degrees F. (22.2 to 25.6 degrees C.)

Rock fragments: less than 15 percent; some pedons contain hardpan fragments as a part of the coarse fraction.

Salinity: slightly to strongly saline

Sodicity: slightly to strongly sodic

Depth to calcic horizon: 20 to 40 inches, occurs mostly as vertically oriented, cylindrical masses

Organic matter content: less than one percent

Reaction: moderately alkaline to very strongly alkaline

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Arizona; mainly in the central valley areas. This series is extensive. Total extent is more than 250,000 acres. MLRA is 40.

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#casa%20grande

Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Norge 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)

Landscape: Terraces and conservation tillage on Norge silt loam, 3 to 5 percent slopes. Terraces are embankments, or ridges, constructed across sloping soils on the contour or at a slight angle to the contour. The terrace intercepts surface runoff so that water soaks into the soil or flows slowly to a prepared outlet. A terrace in a field is generally built so that the field can be farmed. A terrace intended mainly for

drainage has a deep channel that is maintained in permanent sod. Conservation tillage is a tillage system that does not invert the soil and that leaves a protective amount of crop residue on the surface throughout the year.

The Norge series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slowly permeable upland soils that formed in loamy alluvium of Pleistocene age. These nearly level to sloping soils occur on flats and upper side slopes of upland terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual temperature is 16.1 degrees C (61 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is 864 mm (34 in).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Udic Paleustolls

Soil Moisture: Udic Ustic soil moisture regime

Solum thickness: more than 152 cm (60 in)

Thickness of mollic epipedon: is 30 to 41 cm (11 to 16 in)

Depth to secondary carbonates: is more than 102 (40 in)

Depth to argillic horizon: 45 to 105 cm (18 to 41 in)

USE AND VEGETATION:

Major uses: cultivated small grains, grain sorghums, cotton, and alfalfa are the principal crops. Some areas are used for tame pasture or rangeland.

Native vegetation: consists of mid and tall grasses.

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/N/NORGE.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

The Cotaco series consists of very deep, moderately well or somewhat poorly drained, moderately permeable soils formed in loamy sediments of acid sandstone, siltstone, and shale origin. These soils are on foot slopes, colluvial fans, and low stream terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. The average annual temperature is about 55 degrees F, and the average annual precipitation is about 48 inches near the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aquic Hapludults

The solum thickness ranges from 30 to 60 inches, and depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Fragments of gravel-sized sandstone, shale, or siltstone range from 0 to 35 percent in the solum, and from 0 to 50 percent in the C horizon. Unless limed, the reaction ranges from strongly acid to extremely acid.

USE AND VEGETATION: Largely used for crops, principally corn, burley, tobacco, small grains, truck, fruit, sorghum, and hay or pasture. Native forest has oak, hickory, elm, beech, sourwood, blackgum, and yellow-poplar as the dominant species.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Primarily the Cumberland and Allegheny Plateaus in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, and the Northern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys in Virginia. Extent is moderate.

The 4/2002 revision updates this series to 8th edition Keys to Soil Taxonomy standards. Redoximorphic feature terminology and competing series were also updated at this time. Cation-exchange class placement is based on both pedon S78KY-121-3 and on geographically related soils such as Allegheny. The CEC/clay ratio of .27 for this pedon indicates a semiactive class.

For a detailed description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Soil profile: Bonneau loamy fine sand, 0 to 4 percent slopes. Bonneau soils have thick sandy surface layers underlain by a loamy moderately permeable subsoil. In the winter months (December through March) they have a seasonal high water table at a depth of 40 inches or more.

Landscape: This nearly level and gently sloping, very deep, well drained soil is on broad, smooth, upland ridges of the Coastal Plain. Individual areas are irregular in shape and range from about 10 to 300 acres in size. (Soil Survey of Halifax County, North Carolina; by Deborah T. Anderson, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Clare D. Cole, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources)

archive.org/details/halifaxNC2006

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Arenic Paleudults

Depth Class: Very deep

Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained

Internal Free Water Occurrence: Deep, common

Flooding Frequency and Duration: None

Ponding Frequency and Duration: None

Index Surface Runoff: Negligible to medium

Permeability: Moderate

Shrink-swell potential: Low

Landscape: Lower, middle, and upper coastal plain

Landform: Marine terraces, uplands

Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, backslopes

Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes

Parent Material: Marine deposits, fluviomarine deposits

Slope: 0 to 12 percent

USE AND VEGETATION: Where cultivated--growing cotton, corn, soybeans, small grain, pasture grasses, and tobacco. Where wooded--mixed hardwood and pine, including longleaf and loblolly pine, white, red, turkey, and post oak, dogwood, and hickory.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, with 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/B/BONNEAU.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

The Birome series consists of moderately deep, well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in iron enriched loamy and clayey sediments. These gently sloping to moderately steep soils are on low hills and ridges. Slopes range from 2 to 20 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Ultic Paleustalfs

The solum thickness and depth to sandstone ranges 20 to 40 inches. Ironstone and sandstone pebbles and sandstone fragments less than an inch to 3 inches thick and 3 to about 10 inches across the long axis cover 0 to 20 percent of the soil surface. Pebbles and fragments comprise 0 to 35 percent of the epipedon and 0 to 10 percent in the argillic horizon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly in wooded pasture. Native vegetation consists of little bluestem, purpletop, and shrubs with an overstory of post oak and blackjack oak.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Texas mainly in the East Cross Timbers land resource area. The soils are of moderate

extent.

For a detailed description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

For additional information about the Soil Survey area, visit:

archive.org/details/tarrantTX1981

This soil is on level to gently undulating alluvial plains and interdunal deflation plains. This soil is somewhat excessively drained. Median measured saturated hydraulic conductivity class

for the surface layer is high.

This soil is mostly used for rangeland grazing for camels. In areas where water is available, small farms have been developed. Where water resources have been depleted, cultivated lands are idle and returning to natural vegetation. Commonly described vegetation species include Acacia Tortilis, Calligonum comosum, Calotropis procera, Tribulus arabicus, and Rhazya stricta. Vegetative cover is mostly less than 5%, but may be as much as 10 to 15% in places.

This soil is on sandy alluvial plains and interdunal deflation plains in the western half of the area, mostly south of Ras Al Khaimah emirate. The main distinguishing feature of this soil is the sandy textures with accumulations of calcium carbonate in the subsoil. A desert pavement of fine to medium surface gravel provides some limited protection against wind erosion, but if disturbed, wind erosion can become a problem. Although the soil has limited water and nutrient holding capacity, where quality water is available it can be farmed successfully.

A representative soil profile of the Schaffenaker series. These soils formed in residuum derived from Oriskany Sandstone, which is of Devonian age and is at a depth of about 55 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Morgan County, West Virginia; by James W. Bell, soil survey project leader, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Schaffenaker series consists of moderately deep, somewhat excessively drained soils formed in material weathered from sandstone. Schaffenaker soils are on convex upland sideslopes and ridges. Permeability is rapid. Slopes range from 3 to 65 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 36 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 52 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mesic, coated Typic Quartzipsamments

Solum thickness ranges from 15 to 30 inches. Depth to lithic contact is 20 to 40 inches. Some pedons have a thin, paralithic weathering rind immediately above lithic contact. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid. Rock fragments in the solum range from 0 to 30 percent. A thin subhorizon immediately above the bedrock may contain up to 60 percent rock fragments. Thin, very weakly cemented lamella-like bands 3 or 4 feet long which do not have a significant increase in clay content are present in some pedons. Moisture equivalent of the control section ranges from 3 to 6 percent.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly wooded but a few areas have been cleared and are idle or in pasture. Wooded areas are dominated by chestnut oak, scarlet oak, Virginia pine and sassafras.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West Virginia, eastern Ohio and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent. MLRAs 147, 139. In the past this series was mapped as an inclusion in the Dekalb series.

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/S/SCHAFFENAKER.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of the Dapplegray series in an area of Urban land-Dapplegray complex, 5 to 20 percent slopes. Human-transported materials extend below a depth of 160 centimeters. (Supplement to the Soil Survey of Los Angeles County, California, Southeastern Part; Narratives written by Randy L. Riddle, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Dapplegray series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in human-transported materials (HTM) on engineered hillslopes terraces in areas weathered from calcareous shale bedrock and other calcareous sedimentary rocks. The mean annual precipitation is about 383 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 17 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, spolic, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic Typic Xerorthents

Note: Taxonomic subgroup tagged as typic due to presence of human-transported materials. The soil has occurs on appropriate landforms and has soil properties that support the concept of human-transported materials. The use of the Anthroportic subgroup is not currently permitted in the xeric soil moisture regime, but will be explored for future consideration for correlation.

Soil moisture: 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 cm until April or May.

Mean annual soil temperature: 17 to 20 degrees C.

Human-transported materials (HTMs): typically greater than 100 cm, often greater than 200 cm thick.

Rock fragments: typically 10 to 35 percent, transported from the source material or are detached fragments from in-situ bedrock. Some pedons have less than 10 percent fragments.

Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline.

Artifacts: 0 to 10 percent, construction debris.

USE AND VEGETATION: Dapplegray soils are used for residential neighborhoods in urban areas. Vegetation is ornamental plants, succulents and lawns.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal hills, foot hills, and low mountains of southern California mountains; MLRA 20. These soils are of moderate extent.

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/D/DAPPLEGRAY.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A petrocalcic horizon is a diagnostic horizon in the USDA soil taxonomy (ST) and in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). They are formed when secondary Calcium Carbonate or other carbonates accumulate in the subsoil to the extent that the soil becomes cemented into a hardpan.

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

vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...

For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...

or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...

For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM

For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...

or;

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...

The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil's agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area. Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soyabeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand.

Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soya, beans, maize and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.

Parent material refers to the substance from which the soil has been derived. While in most cases it is of geological origin, parent material can also be organic. The nature of the parent material can have a profound influence on the characteristics of the soil. The mineralogy of the parent material is mirrored in the soil and can determine the weathering process and control the natural vegetation composition.

Lithologic discontinuities are significant changes in particle-size distribution or mineralogy that represent differences in lithology within a soil. A lithologic discontinuity can also denote an age difference. It should be noted, not everyone agrees on the degree of change required for a lithologic discontinuity; therefore, no attempt is made to quantify lithologic discontinuities.

One line of field evidence is shape of rock fragments.—A soil with horizons containing rounded rock fragments overlying horizons containing angular rock fragments (or lack of fragments) may indicate a discontinuity. This line of evidence represents different mechanisms of soil formation (e.g., colluvial vs. residuum) or even different transport distances of the parent materials *colluvium vs. alluvium).

This photo illustrates colluvium (materials with rock fragments) underlain by residuum (folded weather bedrock).

Colluvium: Colluvium (also colluvial material or colluvial soil) is a general name for loose, unconsolidated sediments that have been deposited at the base of hillslopes by either rainwash, sheetwash, slow continuous downslope creep, or a variable combination of these processes. Colluvium is typically composed of a heterogeneous range of rock types and sediments ranging from silt to rock fragments of various sizes. This term is also used to specifically refer to sediment deposited at the base of a hillslope by unconcentrated surface runoff or sheet erosion.

Residuum: Residuum is often used to refer to the soil and subsoil that forms as the result of long weathering over bedrock. It is defined primarily as “the unconsolidated weathered at least partly, mineral material that has accumulated as consolidated rocks disintegrated in place. It is a type of soil parent material which has formed in place of origin. This distinguishes residuum from most other types of parent material.

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 Tilsit series. (Photo by D. McIntosh: 2018 Kentucky Soil Atlas; Anastasios D. Karathanasis; University of Kentucky, akaratha@uky.edu)

Landscape: Hills

Landform: Ridge

MLRA(s): 111A, 114A, 114B, 120A, 120B, 120C, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 139, 147

Geomorphic Component: Interfluve

Hillslope Profile Position: Summit or shoulder

Parent Material: Silty residuum from interbedded acid siltstone, soft shale, or fine grained sandstone

Slope: 0 to 15 percent

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Fragiudults

Depth to the top of the Argillic: 18 to 38 cm (7 to 15 inches)

Depth to the base of the Argillic: 79 to 185 cm (31 to 73 inches)

Solum Thickness: 79 to 185 cm (31 to 73 inches)

Depth to Bedrock: 102 to 305 cm (40 to 120 inches)

Depth Class: Deep or very deep

Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 46 to 81 cm (18 to 32 inches), November to June

Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 10 percent, by volume, in the upper solum, 0 to 40 percent, by volume, in the lower solum, and 0 to 50 percent, by volume, in the substratum

Soil Reaction: Very strongly acid and strongly acid, except where limed

Depth to the Fragipan: 45 to 86 cm (18 to 34 inches)

Fine-Earth Fraction: Averages 18 to 35 percent clay and less than 15 percent sand in the particle size control section

USE AND VEGETATION:

Major Uses: Cropland, hayland, and pasture

Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--Corn, soybeans, wheat, tobacco, and truck crops.

Where wooded--Oak, hickory, Virginia pine, maple, gum, poplar, dogwood, beech, ironwood, persimmon, and sassafras.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Distribution: Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia

Extent: Large, about 2.8 million acres at the time of this revision

For additional information about Kentucky soils, visit:

uknowledge.uky.edu/pss_book/?utm_source=uknowledge.uky.ed...

and...

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/kentucky/KY155...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Note: The left side of the photo exhibits natural soil structure. The right side has been smoothed.

(Soil Survey of Yoakum County, Texas, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Brownfield series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils derived from sandy eolian deposits from the Blackwater Draw Formation of Pleistocene age. Brownfield soils are on nearly level to gently sloping plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 5 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 457 mm (18 in) and the mean annual air temperature is about 16 degrees C (61 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Arenic Aridic Paleustalfs

Soil moisture: An ustic moisture regime bordering on aridic. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for more than 180 but less than 220 days, cumulative, in normal years. July through August and December through February are the driest months. These soils are intermittently moist in September through November and March through June.

Mean annual soil temperature: 15 to 18 degrees C (59 to 64 degrees F).

Depth to argillic horizon: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 in).

Depth to calcic horizon: typically greater than 2 m (6.6 ft) but ranges from 150 to more than 203 cm (60 to 80 in).

Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 in).

Particle-size control section: 18 to 35 percent silicate clay.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly used for cropland but also used as native rangeland. Principal crops grown are cotton and grain sorghum. Climax vegetation is tall and mid grasses, with tall grasses tending to dominate. This site is dominated by little and sand bluestem along with taller dropseed species. The remainder is mid and short grasses such as sideoats grama, sand dropseed, hooded windmillgrass, sand lovegrass, sand paspalum, fall witchgrass, hairy grama, needle and thread, and perennial threeawn. Sand sage, shinoak, and skunkbush are also present. This soil has been correlated to the Sandy (R077CY035TX) ecological site in MLRA-77C.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern High Plains of western Texas and eastern New Mexico (sub-MLRA-77C). The series is extensive.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

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

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of Brookings silt loam. There is about 65 centimeters of silt loam material over clay loam glacial till. The soil is dark to a depth of about 65 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Spink County, South Dakota; by James B. Millar, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Brookings series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in loess overlying glacial till on footslopes and in swales. Slopes range from 0 to 6 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 559 millimeters (22 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 6 degrees C (43 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, frigid Pachic Hapludolls

The depth to glacial till ranges from 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches). Thickness of the mollic epipedon ranges from 41 to 76 centimeters (16 to 30 inches) and extends into the B horizon. The depth to carbonates ranges from 51 to 97 centimeters (20 to 38 inches). Some pedons have carbonates at a shallower depth due to mixing by worm activity. A stone line 3 to 8 centimeters (1 to 3 inches) in thickness is at the glacial till contact in most pedons.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the Brookings soils are cultivated, the principal crops are: corn, soybeans, small grain, and alfalfa. Native vegetation typically is big bluestem, Indiangrass, switchgrass, sedges, and a variety of forbs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA-102A. Northeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. Moderately extensive.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/south_dakota/S...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

The Dimebox series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, very slowly permeable soils that formed in clayey marine sediments. These soils are on nearly level to very gently sloping uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Udic Haplusterts

The A and B horizons are cyclic, ranging from 60 to more than 80 inches thick. The amplitude of waviness between the mollic colored materials in the upper part of the solum and the higher value colors in the lower part ranges from 12 to 65 inches in more than 50 percent of the pedon. The chimneys of high value materials that extend to the surface or within 11 inches of the surface make up 10 to 30 percent of the pedon. Unless cultivated, gilgai microrelief with microknolls 6 to 16 inches higher than the microdepressions is common. The distance between center of high and center of low ranges from 5 to 18 feet. When dry, cracks 1 to 3 inches wide extend from the surface to depths of 60 inches or more. Depth to slickensides ranges from about 15 to 24 inches. Rounded ironstone pebbles range from a few to about 5 percent throughout the solum. Some pedons contain a few rounded quartz pebbles.

For more information, refer to Vertisol image:

www.flickr.com/photos/jakelley/21632446340/in/album-72157...

USE AND VEGETATION: The soil is used mainly for cultivation and rangeland. Cultivated crops include cotton, grain sorghum and corn. Winter pastures are planted to wheat, oats or ryegrass. Areas in range are little bluestem, big bluestem, switchgrass, brownseed paspalum, and indiangrass with various forbs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Blackland Prairies of East Central Texas (MLRA 86B). The series is of moderate extent. These soils were formerly included in the Burleson series. The classification was changed from Udic Pellusterts to Udic Haplusterts based on the change in the classification of Vertisols. (4/93)

For a detailed description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Oxford series.

Landscape: Oxford soils are used dominantly for dryland cropping.

The Oxford series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in lacustrine deposits and alluvium derived from mixed sources. Oxford soils are on dissected lake terraces. Slopes are 2 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 16 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 44 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, frigid Vertic Haploxerepts

Soil moisture - Usually dry in the moisture control section for 45 to 60 consecutive days in the 4 months following the summer solstice.

Mean annual soil temperature - 44 to 47 degrees F.

Vertic features - Cracks: Extend to the base of the surface horizon annually and are open to the soil surface in some years.

Linear extensibility (LE) - 6 to 9 cm.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 40 to 58 percent.

USE AND VEGETATION: Oxford soils are used dominantly for dryland cropping. Natural vegetation is assumed to have been basin big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, and sod-forming grasses.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Idaho. These soils are moderately extensive. The series concept and main acreage is in MLRA 28A, while other acreage occurs in MLRA 13.

For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:

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

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/O/OXFORD.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A profile of a Mattaponi soil. These moderately well drained, very deep soils are derived from old colluvium and occur on broad hillslopes. Wetness is a limitation in areas of the Mattaponi soils. (Soil Survey of Appomattox County, Virginia; by William F. Kitchel, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)

Depth Class: very deep

Drainage Class (Agricultural): moderately well drained to well drained

Internal Free Water Occurrence: moderately deep to deep, common

Index Surface Runoff: low to very high

Permeability: moderately slow

Landscape: Coastal Plain and Piedmont

Landform: uplands

Parent Material: fluvial and marine sediments on the Coastal Plain, fluvial sediments as capping on the Piedmont

Slope: 0 to 25 percent

Elevation (type location): 50 to 700 feet

Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 59 degrees F.

Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 42 inches

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, subactive, thermic Oxyaquic Hapludults

Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches

Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 36 to 72 inches, December to March

Rock Fragment content: rounded quartz gravel from 0 to 50 percent in the A and E horizon, 0 to 35 percent in the B horizon, and 0 to 50 percent in the C horizon

Soil Reaction: very strongly acid or strongly acid, except where limed

Other Features:

particle size control section contains less than 30 percent silt

Some pedons have less than 5 percent plinthite, by volume, in the lower Bt horizon

USE AND VEGETATION:

Major Uses: mainly forest, rest cropland

Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--Corn and soybeans are the principal row crops. Barley, oats, and wheat are the principal small grains. Where wooded--mixed hardwoods.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Distribution: Atlantic Coastal Plain and Fall Line Region in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina

Extent: large

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/VA011...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A soil profile of Pedernales fine sandy loam in an area of Pedernales fine sandy loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes. Pedernales soils are on alluvial plain remnants associated with the Hensell Sand Formation. The loamy surface from 0 to 12 inches (0 to 30 cm) rests on top of a clayey subsoil. Most areas are used for cropland with small grains or forage sorghum. (Soil Survey of Mason County, Texas; by Julia A. McCormick, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Pedernales series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in loamy and clayey, calcareous slope alluvium over residuum. These soils are on nearly level to moderately sloping alluvial plain remnants. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 19 degrees C (66 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 711 mm (28 in).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Typic Paleustalfs

Solum thickness: 150 to 200 cm (60 to 80 in)

Depth to secondary carbonates: 71 to 127 cm (28 to 50 in)

Fragments: Amount-0 to 5 percent by volume; kind-limestone and siliceous; size-fine and medium gravel

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: These soils are well drained. Permeability is moderately slow. Runoff is negligible on slopes less than 1 percent, very low on 1 to 3 percent slopes, low on 3 to 5 percent slopes, and medium on 5 to 8 percent slopes.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for growing grain sorghums, small grain, and peaches. Native vegetation is post oak and mid and tall grasses.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Texas; Central Great Plains Winter Wheat and Range Region, LRR-H: MLRA 78A-Rolling Limestone Prairie; and MLRA 80B-Texas North-Central Prairies. Southwest Plateaus and Plains Range and Cotton Region, LRR-I: MLRA 81B-Edwards Plateau, Central Part; MLRA 81C-Edwards Plateau, Eastern part; MLRA 82A-Texas Central Basin. Southestwern Prairies Cotton and Forage Region, LRR-J:. MLRA 84B-West Cross Timbers. The series is of large extent with about 500,000 acres.

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/P/PEDERNALES.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Soil churning due to shrinking and swelling has thrust the underlying gray marl upward to the surface (center of photo). The separation of the gray and dark parts of the profile is lined with large slickensides.

Illustrated Guide to Soil Taxonomy (p. 4-492)

The Osier series consists of very deep, poorly drained, rapidly permeable soils on flood plains or low stream terraces. They formed in sandy alluvium. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 67 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is about 46 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Siliceous, thermic Typic Psammaquents

Thickness of the sand is 80 inches, or more. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid throughout the profile. The silt plus clay content of the 10 to 40 inch zone is 5 to 15 percent. The water table is within 12 inches of the surface for 3 to 6 months in most years. Osier soils are frequently flooded for brief periods.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Osier soil is in forest. The vegetation consists primarily of sweetgum, blackgum, water oak, red maple, swamp holly, bay, slash pine, and longleaf pine. The understory vegetation is mostly briars, vine, canes, myrtle, and gallberry.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Coastal Plain of Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, northern Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. The series is of moderate extent.

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/O/OSIER.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/O/OSIER.html

A representative soil profile of the Marrowbone series.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:

MLRA(s) using this series: 125

Landscape: Hills and Mountains

Landform: Hill slopes, mountain slopes, and ridges

Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, crests, nose slopes, side slopes, mountaintops and mountainflanks

Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, and backslope

Parent Material Origin: Pennsylvanian aged sandstone and siltstone

Parent Material Kind: Residuum

Slope: 8 to 120 percent

Elevation: 214 to 915 meters (700 to 3,000 ft)

Frost-free period: 188 to 241 days

Mean Annual Air Temperature: 11.7 to 13.9 degrees C. (53 to 57 degrees F.)

Mean Annual Precipitation: 980 to 1245 millimeters (40 to 49 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts

Depth to the top of the Cambic: 08 to 23 cm (3 to 9 inches)

Depth to the base of the Cambic: 46 to 102 cm (18 to 40 Inches)

Solum Thickness: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)

Depth to Bedrock: Less than 102 cm (40 inches)

Depth Class: Moderately Deep

Rock Fragment content: 0 to 15 percent, by volume, in the surface horizon and 0 to 50 percent in underlying horizons, but average less than 35 percent in the particle size control section

Soil Reaction: very strongly acid to moderately acid, except where limed

Other Soil Features: Some pedons range to neutral in the upper 25 centimeters (10 inches)

USE AND VEGETATION:

Major Uses: Dominantly woodland, but also pasture, and sites for homes and gardens

Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--tall fescue. Where wooded--white oak, black oak, scarlet oak, chestnut oak, red maple, American beech, shortleaf and Virginia pine.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Distribution: The Allegheny and Cumberland Plateaus of eastern Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia

Extent: Large, about 250,000 acres

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/kentucky/KY195...

For additional information about Kentucky soils, visit:

uknowledge.uky.edu/pss_book/4/

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

(Alan Walters, Resource Soil Scientist, NRCS, Salisbury, NC)

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 mining.

For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:

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

Soil scientists record the characteristics of the pedons, associated plant communities, geology, landforms, and other features that they study. They describe the kind and arrangement of soil horizons and their color, texture, size and shape of soil aggregates, kind and amount of rock fragments, distribution of plant roots, reaction, and other features that enable them to classify and identify soils. They describe plant species present (their combinations, productivity, and condition) to classify plant communities, correlate them to the soils with which they are typically associated, and predict their response to management and change.

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.

The "Kina" series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in partially decomposed organic material derived from sedges. Kina soils occupy depressional bench-like areas associated with drumlinoid hills and the toeslope, lower backslopes, and floors of valleys.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic Typic Cryohemists

The soils formed in organic material derived in sedges which is many feet thick over glacial till or bedrock. The climate is humid maritime with an average annual precipitation of about 100 inches. The mean annual temperature is 45 degrees F., and the mean summer air temperature is about 55 degrees F. The slope gradient is commonly less than 35 percent, but ranges from 0 to 30 percent on the drumlinoid hills and 0 to 60 percent on the landforms associated with the valley landscape. Elevation ranges from sea level to 1500 feet.

Skeletal soils are soils that contain 35 percent or more (by volume) rock fragments.

A lithic contact is the boundary between soil and a coherent underlying material. Except in Ruptic-Lithic subgroups, the underlying material must be virtually continuous within the limits of a pedon. Cracks that can be penetrated by roots are few, and their horizontal spacing is 10 cm or more. The underlying material must be sufficiently coherent when moist to make hand-digging with a spade impractical, although the material may be chipped or scraped with a spade. The material below a lithic contact must be in a strongly cemented or more cemented rupture-resistance class. Commonly, the material is indurated. The underlying material considered here does not include diagnostic soil horizons, such as a duripan or a petrocalcic horizon.

A lithic contact is diagnostic at the subgroup level if it is within 125 cm of the mineral soil surface in Oxisols and within 50 cm of the mineral soil surface in all other mineral soils. In Gelisols composed mainly of organic soil materials, the lithic contact is diagnostic at the subgroup level if it is within 50 cm of the soil surface in Folistels or within 100 cm of the soil surface in Fibristels, Hemistels, and Sapristels. In Histosols the lithic contact must be at the lower boundary of the control section to be recognized at the subgroup level.

For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...

or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...

For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM

For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...

or;

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...

Soil profile: The Wedowee series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in residuum weathered from felsic igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont uplands. (Soil survey of Franklin County, North Carolina; by Sheryl Hallmark Kunickis, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

Landscape: Wedowee soils are on narrow ridges and on side slopes of uplands. Slope is dominantly between 6 and 25 percent but ranges from 0 to 60 percent. Cleared areas are used for cotton, corn, tobacco, small grain, hay, and pasture.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. Common trees include loblolly pine, Virginia pine, red oak, white oak, post oak, hickory, blackgum, maple, and dogwood.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Piedmont of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.

Wedowee soils were formerly mapped as thin solum phases of the Appling series. The 5/90 revision changed the classification to Typic Kanhapludults in recognition of the low activity clay content of the argillic horizon. The December 2005 revision moved the type location from Randolph County, Alabama to a more representative site.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

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

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WEDOWEE.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of Lilbert loamy fine sand. (Soil Survey of Shelby County, Texas; by Kirby Griffith, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Lilbert series consists of very deep, well drained soils. These gently to moderately sloping soils formed in sandy and loamy marine deposits on uplands on the Claiborne geologic group. Slope ranges from 1 to 8 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 18 degrees C (65 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 1118 mm (44 in).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Arenic Plinthic Paleudults

Soil Moisture: An udic soil moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for 75 to 90 days in normal years.

Mean annual soil temperature: 19 to 22 degrees C (66 to 71 degrees F)

Depth to densic materials 152 to more than 203 cm (60 to more than 80 in)

Depth to albic materials: 8 to 25 cm (3 to 10 in)

Depth to albic horizon: 8 to 25 cm (3 to 10 in)

Depth to argillic horizon: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 in)

Depth to horizon with 5 to 15 percent plinthite: 76 to 152 cm (30 to 60 in)

Depth to lithochromic mottles: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 in)

Thickness of the loamy fine sand epipedon, 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 in)

Thickness of solum: 150 to more than 200 cm (60 to more than 80 in)

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for woodland and pasture. Native vegetation consists of loblolly and shortleaf pine, hickory, sweetgum and red oak.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Texas; Land Resource Region P; MLRA 133B; the series is of large extent.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX419/0/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is an American national park that conserves an area of large sand dunes up to 750 feet (229 m) tall on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, and an adjacent national preserve located in the Sangre de Cristo Range, in south-central Colorado, United States. The park was originally designated Great Sand Dunes National Monument on March 17, 1932 by President Herbert Hoover. The park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America. The dunes cover an area of about 30 sq mi (78 km2) and are estimated to contain over 5 billion cubic meters of sand. Sediments from the surrounding mountains filled the valley over geologic time periods.

For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:

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

The shrink–swell index of clay refers to the extent certain clay minerals will expand when wet and retract when dry. Soil with a high shrink–swell capacity is problematic and is known as shrink–swell soil, or expansive soil. The amount of certain clay minerals that are present, such as montmorillonite and smectite, directly affects the shrink-swell capacity of soil. This ability to drastically change volume can cause damage to existing structures, such as cracks in foundations or walls.

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 Jayhawker silt loam, 0 to 1 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Hardin County, Texas; by Jonathan K. Wiedenfeld, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Jayhawker series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils. These nearly level to slightly depressional soils formed in loamy fluviomarine dpoesits of the Lissie Formation of early to mid-Pleistocene age. Slope ranges from 0 to 1 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 19.5 degrees C (67 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 1295 mm (51 in

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, siliceous, active, thermic Typic Paleaquults

Soil Moisture: An aquic soil moisture regime.

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

Depth to fragipan: 140 to 191 cm (55 to 75 in)

Aluminum saturation: 65 to 90 percent

Particle-size control section (weighted average)

Clay content: 8 to 15 percent

Sand content larger than very fine sand: 5 to 12 percent

CEC/clay ratio: 0.5 to 0.6

USE AND VEGETATION: Used primarily for woodland and wildlife habitat. Native vegetation is slash and loblolly pine, black gum, red maple, water oak, sedges, panicums and paspalums.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeast Texas; Land Resource Region T; MLRA 152B; the series is of moderate extent. The Jayhawker soils were previously included with the Sorter and Waller 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/J/JAYHAWKER.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of the Guyton series. (Soil Survey of Shelby County, Texas; by Kirby Griffith, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Guyton series consists of very deep, poorly drained and very poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in thick loamy sediments. These soils are on Coastal Plain local stream flood plains and in depressional areas on late Pleistocene age terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 1 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1397 mm (55 in) and the mean annual air temperature is about 17.2 degrees C (63 degrees F)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, active, thermic Typic Glossaqualfs

Solum thickness: 127 to 203 cm (50 to about 80 in)

Depth to redox concentrations: 0 to 203 cm (0 to 80 in)

Depth to argillic: 10 to 91cm (4 to 36 in)

Exchangeable sodium: ranges from less than 5 percent to 40 percent in the lower part of the solum

Particle-size control section (weighted average):

Clay content: 18 to 40 percent

Sand content: 10 to 40 percent, dominantly very fine sand

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in woodland. Water oak, baldcypress, water tupelo, loblolly pine, and shortleaf pine are dominant in the drainageways. On broad terraces, baldcypress and water tupelo generally are absent and sweetgum dominates. Some areas are used as pastureland or cropland.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas; LRR P and T; MLRA 133B and 152B. The series is extensive.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX419/0/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of the Buttelake series. (Soil Survey of Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; by Andrew E. Conlin, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Buttelake series consists of deep, well drained soils that formed in recently deposited tephra over till from volcanic rocks. Buttelake soils are on ground moraines on volcanic plateaus and glacial-valley floors and walls in the Southern Cascade mountains. Slopes range from 3 to 65 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 25 inches (635 mm) and the mean annual temperature is about 44 degrees F (7 degrees C).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy over medial-skeletal, glassy over amorphic, frigid Humic Vitrixerands

Depth to restrictive feature: Densic contact 40 to 60 inches (102 to 152 cm).

Mean annual soil temperature: 45 to 47 degrees F (7 to 8 degrees C).

Soil moisture control section is dry: July to October (about 90 days).

Particle-size control section (weighted average): 0 to 1 percent clay, and 5 to 22 percent rock fragments for the ashy portion of the particle size control section; 0 to 8 percent clay, and 30 to 66 percent rock fragments for the medial-skeletal portion of the particle size control section.

Surface fragments: 0 to 5 percent gravel, 0 to 3 percent cobbles.

USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for wildlife habitat, recreation, ecosystem management, and watershed. Vegetation is Jeffrey pine, white fir, western needlegrass, snowbrush ceanothus, squirreltail, mountain monardella, silverleaf phacelia, and rubber rabbitbrush.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

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

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A representative soil profile of Naclina clay loam, 1 to 5 percent slopes. Naclina soils are clayey throughout and are a member of the Vertisol order. These soils have high shrink-swell potentials. The white specks at a depth of 30 inches are masses of calcium carbonate. (Soil Survey of San Augustine and Sabine Counties, Texas: by Kirby Griffith, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Naclina series consists of residual soils that are deep to shale. They are very slowly permeable and well drained. These soils are on broad gently sloping to steep coastal plains. The slope is dominantly 5 to 10 percent but ranges from 1 to 35 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Chromic Hapluderts

Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches. The weighted average clay content of the particle-size control section ranges from 40 to 60 percent. When dry, cracks 1/2 to more than 1 inch wide extend from the surface to a depth of more than 12 inches. Cracks remain open from 60 to 90 cumulative days in most years. Slickensides and wedge-shaped peds begin at a depth of 10 to 24 inches. Undisturbed areas have gilgai microrelief with microknolls about 4 to 12 inches above the microdepressions. Distance from the center of the microknoll to the center of the microdepression ranges from 4 to about 15 feet. Colors with chroma of 2 or less in the subsoil are considered to be litho-chromic. Mottles with chroma of 3 or more, or redox concentrations, are considered to be relic or litho-chromic.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Naclina soils are well drained and very slowly permeable. Runoff is medium on 1 to 3 percent slopes, high on 3 to 5 percent slopes, and very high on 5 to 35 percent slopes.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for woodland. Trees include loblolly and shortleaf pine, red oak, and sweetgum. Most woodland areas have a dense understory of haw and other shrubs. Some areas are used for pasture. Adapted pasture grasses include common bermuda, improved bermuda, pensacola bahia, klein, and alamo switchgrass.

This soil was formerly mapped with the Susquehanna, Vaiden, or Oktibbeha soils. The classification is changed from Aquentic Chromuderts to Chromic Hapluderts based on the new classification for Vertisols. In addition, this soil does not have aquic soil conditions (January 1994).

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

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

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

A hydric soil is a soil that formed under conditions of saturation, flooding or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part.

Permafrost is frozen ground that doesn’t thaw in the summer due to a cold climate. Permafrost perches water near the surface, making soils wet and runoff fast. The striking polygonal patterned ground so characteristic of the Arctic is due to permafrost. Ice can build up in the ground and then thaw, producing pits, ponds, lakes, and landslides.

For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...

For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...

or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...

For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM

NOTE:

Original classification (USDA-Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 10th Edition, 2006):

Calcic Petrogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic

Updated classification (UAE-Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 2014):

Salidic Calcic Petrogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic

AD119 are moderately deep sands with secondary accumulations of both calcium carbonate and gypsum, are moderately to strongly saline in a layer 10 cm or more thick, and a gypsum hardpan within 100cm. These soils occur on upper slopes and crests of rises, and on flats of level to gently undulating plains in the north-eastern part of the Emirate. They are formed in older eolian deposits. These soils are well drained or somewhat excessively drained and have moderately rapid or rapid permeability above the hardpan layer. The hardpan itself is only slowly permeable and may restrict drainage under irrigated agriculture.

These soils are usually barren though they are used for low density grazing for camels, goats and sheep. This soil typically has <5% vegetation cover mainly comprising of Haloxylon salicornicum and Zygophyllum spp.

Plate 17: Typical soil profile and associated landscape for Calcic Petrogypsids, sandy, mixed hyperthermic (Soil AD119).

A representative soil profile of the Cobstone series. Cobblestone soils have many cobbles and gravel both on the soil surface and throughout the soil profile. (Soil Survey of Sequatchie County, Tennessee; by Jerry L. Prater, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Cobstone series consists of very deep, well drained, nearly level and gently sloping soils. These soils formed in loamy alluvium with a high content of sandstone cobbles and stones. They are on alluvial fans and stream terraces near the base of the Cumberland Plateau escarpment. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults

Thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 60 inches or more and depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid. Rounded cobbles, pebbles and stones range from 25 to 50 percent in the A, E and BE horizons and from 35 to 80 percent in the Bt, BC and C horizons. The rock fragments are mostly sandstone and the dominate size is 3 to 10 inches across but some are as large as 30 inches across. Stones on the surface are more common in wooded areas where they have not been removed.

USE AND VEGETATION: About fifty percent of the areas of Cobstone soils are cleared and the rest remains in mixed hardwood forest. The cleared land is dominantly pasture or is idle.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The areas adjoining the Cumberland Mountains and Cumberland Plateau regions of Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent. Cobstone soils were formerly included in the Welchland series.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

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

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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

The Spodic horizon is a subsurface soil horizon in which organic matter together with aluminum and often iron compounds have accumulated and is a diagnostic horizon in the USDA Soil Taxonomy. These horizons commonly occur in coarse-textured soils dominated by coniferous or other vegetation that contributes large amounts of soluble fulvic acids to the soil surface.

Ortstein is defined by Soil Survey Staff as all or part of the spodic horizon, when moist, is at least weakly cemented into a massive horizon that is present in more than half of each pedon.

In Spodosols, a partially cemented spodic horizon is used as family differentia. Spodosols that have a horizon with 50 to 90 percent ortstein have a have an ortstein rupture-resistance family class.

Continuous Ortstein is defined as 90 percent or more cemented and has lateral continuity (Durorthods). Because of this continuity, roots can penetrate only along vertical fractures with a horizontal spacing of 10 cm or more.

Note in this pedon, roots have not penetrated into the dark colored spodic material indicating possible cementation. Fist-size pieces of the horizon were checked for cementation by the water immersion disaggregation test. Although some of the horizon was weakly cemented, less than half of the materials tested exhibited cementation. Therefore, the spodic horizon did not meet the definition for the ortstein family.

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 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. (Soil Survey of Butts County, Georgia; by James R. Lathem, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

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/GA035/...

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

Soil profile of Caneyhead silt loam in an area of Belrose-Caneyhead complex, 0 to 1 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Tyler County, Texas; by Levi Steptoe, Jr., Natural Resources Conservation Services)

The Caneyhead series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils. These depressional soils formed in loamy alluvium of Quarternary age. Slope ranges from 0 to 1 percent slope but mainly less than 0.5 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 20 degrees C (68 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 1321 mm (52 in).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, active, thermic Typic Glossaqualfs

Soil Moisture: An aquic soil moisture regime.

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

Exchangeable Sodium Percentage ranges from 0 to 5 throughout.

Aluminum saturation ranges from 35 to 56 percent throughout.

Depth to albic materials: 5 to 13 cm (2 to 5 in)

Depth to argillic horizon: 20 to 48 cm (8 to 19 in)

Depth to glossic horizon: 5 to 13 cm (2 to 5 in)

Particle-size control section (weighted average)

Clay content: 20 to 35 percent

Sands coarser than very fine sand: 3 to 14 percent

CEC/clay ratio: 0.4 to 0.5

USE AND VEGETATION: Used primarily for wildlife habitat. Native vegetation is black gum, water oak, red maple, sedges, rushes, panicums and paspalums.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Western Gulf Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 152B) of southeast Texas and possibly Louisiana. The series is of moderate extent. The Caneyhead soils were previously included with the Mollville and Guyton series.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX457/0/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

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