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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Smithcanyon soil series. (Soil Survey of Joshua Tree National Park, California; by Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, Peter Fahnestock, Stephen Roecker, and Emily Meirik, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Marchel Munnecke and Alice Miller, Pyramid Botanical Consultants)
Landscape: A rock outcropping of monzogranite in an area of Smithcanyon-Stubbespring-Rock outcrop complex, 15 to 50 percent slopes, in the northwest corner of Joshua Tree National Park.
The Smithcanyon series consists of very shallow and shallow, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in colluvium over residuum derived from granitoid and/or gneissic rocks. Smithcanyon soils are on hills and mountains. Slopes range from 8 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 200 millimeters (8 inches) and the mean annual temperature is about 15 degrees C (59 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, thermic, shallow Xeric Torripsamments
Soil moisture control section: usually dry from May 1 through November 30, and is moist in some or all parts the rest of the time. Aridic bordering on xeric soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 15 to 19 degrees C (59 to 66 degrees C).
Surface rock fragments: 35 to 80 percent, dominated by fine gravel.
Control section-
Clay content: 2 to 6 percent.
Organic matter: 0.25 to 1 percent.
Rock fragments: 5 to 30 percent gravel, with 0 to 5 percent cobbles in the lower part.
Depth to paralithic contact: 7 to 35 centimeters (3 to 14 inches).
Effervescence: noneffervescent throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is mainly scrub oak, bigberry manzanita, Eastern Mojave buckwheat, California juniper, holly-leaf cherry, Parry's jujube, California joint-fir, narrow-leaf goldenbush, blackbrush, and Sandberg bluegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mojave Desert of Southeastern California; MLRA 30. The soils are of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/Jos...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SMITHCANYON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The New River Gorge National River is a unit of the United States National Park Service designed to protect and maintain the New River Gorge in southern West Virginia. Established in 1978, the NPS-protected area stretches for 53 miles (85 km) from just downstream of Hinton to Hawks Nest State Park near Ansted.
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Exposed area of the aquitard layer underlying the plinthic soils of the southeastern US coastal plain. At a macro level, these materials have observable structure; however, their structure may not be observable within a soil pit. In plinthic soils, these underlying layers act as an aquitard restricting water movement, facilitating the formation of plinthite. Because of the dark red color and dense characteristics, these layers are referred to by the local soil scientists as the "brick" layer.
These layers are normally more than 2 meters below the soil surface, but may be at shallower depths where the soils have historically been cultivated and severe erosion has occurred.
Question: Is the macro structure demonstrated in the image the result of pedogenesis (soil formation) or is it a product of mechanical compaction of marine sediments or a geologic weathering pattern?
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 a Humic Pachic Dystrudept in Idaho.
These soils have an umbric or mollic epipedon 50 cm or more thick. They are otherwise like the soils of the Typic subgroup. Humic Pachic Dystrudepts are of small extent in the United States. They are widely distributed but are concentrated in the mountains of the Eastern and Northwestern States. The native vegetation consists mostly of mixed forest. Most of these soils are used as forest. Many of the less sloping soils have been cleared and are used as cropland or pasture.
The umbric horizon (Latin: umbra, shade) is a thick, dark colored, surface Soil horizon rich in organic matter. It is identified by its dark color and structure. Normally it has a pH of less than 5.5 representing a base saturation of less than 50 percent. It is similar to a mollic epipedon but with a base saturation of less than 50 percent.
Dystrudepts are the acid Udepts of humid and perhumid regions. They developed mostly in late-Pleistocene or Holocene deposits. Some developed on older, steeply sloping surfaces. The parent materials generally are acid, moderately or weakly consolidated sedimentary or metamorphic rocks or acid sediments. A few of the soils formed in saprolite derived from igneous rocks. The vegetation was mostly deciduous trees.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
A representative soil profile of the Port soil series, the Oklahoma State Soil.
The Port series consist of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable flood plain soils that formed in calcareous loamy alluvium of Recent age. These nearly level to very gently sloping soils are on narrow flood plains in the Central Rolling Red Prairies (MLRA-80A) and the Central Rolling Red Prairies (MLRA 78C). Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation is 32 inches. Mean annual temperature is 63 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, thermic Cumulic Haplustolls
Depth of secondary calcium carbonates ranges from 20 to 60 inches. Thickness of the mollic epipedon ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The A, Bk/Bw, and C horizons are silt loam, loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly cultivated to alfalfa, small grains, grain sorghum, and cotton. Some areas are used for tame pasture or rangeland for grazing beef cattle. Native vegetation is tall grasses with an overstory of pecan, black walnut, bur oak, and eastern cottonwood trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern part of the Central Rolling Red Plains (MLRA-78C) and the Central Rolling Red Prairies (MLRA-80A) of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. The series is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/oklahoma/OK017...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PORT.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A peanut field in an area of Dothan loamy sand, 2 to 5 percent slopes. This map unit is well suited to cultivated crops and qualifies as prime farmland. (Soil Survey of Washington County, Florida; By Milton Martinez, Natural Resources Conservation Service}
The Dothan series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in thick beds of unconsolidated, medium to fine-textured marine sediments. Dothan soils are on interfluves. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 18 degrees C (65 degrees F), and the mean annual precipitation is about 1360 millimeters (53 inches).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Plinthic Kandiudults
Plinthite: Depth to horizons that contain 5 percent or more plinthite ranges from 60 to 152 centimeters (24 to 60 inches).
Silt content is less than 20 percent.
Clay content is between 18 to 35 percent in the upper 51 centimeters (20 inches) of the Bt horizon.
Depth to Redox features: Predominantly greater than 102 centimeters (40 inches), but some pedons have iron depletions below a depth of 76 centimeters (30 inches).
USE AND VEGETATION:
Most areas of Dothan soils have been cleared and are used for the production of corn, cotton, peanuts, vegetable crops, hay, and pasture. Forested areas are in longleaf pine, loblolly pine, sweetgum, southern red oak, and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Major Land Resource Areas (MLRA): The series occurs primarily in the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A), but it also occurs to a lesser extent in the Atlantic Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 153A).
Extent: large extent
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DOTHAN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Sorrento series. A thin layer of human-transported materials overlies the truncated native soil (at a depth of 42 centimeters). The original surface layer has been removed and mixed into these materials. (Supplement to the Soil Survey of Los Angeles County, California, Southeastern Part; by Randy L. Riddle and Christopher “Kit” Paris, Natural Resources Conservation Service).
The Sorrento series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvium mostly from sedimentary rocks. Sorrento soils are on alluvial fans and stabilized floodplains and have slopes of 0 to 15 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 16 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 61 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Calcic Haploxerolls
The mean annual soil temperature is 59 to 63 degrees F. and the soil temperature is rarely if ever below 47 degrees F. The soil between depths of about 5 and 15 inches usually is dry all of the time from late April or May until November or early December and usually is moist in some or all parts all the rest of the year. The 10 to 40 inch control section is loam, fine sandy loam, clay loam, sandy clay loam or silty clay loam with 18 to 35 percent clay and more than 15 percent fine sand or coarser. Few pedons have as much as 15 percent rock fragments. The upper part of the profile is slightly acid to moderately alkaline, and is noncalcareous to a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Effervescence is weak to violent in disseminated lime and secondary powder or mycelial lime is present.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for growing irrigated fruit, nut, field, forage, and truck crops, and some dry grain. Uncultivated areas are mostly annual grasses and forbs with sycamore along drainageways.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Valleys of the south half of the Coast Range in California, MLRA 14. The soils are extensive. The Farewell series was formerly in the same family and is now inactive and combined with the Sorrento series.
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/S/SORRENTO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A Rhodic soil profile (Rhodic Kandiudult) in Boluo County, Guangdong Province, China (PRC-03).
Landscape: These soils ranged from 2 to 15 percent slopes and are mostly on sideslopes and low ridges. Nearly all were cultivated in potatoes and sugarcane. Scattered banana trees were common.
Kandiudults are the Udults that are very deep and have a kandic horizon and a clay distribution in which the percentage of clay does not decrease from its maximum amount by as much as 20 percent within a depth of 150 cm from the mineral soil surface, or the layer in which the clay percentage decreases has at least 5 percent of the volume consisting of skeletans on faces of peds and there is at least a 3 percent (absolute) increase in clay content below this layer. Kandiudults are of moderate extent in the Southeastern United States.
Rhodic Kandiudults soils are like Typic Kandiudults, but the upper part of their kandic horizon has hue of 2.5YR or redder, a color value, moist, of 3 or less, and a dry value no more than 1 unit higher than the moist value. Rhodic Kandiudults are of small extent in the United States. The natural vegetation consisted of forest plants. Slopes range from nearly level to moderately steep. Many of these soils are used as cropland. Some, particularly the most sloping ones, are used as forest. Some are used as pasture or homesites.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
A soil profile of a well drained, loamy Kandiustalf in Zambia. The intensely weathered kandic horizon (beginning at a depth of about 15 cm and extending below the base of the photo) has low natural fertility and a limited ability to supply plant nutrients. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Kandiustalfs have thick kandic subsoil horizons that have relatively high base saturation but a low cation-exchange capacity. Many of
these soils occur on the older surfaces in warm, humid or semihumid areas. Kandiustalfs occur mostly in Africa and South America. They are commonly used as rangeland or cropland.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
Soil profile: Layland soils are young and do not exhibit strong colors or well developed structure in the subsoil. (Soil Survey of Gauley River National Recreation Area, West Virginia; By Aron Sattler and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typical landscape of Layland-Rock outcrop complex, 35 to 70 percent slopes, very rubbly. The Lower Nuttall sandstone forms the prominent cliffs (Rock outcrop) on both sides of the Gauley River.
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high
Landscape: The Allegheny Plateau
Parent Material: Colluvium derived from sandstones and shales
Slope: 15 to 80 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 11 degrees C. (52 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1168 mm (46 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Depth to the top of the Cambic: 8 to 51 cm (3 to 20 inches)
Depth to the base of the Cambic: 76 to 152 cm (30 to 60 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: greater than 152 cm (60 inches)
Rock Fragment content (by volume): 5 to 60 percent in individual horizons of the upper solum, 30 to 90 percent in the BC and C horizons. The weighted average of rock fragments in the particle size class control section (25 to 102 cm) is 35 percent or more. Rock fragments are dominantly sandstone in the upper part. Fragments of siltstone and shale often increase in volume in the lower part of the profile.
Soil Reaction: Very strongly acid or extremely acid throughout the mineral soil, except where limed or affected by burning. Organic surface horizons are very strongly acid to moderately acid n reaction.
Other soil features: The particle size control section averages 18 to 27 percent clay. Some pedons have a lithologic discontinuity to colluvium dominated by materials weathered from shale and siltstone below a depth of 92 cm (36 inches).
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland and pasture
Dominant Vegetation: Oak-hickory or mixed mesophytic forests, largely depending on aspect; predominantly scarlet, black, white, red, or chestnut oak, red maple, pignut or mockernut hickory, yellow poplar, American Holly, and beech.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: West Virginia, Possibly Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Extent: Moderate
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/west_virginia/...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LAYLAND.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Campbell series. The surface layer is very loose because of cultivation. The subsoil is silty clay loam that contains more clay as depth increases. Smooth excavation surfaces are visible below a depth of 80 centimeters. A buried clay soil occurs below 1 meter. (Supplement to the Soil Survey of Santa Clara Area, California, Western Part; Narratives written by William Reed, natural resources specialist, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Campbell series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils on floodplains and alluvial fans. These soils formed in alluvium derived from mixed rock sources. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 14 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 60 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, thermic Cumulic Haploxerolls
Note: Despite some wetness, mottles are too deep, below 20 inches, for an aquic suborder and chromas are too bright for an aquic extragrade. Major revision of description resulting from moving the type location during mapping of the Santa Clara Valley in 2006-2008 because the old type location was lost to urbanization.
The soils are developed in material of mixed mineralogy. Mean soil temperature is between 59 and 62 degrees F. The soils are moist from mid October until about June 15. The textural control section of 25 to 100 centimeters has clay content of 27 to 35 percent clay. Depth to the buried A horizon ranges from 30 to 100 centimeters. Fragments are gravel in size and range from 0 to 2 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Large areas have been urbanized and othere areas are used for row crops, truck crops, fruit orchards, pasture and hay. Native vegetation was grass-oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Correlated only in Santa Clara County, California where the soil is moderately extensive. 14,000 acres.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/san...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CAMPBELL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Gooding series consists of deep to a duripan, well drained soils that formed in mixed alluvium and loess. Gooding soils are on alluvial fan terraces on basalt plains and buttes. Permeability is very slow. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 12 inches and the average annual air temperature is about 47 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Vertic Paleargids
Depth to calcium carbonates - 17 to 34 inches
Depth to bedrock - 41 inches or more
Depth to duripan - 40 to 60 inches
Average annual soil temperature - 47 to 53 degrees F.
Average summer soil temperature - 60 to 70 degrees F.
Other features - AE horizon occurs in some pedons
USE AND VEGETATION: Gooding soils are used mainly for rangeland, wildlife habitat, and irrigated pasture and cropland. Common crops are small grains, beans, and alfalfa. The dominant natural vegetation is Wyoming big sagebrush, alkali sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, needlegrass, and sandberg bluegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central and southwest Idaho. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GOODING.html
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A representative soil profile of an Histosol from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)
In both the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) and the USDA soil taxonomy, a Histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having 40 centimetres (16 in) or more of organic soil material in the upper 80 centimetres (31 in). Organic soil material has an organic carbon content (by weight) of 12 to 18 percent, or more, depending on the clay content of the soil. These materials include muck (sapric soil material), mucky peat (hemic soil material), or peat (fibric soil material). Aquic conditions or artificial drainage are required. Typically, Histosols have very low bulk density and are poorly drained because the organic matter holds water very well. Most are acidic and many are very deficient in major plant nutrients which are washed away in the consistently moist soil.
In the Brazil soil classification system, these soils are classified as Organossolos. Organossolos are soils that are very rich in organic matter and are characterized by an organic carbon level that is greater than 80 g/kg. These soils are usually completely saturated for at least a month out of the year and/or have a large amount of organic matter accumulation.
For additional information about these soils, visit:
sites.google.com/site/soil350brazilsoilsla/soil-formation...
and...
For additional information about U.S. soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
A representative soil profile of the Retsabal series. (Soil Survey of Arches National Park, Utah; by Catherine E. Scott, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A typical landscape of Retsabal very fine sandy loam, 2 to 15 percent slopes.
The Retsabal series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in residuum derived from Carmel formation gypsum. Retsabal soils are on stable structural benches and knolls on structural benches with slopes of 2 to 50 percent. Average annual precipitation is about 11 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 49 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-gypseous, hypergypsic, mesic, shallow Leptic Haplogypsids
Mean annual soil temperature: 47 to 57 degrees F.
Soil moisture: Ustic aridic moisture regime
Depth to paralithic bedrock: 4 to 20 inches
Particle size control section averages:
Clay content: 8 to 20 percent clay
USE AND VEGETATION: The soils are used mainly for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Potential native vegetation is Torrey Mormontea, Green Mormontea, Indian ricegrass, broom snakeweed and scattered Utah Juniper and two-needle pinyon. These soils have been correlated to the Semidesert Shallow Gypsum (Mormontea) 035XY237UT ecological site at the type location in Utah.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Utah areas of highly gypsiferous materials. This series is of small extent (less than 10,000 acres). MLRA is 35.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/utah/archesUT2...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/R/RETSABAL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Tonka series.
Landscape: Tonka soils are in plane or slightly concave, closed basins and depressions on till and glacial lake plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 1 percent. The soils formed in local alluvium over till or glaciolacustrine deposits.
The Tonka series consists of very deep, poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in local alluvium over till or glaciolacustrine deposits. These soils are in closed basins and depressions on till and glacial lake plains and have slopes of 0 to 1 percent. Mean annual air temperature is 42 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 20 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, frigid Argiaquic Argialbolls
Depth to carbonates commonly is 28 to 40 inches but ranges from 20 to more than 60 inches. The depth to the Bt horizon ranges from 12 to 28 inches. The soil commonly is free of rock fragments, but in some pedons the lower part of the solum and the substratum contain pebbles. Some pedons have surface stones.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for small grains, hay and pasture. Native vegetation is tall grasses, sedges and rushes.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Widely distributed on the glaciated plains of North Dakota, northeastern South Dakota, and western Minnesota. The series is extensive.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TONKA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Typical profile of a Larkin soil. The mollic epipedon is between depths of 1.5 and 17.0 inches (A and AB horizons). The argillic horizon is between depths of 17 and 62 inches (Bt and Btc horizons). The particle-size control section is between depths of 17 and 37 inches (Bt horizon). (Soil Survey of Clearwater Area, Idaho; by Glenn Hoffman, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape--Columbia Hills
Landform--loess hills, structural benches, plateaus
Slope--0 to 60 percent
Parent material--typically loess, but in some areas loess over residuum derived from basalt or loess mixed with a small amount of volcanic ash in upper part
Mean annual air temperature--about 8 degrees C
Mean annual precipitation--about 585 mm
Depth class--very deep
Drainage class--well drained
Soil moisture regime--xeric
Soil temperature regime--mesic
Soil moisture subclass--typic
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Ultic Argixerolls
Thickness of mollic epipedon--25 to 50 cm
Base saturation--50 to 75 percent in some part between depths of 25 and 75 cm
Soil moisture control section--dry 45 to 75 days
Mean annual soil temperature--8 to 12 degrees C
Content of clay in particle-size control section (weighted average)--20 to 35 percent
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--dominantly crop production; some timber production
Potential natural vegetation--dominantly ponderosa pine, mallow ninebark, common snowberry, elk sedge, and bluebunch wheatgrass
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Idaho and eastern Washington; MLRA 9; moderate extent
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/clearwat...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LARKIN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
www.flickr.com/photos/jakelley/50993778376/in/album-72157...
Photo Credit: Jeffrey Dubinsky
Copyright: DubinskyPhotography.com
May not be used for commercial or editorial purposes without the express consent of Dubinsky Photography.
Soil profile: The Conic series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils. (Soil Survey of Voyageurs National Park,
Minnesota; by Peter Weikle, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Conic soils formed in a mantle of friable loamy material and underlying firm till over bedrock. They have moderate saturated hydraulic conductivity in the friable material and slow saturated hydraulic conductivity in the firm till. Slopes range from 2 to 35 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 28 inches and mean annual air temperature is about 38 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Typic Dystrudepts
Depth to firm till is 12 to 30 inches. Depth to bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Content of coarse fragments by volume in the upper friable layer is 5 to 20 percent for gravel and 2 to 20 percent for stones and boulders. Some cobbles are included. Coarse fragments in the firm till ranges from 15 to 35 percent of mostly gravel but includes some cobbles and stones. Fragments primarily are of igneous origin, but some are of metamorphic origin. Textures of the A, E and Bw horizons are loam, silt loam, gravelly fine sandy loam, gravelly sandy loam and gravelly coarse sandy loam. Some pedons have stony modifiers. The solum ranges from extremely acid to medium acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are mostly in mixed deciduous and coniferous forest. Major species are quaking aspen, paper birch, white spruce, balsam fir, and jack, red, and white pines. Major resource uses are related to timber, recreation, water and wildlife habitat.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Laurentian Shield of northeastern Minnesota and parts of New York. Moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/minnesota/voya...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CONIC.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
Dr. Faisal Taha, ICBA explaining soil survey products during a three-day international conference on Soil Classification and Reclamation of Degraded Lands in Arid Environments (ICSC 2010) bringing together more than 130 scholars, researchers and experts was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The conference, held under the patronage of H.H Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region and Chairman of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), aims to share information on land use and planning and discuss various issues in the field of soil classification and reclamation of degraded lands in arid environments.
On the first day of the conference, EAD will reveal the outcomes of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey, which was initiated in 2006 and completed at the end of 2009.
The conference, which is organized by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) from 17-19 May, 2010 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, was inaugurated by H.E. Majid Al Mansouri, EAD’s Secretary General.
In his opening speech, H.E Al Mansouri welcomed scientists, researchers and experts from 35 countries who have gathered to discuss various issues related to soil, land use and planning of agricultural expansion and sustainable use of natural resources.
"Our economy is rapidly growning and we have a hard desert environment, therefore we needed to identify the characteristics of soils in the various regions of the Emirate, for the development of land management and optimum economical use of those soils,” he said.
"EAD has undertaken an integrated project to survey the soils in the Emirate. This project has been brought to a successful conclusion after five years of studies, field surveys, and collection of soil samples, training and capacity-building culminating in the development of an integrated “Abu Dhabi Soil Information System” (ADSIS)”.
Dr Ahmed Al Masoum, ICBA’s Deputy Director General, said that "This conference is the beginning of a new era in soil research within the global scientific community."
"The Survey was the first of its kind in the Emirate and covered all areas of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Maps on current land use, vegetation and salinity were produced as well as detailed suitability maps for irrigated agriculture. The soil was mapped and classified using the latest satellite images, and norms and standards of the United States Department of Agriculture” he added.
Dr. Al Masoum added that the soil survey project was undertaken in two phases and involved the mapping and classification of the various types of soils in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in two different scales. In the first phase the entire emirate was surveyed at a scale of 1:100,000, and in the second phase 400,000 hectares of land, evaluated as suitable for irrigated agriculture was surveyed at a scale of 1:25,000.
“We have uncovered valuable information for strategic planning for sustainable land use in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and particularly for the development of agriculture and sustainable management of natural resources,” he said.
The conference will feature six keynote speakers from Australia and India, Austria, Spain, Thailand and the United States, in addition to 130 speakers representing 35 countries from all over the world. Speakers will highlight Soil Survey and Classification Strategies and Use in Different Ecological Zones; Advances in Soil Salinity Mapping, Monitoring and Reclamation; Land Use Planning and Policy Implications; Use of Marginal Quality Water in Agriculture and Landscaping and Research and Development/Innovations in Soil Classification & Reclamation.
A workshop on how to use soil survey data in planning and policy making will be held on the sidelines of the conference.
www.researchgate.net/publication/259265194_Book_of_Abstra...
A representative soil profile of the Macool series. (Soil Survey of Channel Islands National Park, California; by Alan Wasner, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Macool series consists of deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in materials weathered from diorite and gabbro. Macool soils are on hills of islands. Slopes range from 30 to 70 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches (457 millimeters) and the mean annual temperature is about 57 degrees F (14 degrees C.)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Typic Argixerolls
The mean annual soil temperature is 54 to 59 degrees F. (12 to 15 degrees C.) The soil moisture control section is dry in all parts from about mid-September to mid-November (about 60 days) and is usually moist the rest of the time.
Depth to bedrock is 40 to 50 inches (101 to 127 centimeters).
The particle size control section averages 40 to 60 percent clay and 0 to 15 percent rock fragments.
Organic matter ranges from 1 to 4 percent to a depth of at least 20 inches (50 centimeters).
USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife habitat, recreation and building site development. Vegetation is scrub oak and ceonothus chaparral.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Santa Barbara County, California on Santa Cruz Island. The soil is not extensive. MLRA 20.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA6...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MACOOL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Icknuun series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in organic material interlayered with thin strata of mineral material. Icknuun soils are in depressions on till plains. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Euic Fluvaquentic Cryohemists
USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife habitat and recreation. The natural vegetation is mainly sedges, sphagnum moss, bog birch, Labrador tea, and other low-growing shrubs and forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cook Inlet-Susitna Lowlands. The series is of small extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/I/ICKNUUN.html
For geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#icknuun
For additional information about soil classification using Soil Taxonomy, visit:
sites.google.com/site/dinpuithai/Home … or:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
For more information about describing soils using the USDA-Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For more information about describing soils using the USDA-Soil Survey Manual, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/ref/?cid=n...
A representative profile of Grandmore loamy sand, 0 to 3 percent. A lithologic discontinuity occurs at a depth of below 125 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Greer County, Oklahoma; by Richard F. Gelnar, Clay D. Salisbury, and Randall Miller; Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Grandmore series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, moderately slowly permeable soils. These soils formed in loamy alluvium of Pleistocene age. These nearly level to very gently sloping soils are on stream terraces in the Central Rolling Red Plains (MLRA 78). Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 62 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 25 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, thermic Typic Haplustalfs
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
CEC/clay ratio: 0.4 to 0.6
Thickness of the solum: 60 to more than 80 inches
Depth to a discontinuity (with an increase in clay content): 30 to 60 inches
Depth to episaturation: 40 to 60 inches
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly as cropland. Wheat, grain sorghum, cotton, alfalfa, improved bermudagrass, and weeping lovegrass are the principal crops. Native vegetation is mid and tall grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Rolling Red Plains of western Oklahoma and Texas; LRR H; MLRA 78; Moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/oklahoma/OK055...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GRANDMORE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Noboco series.
Landscape: An area of Noboco-Norfolk complex, 0 to 2 percent slopes. These Nobocco and Norfolk soils are well suited to the production of flue-cured tobacco. (Soil Survey of Sumter County, South Carolina; by Charles M. Ogg, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Moderately well drained, well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Moderately deep, common
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Low
Permeability: Moderate (Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high)
Shrink-Swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Lower, middle, upper coastal plain
Landform: Marine terraces, uplands
Geomorphic Component: Interfluve, side slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders
Parent Material: Loamy marine deposits, fluviomarine deposits
Slope: 0 to 6 percent
Elevation (type location): 170 feet
Frost Free Period (type location): 230 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 64 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 45 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Oxyaquic Paleudults
Thickness of the sandy surface and subsurface layers: 5 to 19 inches
Depth to top of the Argillic horizon: 5 to 19 inches
Depth to the base of the Argillic horizon: 60 to more than 80 inches
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 80 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 30 to 40 inches, December to March
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 5 percent, by volume throughout; mostly fine ironstone nodules
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, except where limed
Plinthite Content: 0 to 4 percent in the Bt horizon above 60 inches and 0 to 10 percent or more below 60 inches
Noboco soils were previously mapped with the Norfolk series. In 11/2002, the series was reclassified from Typic to Oxyaquic Paleudults and the type location relocated from Orangeburg County, SC to Lee County, SC. In 10/2004, the drainage class was expanded to allow moderately well drained or well drained soils. Although Noboco soils are classified as Paleudults, soils mapped as Noboco commonly have a kandic horizon. Since use and management of the kandic and non-kandic soils is very similar, it is not considered useful to establish a Kandiudult counterpart. The Kandiudult components are to be identified in the NASIS database and correlation and classification documents as taxadjuncts and once sufficient acreage has been reached, a new series may be considered.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/south_carolina...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NOBOCO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: The very deep, moderately well drained Dellwood soils are sandy in the upper part of the profile and sandy-skeletal in the lower part. (Soil Survey of Yancey County, North Carolina; by Bruce P. Smith, Jr., Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Dellwood soils are on nearly level and gently sloping flood plains of fast flowing streams in the upper reaches of watersheds in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Elevation generally ranges from about 1,200 to 3,200 feet, but many range as high as 4,500 feet. The soils formed in loamy and sandy alluvium that contains a large amount of rounded gravel and cobbles.
Dellwood-Reddies complex, 0 to 3 percent slopes, occasionally flooded
Setting
Landscape: Mountain valleys
Elevation range: 2,000 to 3,000 feet
Landform: Flood plains dominantly at the upper end of mountain valleys
Landform position: Planar to slightly convex
bottomland slopes
Shape of areas: Long and narrow
Size of areas: As much as 329 acres
Composition
Dellwood soil and similar inclusions: 45 percent
Reddies soil and similar inclusions: 35 percent
Dissimilar inclusions: 20 percent
Typical Profile--Dellwood
Surface layer:
0 to 4 inches—very dark grayish brown loamy fine sand
4 to 15 inches—dark brown loamy fine sand
Underlying material:
15 to 67 inches—multicolored very gravelly coarse sand
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Oxyaquic Humudepts
Depth class: Very deep
Drainage class: Moderately well drained
General texture class: Dellwood—sandy in the upper part of the profile and sandy-skeletal in the lower part; Reddies—sandy in the upper part of the profile and sandy or sandy-skeletal in the lower part
Permeability: Dellwood—moderately rapid in the surface layer and rapid or very rapid in the underlying material; Reddies—moderately rapid in the surface layer and subsoil and rapid in the underlying material
Available water capacity: Very low
Depth to seasonal high water table: Dellwood—2.0 to 4.0 feet from December through May; Reddies—
2.0 to 3.5 feet from December through May
Hazard of flooding: Occasional, throughout the year with standing water for less than 2 days
Shrink-swell potential: Low
Slope class: Nearly level or gently sloping
Extent of erosion: Slight, less than 25 percent of the original surface layer has been removed
Hazard of water erosion: None or slight
Organic matter content (surface layer): Moderate or high
Potential frost action: Low
Special climatic conditions: Soils subject to slow air drainage, which allows late spring and early fall frosts
Soil reaction: Very strongly acid to neutral throughout the profile
Parent material: Alluvium derived from felsic or mafic, high-grade metamorphic or igneous rock
Depth to bedrock: More than 60 inches
Depth to contrasting material: Dellwood—8 to 20 inches to deposits of cobbles and gravel that are
stratified with sandy or loamy material; Reddies—20 to 40 inches to deposits of cobbles and gravel
that are stratified with sandy or loamy material
Other distinctive properties: Soils subject to scouring and deposition during flooding
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_carolina...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DELLWOOD.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Mussentuchit soil series. (Soil Survey of Capitol Reef National Park, Utah; by Catherine E. Scott, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Mussentuchit series consists of moderately deep, well drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils formed in eolian deposits and/or slope alluvium over residuum derived mainly from gypsiferous sandstone and shale. Mussentuchit soils are on cuestas, hills and structural benches and have slopes of 3 to 35 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 7 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-gypseous, hypergypsic, mesic Leptic Haplogypsids
Soil moisture: The moisture control section is usually dry, but intermittently moist during late summer and early fall. Aridic moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 47 to 56 degrees F.
Depth to paralithic contact: 20 to 40 inches, bedrock is soft gypsiferous shale or sandstone.
Depth to gypsic horizon: 2 to 7 inches.
Particle-size control section (weighted average:
Clay content: 6 to 18 percent.
Sand content: fine sand and coarser: 50 to 60 percent.
Rock fragment content: 0 to 35 percent, mainly gravel with up to 15 percent cobbles of gypsiferous sandstone.
Gypsum content: less than 20 mm fraction: 40 to 80 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The potential vegetation is galleta, Indian ricegrass, Mormon-tea, and shadscale.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Utah. This series is not extensive. LRR D, MLRA 34B, 35.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Capital Reef National Park, 2008. The name is from Mussentuchit Flat in an area where this soil is mapped.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/utah/CapitolRe...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MUSSENTUCHIT.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of Studybutte very gravelly loam, in an area of Studybutte-Rock outcrop complex, 20 to 60 percent slopes. In this photograph, cobbles are observed, however, gravel-sized coarse fragments dominate in the soil profile. Studybutte soils are very shallow and shallow to igneous bedrock. Soil Survey of Big Bend National Park, Texas; by James Gordon, Soil Scientist, James A. Douglass, Soil Scientist, and Dr. Lynn E. Loomis, Soil Scientist, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Studybutte series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained soils that are moderately rapidly permeable over very slowly permeable bedrock. The soils developed in residuum and colluvium weathered from siliceous igneous bedrock. These soils are on hills and mountains. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 11 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 70 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, nonacid, hyperthermic Lithic Ustic Torriorthents
Soil moisture: Ustic aridic soil moisture regime. Receives precipitation in all months. Driest period is November through April with peak rainfall occurring during May through October.
Mean annual soil temperature: 72 to 78 degrees F.
Depth to igneous bedrock: 4 to 20 inches
Clay content: 5 to 25 percent
Rock fragment content: 35 to 80 percent igneous fragments; 25 to 60 percent gravel; 0 to 20 percent cobbles; 0 to 20 percent stones
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat and for recreation. Vegetation physiognomy is desert shrubland. Dominant woody plants include lechuguilla, leatherstem, cenizo, catclaw acacia, ocotillo, tasajillo, creosotebush, pricklypear, and dalea species. Grasses are chino grama, sideoats grama, and tanglehead.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West Texas. MLRA 42. The series is moderately extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/bigbendT...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/STUDYBUTTE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Saline soils contain enough soluble salts to injure plants. They are characterized by white or light brown crusts on the surface. Saline soils usually have an EC of more than 4 mmho cm-1. Salts generally found in saline soils include NaCl (table salt), CaCl2, gypsum (CaSO4), magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride and sodium sulfate.
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 Orangeburg series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils. These soils are on uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A). They formed in loamy and clayey marine sediments. Near the type location, the average annual temperature is about 65 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is about 52 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kandiudults
Solum thickness typically is 72 to 96 inches and ranges from 60 to 120 inches. Ironstone nodules range from 0 to 10 percent, by volume, throughout the solum. Reaction of the A and Bt1 horizons is very strongly acid to moderately acid, and the Bt2 and underlying horizons are very strongly acid or strongly acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Orangeburg soils are used for growing cotton, corn, tobacco and peanuts. Some areas are in pasture and woodland. Forest species include longleaf pine, shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, various oaks, hickory and dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Coastal Plain of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The series is of large extent, about 2 million acres.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/O/ORANGEBURG.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Juanalo series. (Soil Survey of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah; by Michael W. Burney, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Juanalo series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum derived from limestone. Juanalo soils are on mesas and structural benches. Slopes range from 1 to 6 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 9 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 56 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Lithic Torriorthents
Soil moisture: Typic aridic moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 54 to 58 degrees F
Depth to lithic contact: 10 to 20 inches to Juana Lopez limestone
Depth to cambic horizon: 1 to 4 inches
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 35 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland. Native vegetation is galleta, alkali sacaton saltbush, fringed sage and cactus.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Colorado; MLRA 35; minor extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arizona/glenca...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/J/JUANALO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Wehadkee series consists of very deep, poorly drained and very poorly drained soils on flood plains along streams that drain from the mountains and piedmont. They are formed in loamy sediments. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. Near the type location, mean annual precipitation is about 48 inches, and mean annual temperature is about 60 degrees F.
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.
Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season. Water saturation (hydrology) largely determines how the soil develops and the types of plant and animal communities living in and on the soil. Wetlands may support both aquatic and terrestrial species. The prolonged presence of water creates conditions that favor the growth of specially adapted plants (hydrophytes) and promote the development of characteristic wetland (hydric) soils.
The concept of hydric soils includes soils developed under sufficiently wet conditions to support the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation. Soils that are sufficiently wet because of artificial measures are included in the concept of hydric soils. Also, soils in which the hydrology has been artificially modified are hydric if the soil, in an unaltered state, was hydric. Some soil series, designated as hydric, have phases that are not hydric depending on water table, flooding, and ponding characteristics.
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 Franklin County, North Carolina; by Sheryl Hallmark Kunickis, 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:
Tomlin sandy clay loam, 10 to 15 percent slopes, moderately eroded (Iredell County, NC)
Setting
Major land resource area: Southern Piedmont (MLRA 136)
Landscape: Upland and hillslope on ridge
Landform position: Backslope
Elevation: 700 to 1,200 feet
Map Unit Composition
Tomlin and similar soils: Typically 80 percent, ranging from about 75 to 90 percent
Typical Profile
Tomlin
Surface layer:
0 to 10 inches; dark reddish brown sandy clay loam
Subsoil:
10 to 28 inches; dark red clay
28 to 48 inches; red clay loam
48 to 67 inches; red loam
Substratum:
67 to 80 inches; red loam
Components
Similar components:
• Clifford soils, which do not have a dark red subsoil like the Tomlin soil, in similar areas
Dissimilar components:
• Poplar Forest soils, which have a subsoil that is thinner than that of the Tomlin soil and that contains a high content of mica flakes, in similar areas
Soil Properties and Qualities
Available water capacity: Moderate (about 8.2 inches)
Slowest saturated hydraulic conductivity: Moderately high (about 0.6 in/hr)
Depth class: Very deep (more than 60 inches)
Depth to root-restrictive feature: More than 60 inches
Agricultural drainage class: Well drained
Depth to seasonal water saturation: More than 6 feet
Flooding hazard: None
Ponding hazard: None
Shrink-swell potential: Low
Runoff class: Medium
Surface fragments: None
Parent material: Saprolite derived from diorite, gabbro, diabase, and/or gneiss
Use and Management Considerations
Cropland
Suitability: Suited
Management concerns: Erodibility, tilth, and soil fertility
Management measures and considerations:
• Resource management systems that include conservation tillage, crop residue
management, stripcropping, and sod-based rotations help to prevent further erosion by stabilizing the soil, controlling surface runoff, and maximizing the infiltration of water.
• Incorporating crop residue into the soil or leaving residue on the soil surface helps to minimize clodding and crusting and maximize the infiltration of water.
• Restricting tillage to periods when the soil is not wet helps to minimize clodding and crusting and increases the infiltration of water.
• Applying lime and fertilizer according to recommendations based on soil tests helps to increase the availability of plant nutrients and maximize crop productivity.
For more information about Describing and Sampling soils, visit;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For more information about Soil Taxonomy, visit;
A representative soil profile of Typic Xerorthents, tephra. (Soil Survey of Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; by Andrew E. Conlin, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Typic Xerorthents, tephra consist of very deep, excessively drained soils that formed in tephra from Cinder Cone. These soils are on tephra-covered moraines, outwash plains, lake terraces, and lava flows. Slopes range from 2 to 50 percent. Lassen Peak and Chaos Crags are on the horizon, and Cinder Cone is in the middle ground.
Taxonomic Classification: Frigid Typic Xerorthents
Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Tephra deposits are common in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Many soils have a few inches of tephra, and in some cases the whole soil profile to a depth of 60 inches formed in tephra. The more recent deposits show a distinct boundary at the buried soil profile, and the initial depositional beds are clearly visible.
Older tephra deposits have been mixed with the underlying soil profile by living organisms, such as ants and burrowing animals, and by tree throws and are not as obvious. Different volcanic vents have produced different characteristics, such as the mineralogy and size, thickness, and variability of the ejecta. The size, thickness, and variability within the deposit are also influenced by the proximity to the vent and the direction from the vent.
Major sources of recent tephra are Chaos Crags, Lassen Peak, and Cinder Cone. Tephra from Chaos Crags is pumicious and contains more volcanic glass than the basaltic andesite scoria from Cinder Cone. This difference in mineralogy can affect the rate of weathering. The weathering stage of a soil influences physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics that impact soil behavior. Soils that formed from some of the thicker deposits of tephra from Cinder Cone are Typic Xerorthents, Typic Xerorthents, tephra and Typic Xerorthents, welded.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/las...
Photo Credit: Jeffrey Dubinsky
Copyright: DubinskyPhotography.com
May not be used for commercial or editorial purposes without the express consent of Dubinsky Photography.
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Very poorly drained
Flooding Frequency and Duration: Frequent or occasional for very brief to long periods
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Shallow, common
Permeability: Moderately rapid
Landscape: Lower to upper coastal plain
Landform: Flood plain, swamp
Geomorphic Component: Tread
Parent Material: Alluvium
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, active, acid, thermic Cumulic Humaquepts
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--water tupelo, swamp tupelo, sweetgum, yellow poplar, green ash, water oak, and baldcypress. Also, loblolly pine grows in areas that have been drained. Understory plants include inkberry (bitter gallberry), American holly, greenbrier, switchcane, blueberry, honeysuckle, and poison ivy. Where cultivated--corn, soybeans, and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: South Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
Extent: Moderate
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/J/JOHNSTON.html
For geographic distribution, visit:
The Mansker series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy, calcareous eolian deposits of the Blackwater Draw Formation of Pleistocene age. These soils are on nearly level to moderately sloping plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. The mean annual precipitation is 483 mm (19 in) and the mean annual temperature is 16 degrees C (60 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, carbonatic, thermic Calcidic Paleustolls
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).
Mollic epipedon thickness: 18 to 30 cm (7 to 12 in)
Depth to argillic horizon: 25 to 76 cm (10 to 30 in).
Depth to calcic horizon: 15 to 60 cm (6 to 24 in).
Percent calcium carbonate by weight in control section: 40 to 60 percent
Particle-size control section: 10 to 18 percent silicate clay
Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 in).
Note: total clay content ranges from 18 to 35 percent in the particle-size control section; the taxonomic family particle-size class excludes clay-size carbonates in classification.
USE AND VEGETATION: Primarily used for rangeland. Where cultivated, the principal crops are grain sorghum, small grains, and forage crops. Climax vegetation is mainly mid and short grasses and includes blue grama, sideoats grama, and buffalograss, with lesser amounts of vine-mesquite, western wheatgrass, galleta or tobosa, silver bluestem, wild alfalfa, and prairie clover with a light to moderate overstory of mesquite. This soil has been correlated to the Limy Upland (R077CY028TX) ecological site in MLRA-77C.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma in the Southern High Plains (MLRA 77C in LRR H). The series is of moderate extent. Series Revised MLRA-77 Soil Survey update in Floyd County, Texas; 2004. After review of the lab data, the taxonomic family particle-size class was changed from fine-loamy to coarse-loamy in 2008.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
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A representative soil profile of Noria fine sand in an area of Potrero-Lopeno-Noria complex, 0 to 5 percent slopes. Noria soils are poorly drained, evidenced by the gray colors. These soils are ponded from September to May. (Soil Survey of Kenedy and Kleberg Counties, Texas; by Nathan I. Haile, and Dennis N. Brezina, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Noria series consists of very deep, saline, very poorly drained, rapidly permeable soils on dune slacks in deflation flats of active and recently active dune complexes. These nearly level soils formed in sandy eolian sediments of Holocene age overlying loamy eolian deposits of Pleistocene age. Slope ranges from 0 to 1 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 23 degrees C (73 degrees F) and mean annual precipitation is about 686 mm (27 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, hyperthermic Sodic Psammaquents
Soil Moisture: An aquic soil moisture regime. Although rainfall amounts are that of an ustic moisture regime, the soil has a permanent water table at depths of 0 to 31 cm (0 to 12 in) in most years, from September through May, and has a water table within 102 cm (40 in) throughout the year in most years. These soils are saturated or ponded for periods of several days to several weeks following heavy rains.
Mean annual soil temperature: 23 to 24 degrees C (74 to 76 degrees F)
Depth to masses of iron accumulations: 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in)
Depth to iron depletions or depleted matrix: 0 to 76 cm (0 to 30 in)
Depth to endosaturation: 0 to 31 cm (0 to 12 in), in most years from September through May, and within 102 cm (40 in) in most years throughout the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Native vegetation consists mostly of whitetop starrush, olney bulrush, common spikesedge, dwarf spikesedge and Jamaica sawgrass. The ecological site is Salt Marsh, PE 31-44, (150BY652TX).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Gulf Coast Saline Prairies (MLRA 150B in LRR T) of the coastal areas of southern Texas. The series is of moderate extent. The series was formerly included in the Mustang series. The series was separated based on the presence of a buried soil. Classification change from Aquic Arenic Paleustalfs to Sodic Psammaquents 10/2005 based on typifying pedon and supporting documentation.
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Figure 3-17. Prismatic soil structure. (Soil Survey Manual, USDA Handbook No. 18; issued March 2017).
In prismatic structure, the individual units are bounded by flat to rounded vertical faces. Units are distinctly longer vertically, and the faces are typically casts or molds of adjoining units. Vertices are angular or subrounded; the tops of the prisms are somewhat indistinct and normally flat. Prismatic structures are characteristic of the B horizons or subsoils. The vertical cracks result from freezing and thawing and wetting and drying as well as the downward movement of water and roots.
There are five major classes of macrostructure seen in soils: platy, prismatic, columnar, granular, and blocky. There are also structureless conditions. Some soils have simple structure, each unit being an entity without component smaller units. Others have compound structure, in which large units are composed of smaller units separated by persistent planes of weakness.
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A representative Typic Udorthent from North Star Training Area, Uijeongbu, Korea. The lower-slope area consisted of cut and fill material from the colluvial fan. The area was used as a rifle range and training facility. The soil surface was sparsely vegetated and was moderately compacted. The landscape was a series on broad level benches with short, very steep back slopes.
The central concept or Typic subgroup of Udorthents is fixed on soils that are shallow to weakly cemented rock or deep or moderately deep to rock and that have deep ground water and low animal activity. Many of these soils formed in mine spoil or fill material. Some have a densic contact with compacted layers of soil materials. Typic Udorthents do not have, in the upper 75 cm, a deposit of pyroclastic materials that is as thick as 18 cm. These soils are used mostly as building sites or are idle.
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Plinthic Kandiudult borderline Typic Plinthudult in Georgia.
Landscape: An area of Plinthic Kandiudults on a severety eroded shoulder slope in Webster County, Georgia. Note the very high volume of exposed plinthite and ironstone on the eroded sideslope.
Plinthic Kandiudults that have 5 percent or more (by volume) plinthite in one or more horizons within 150 cm of the mineral soil surface.
Kandiudults are the Udults that are very deep and have a kandic horizon and a clay distribution in which the percentage of clay does not decrease from its maximum amount by as much as 20 percent within a depth of 150 cm from the mineral soil surface, or the layer in which the clay percentage decreases has at least 5 percent of the volume consisting of skeletans on faces of peds and there is at least a 3 percent (absolute) increase in clay content below this layer. These soils do not have a fragipan or a horizon in which plinthite either forms a continuous phase or constitutes one-half or more of the volume within 150 cm of the mineral soil surface. Kandiudults are of moderate extent in the Southeastern United States.
Ultisols are soils that have an argillic or kandic horizon with low base saturation. They may have any soil temperature regime and any soil moisture regime except aridic. There is more precipitation than evapotranspiration at some season, and some water moves through the soils and into a moist or wet substratum. The release of bases by weathering usually is equal to or less than the removal by leaching, and most of the bases commonly are held in the vegetation and the upper few centimeters of the soils. Base saturation in most Ultisols decreases with increasing depth because the vegetation has concentrated the bases at a shallow depth.
Cultivation, therefore, is a shifting cultivation unless soil amendments are applied. Ultisols are most extensive in warm, humid climates that have a seasonal deficit of precipitation. They are mainly on Pleistocene or older surfaces. They formed in a very wide variety of parent materials, but very few have many primary minerals that contain bases other than some micas. Some of the few that have a supply of bases are intensively cultivated. Kaolin, gibbsite, and aluminum-interlayered clays are common in the clay fraction. Smectites also may be present if they are in the parent materials. Extractable aluminum normally is high. A calcium deficient argillic horizon is common in the Ultisols in the United States. Most of the Ultisols in the United States had a vegetation of coniferous or hardwood forests at the time of settlement.
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A soil profile of the Meccapass soil series. (Soil Survey of Joshua Tree National Park, California; by Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, Peter Fahnestock, Stephen Roecker, and Emily Meirik, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Marchel Munnecke and Alice Miller, Pyramid Botanical Consultants)
The Meccapass series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in colluvium and residuum derived from gneiss, granite and/or other granitoid rocks. Meccapass soils are on mountains. Slope ranges from 15 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is 100 millimeters (4 inches) and the mean annual temperature is about 21.5 degrees C (71 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Typic Haplocambids
Soil moisture control section: usually dry, moist in some parts for short periods during winter and early spring and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and September following summer convection storms. The soils have a typic-aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 22 to 25 degrees C (63 to 73 degrees F).
Surface rock fragments: 80 to 100 percent, with 5 to 55 percent fine gravel, 25 to 65 percent medium and coarse gravel, 15 to 50 percent cobbles, 1 to 10 percent stones, and 0 to 10 percent boulders.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is brittlebush, California fagonbush, and creosote bush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Mojave Desert of southeastern California. MLRA 30. These soils are of small extent.
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Landscape: Upland
Landform: Ridge, hill, and hillslope
Geomorphic Component: Interfluve, head slope, nose slope, or side slope
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, or backslope
Parent Material Origin: Nearly horizontal, interbedded gray and brown acid siltstone, shale, and sandstone
Parent Material Kind: Residuum
Slope: 0 to 70 percent
Elevation: 91 to 1097 meters (300 to 3600 feet)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludults
Depth to the top of the Argillic: 13 to 38 cm (5 to 15 inches)
Depth to the base of the Argillic: 53 to 94 cm (21 to 37 inches)
Solum Thickness: 45 to 91 cm (18 to 36 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth Class: Moderately deep
Rock Fragment content: 5 to 40 percent, by volume, in the solum and 30 to 90 percent, by volume, in the C horizon. The rock fragment content is less than 35 percent, by volume, in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon. Rock fragments are mostly angular to subangular channers of shale, siltstone, and sandstone.
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid through strongly acid throughout, except where limed
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Hayland, pasture, cropland, and woodland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--Grass-legume hay, corn, soybeans, wheat, or oats. Where wooded--Oaks, maple, hickory, and yellow-poplar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia
Extent: Large, over 6 million acres, at the time of this revision
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Soil profile: Profile of Lufkin loam. Texture and color change between the surface layer and the clay subsoil. (Soil Survey of Robertson County, Texas; by Harold W. Hyde, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Livestock grazing on common bermudagrass in an area of Lufkin loam, 0 to 1 percent slopes. Lufkin soils have been mostly cultivated in the past but now most areas are in unimproved pastures. Some areas are farmed to grain sorghums, hay crops or small grains for grazing. Other areas are in mixed bermudagrass, dallisgrass, or bahiagrass pastures. Native vegetation is bluestems, gramas, paspalums and threeawn grasses with sedges, post oak, water oak, willow oak, and elm trees.
Setting
Landform: Stream terrace
Landscape position: Nearly level flats or slightly concave areas
Slope: Nearly level; plane to slightly concave surfaces
Shape of areas: Oval to oblong
Size of areas: 10 to 40 acres
Typical Profile
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Oxyaquic Vertic Paleustalfs
Surface layer:
0 to 4 inches—light brownish gray, strongly acid loam that has yellowish brown mottles
Subsurface layer:
4 to 9 inches—light gray, strongly acid loam that has brownish yellow mottles
Subsoil:
9 to 18 inches—light brownish gray, very strongly acid clay loam that has brown mottles
18 to 33 inches—light brownish gray, very strongly acid clay that has brown mottles
33 to 46 inches—light brownish gray, slightly acid clay
46 to 80 inches—light brownish gray to light gray, moderately acid clay that has dark grayish brown and yellowish brown mottles
Soil Properties
Depth: Very deep
Drainage class: Moderately well drained
Water table: Soil is seasonally wet; surface layer and upper part of subsoil are saturated during winter and spring for 14 to 30 days in most years
Flooding: None
Runoff: Negligible
Permeability: Very slow
Available water capacity: High
Root zone: Very deep
Natural soil fertility: Low
Shrink-swell potential: High
Hazard of water erosion: Slight
Composition
Lufkin soil and similar inclusions: 90 to 95 percent
Contrasting inclusions: 5 to 10 percent
Major land use: Rangeland
Other land uses: Pasture
Pasture
Major limitations:
• The very slow permeability restricts water movement and the root development of improved grasses.
Minor limitations:
• Seasonal wetness can limit areas grazed by livestock.
Cropland
Major limitations:
• The very slow permeability restricts water movement and the root development of crops.
• Seasonal wetness can hinder plant germination and limit tillage operations to dry periods.
• Because the surface layer is massive and hard when dry, tillage operations are difficult.
Rangeland
Major limitations:
• The very slow permeability restricts water movement and the root development of native plants.
• The low natural fertility limits the yield potential of native plants.
• Seasonal wetness can disrupt livestock grazing.
Interpretive Groups
Land capability classification (nonirrigated areas): 3w
Ecological site: Claypan Savannah
Pasture management group: Seasonally Wet Loamy Claypan
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Fuquay soil. Fuquay soils have sandy surface layers more than 50 centimeters thick overlying a loamy subsoil subsoil with more than 5 percent plinthite (reddish iron rich concentrations) within a depth of 150 centimeters.
Landscape: Fuquay soils formed on marine terraces and are dominantly used for cropland. With proper use and management these soils are very productive.
MLRA(s): 133A-Southern Coastal Plain, 153A-Atlantic Coast Flatwoods (upper part)
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Deep or very deep, common
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Slowest Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately low
Landscape: Upper and middle coastal plains
Landform: Marine terraces, uplands, flats
Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, backslopes
Parent Material: Sandy over loamy marine deposits or fluviomarine deposits
Slope: 0 to 10 percent
Elevation (type location): Unknown
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 16.7 degrees C. (about 62 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1240 millimeters (about 49 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Arenic Plinthic Kandiudults
Depth to top of Argillic horizon: 50 to 100 centimeters (about 20 to 40 inches)
Depth to base of Argillic horizon: 150 to more than 200 centimeters (about 60 to more than 78 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 200 centimeters (about 78 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 100 to 150 centimeters or more (about 40 to 60 inches or more), January to March
Thickness of the sandy surface and subsurface layers: 50 to 100 centimeters (about 20 to 40 inches)
Content and Size of Rock Fragments: 0 to 35 percent, by volume, in the A, E, and BE horizons and 0 to 15 percent throughout the lower profile; mostly rounded nodules of ironstone
Organic matter content: 0.5 to 2.0 percent in the A horizon and less than 0.5 in E, B, and C horizons
(Effective) Cation Exchange Capacity: 2 to 10 milliequivalents per 100 grams of soil in the A horizon; 1 to 4 in E and B horizons; and 2 to 5 in the C horizon
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to moderately acid, except where limed
Plinthite Content: Greater than 5 percent within a depth of 150 centimeters (about 60 inches) starting at a depth greater than 50 centimeters (about 20 inches)
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Cropland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--tobacco, cotton, corn, soybeans, and small grains. Where wooded--loblolly pine, longleaf pine, and slash pine, with some hardwoods, understory plants including American holly, flowering dogwood, persimmon, and greenbrier.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Upper Coastal Plain of North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
Extent: Large
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A soil profile of a Torrifluvent in the southwestern United States. Although in a desert environment, this soil is in a landscape position that receives periodic deposition of material from flooding. This soil has an ochric epipedon about 5 cm thick and no other diagnostic horizons. Note the stratified nature of the profile. The layers with larger rock fragments reflect higher-intensity flooding in the past. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Torrifluvents are the Fluvents of arid climates. They have an aridic (or torric) moisture regime. Temperatures range from cool to hot. Most Torrifluvents have a high pH value and are calcareous, and a few are somewhat salty. They are subject to flooding, but most are not flooded frequently or for long periods. They commonly are irrigated where they occur as larger areas, have a favorable topography, and are close to a source of water. The natural vegetation on Torrifluvents in the United States consisted mostly of grasses, xerophytic shrubs, and cacti. In some parts of the world, however, the only vegetation on these soils has been irrigated crops because the sediments accumulated while the soils were being cultivated.
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Soil profile: A soil profile of Nolin silt loam, occasionally flooded. Nolin soils are very deep and well drained, They formed in alluvium derived from limestones, sandstones, siltstones, shales, and loess. These nearly level to moderately steep soils are on flood plains, in depressions which receive runoff from surrounding slopes, or on natural levees of major streams and rivers.
Landscape: Corn planted in an area of Nolin silt loam, occasionally flooded. This soil is very productive and well suited to most crops. Controlling traffic can minimize soil compaction. Maintaining or increasing the content of organic matter helps to prevent crusting, improves tilth, and increases the rate of water infiltration. Measures that protect the soil from scouring and minimize the loss of crop residue by floodwaters are needed. Small grain crops may be damaged by flooding in winter and spring. (Soil Survey of Adair County, Kentucky; by Harry S. Evans, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent, but is dominantly 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is 56 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is 43 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Dystric Fluventic Eutrudepts
Solum thickness is 40 or more inches. Thickness of alluvial deposits ranges from 60 inches to many feet. Coarse fragments, mostly rounded pebbles, ranges from none to about 5 percent in the A and Bw horizon and from 0 to 35 percent in the C horizon. Redoximorphic features, if present, are below 72 inches. Reaction is moderately acid to moderately alkaline, but some pedons are strongly acid in the lower part of the Bw and C horizon. Some pedons have buried A or B horizons below a depth of 20 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing corn, tobacco, soybeans, and hay. Forested areas are bottomland hardwoods, such as river birch, yellow-poplar, sycamore, elm, willow, boxelder, oak, hickory, and red maple. Many stream banks and narrow flood plains consist of native canebrakes.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: In areas of mixed limestones and siltstones, sandstones, shales, and loess in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia. The series is of large extent. Soils in the Nolin series were formerly included with the Huntington series. Huntington soils have a thicker, dark colored surface layer.
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The Gem series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in material weathered from basalt or other basic igneous rocks. Gem soils are on uplands and have slopes of 0 to 60 percent. Permeability is slow. The average annual precipitation is about 14 inches and the average annual temperature is about 47 degrees.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Calcic Argixerolls
Average annual soil temperature - 47 to 52 degrees F.
Average summer soil temperature - 65 to 69 degrees F.
Soil moisture - in the 4 to 12 inch section usually moist but is dry for 60 to 80 consecutive days in 7 out of 10 years
Depth to basalt - 20 to 40 inches
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for range; a few areas are cropped to nonirrigated small grains and alfalfa. Vegetation is chiefly bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, big sagebrush, and cheatgrass, and in places Medusahead wildrye, bitterbrush, Idaho fescue, wild buckwheat, lupine, rabbitbrush, and (or) balsamroot.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Basalt areas of southern Idaho, eastern Oregon, and eastern Washington. The series is extensive.
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A representative soil profile of the McGary soil series. (Kentucky Soil Atlas; by Anastasios D. Karathanasis, University of Kentucky)
The McGary series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained soils on lake plains, and less commonly on flood-plain steps. They formed in loess and the underlying calcareous, fine-textured lacustrine deposits. Slope ranges from 0 to 10 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1067 mm (42 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C (54 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Aeric Epiaqualfs
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 61 to 127 cm (24 to 50 inches)
Depth to carbonates: 56 to 142 cm (22 to 56 inches)
Thickness of the loess: 0 to 51 cm (20 inches)
Particle-size control section: averages 40 to 50 percent clay and 2 to 6 percent sand
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are being used to grow corn and soybeans. A few areas are used for growing wheat and hay, and a few areas are used for pasture or forest. Native vegetation is mixed hardwood forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 111B, 113, 114A, 114B, 115A, 120A, 120B, 121, 122, 124, 126 and 147 in Illinois Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. The type location is on the boundary between MLRA's 114B and 115A. The series is of large extent.
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A representative soil profile of a Spodosol with a plaggen epipedon. Spososols are a soil order in USDA Soil Taxonomy. The feature that is common to most Spodosols is the presence of a spodic horizon (buried Bs horizon), in which amorphous mixtures of organic matter and aluminum, with or without iron, have accumulated. The spodic horizon may be destroyed by cultivation, yet spodic materials may still be present.
Orthods are the relatively freely drained Spodosols that have a horizon of accumulation containing aluminum, or aluminum and iron, and organic carbon. These are the most common Spodosols in the northern parts of Europe and in the United States. They formed predominantly in coarse, acid Pleistocene or Holocene deposits under a mostly coniferous forest vegetation. If undisturbed, Orthods are extensive in the southeastern part of the United States, the Northeast, the Great Lakes States, and the mountains of the West.
The plaggen epipedon is a human-made surface layer 50 cm or more thick that has been produced by a specific type of long-continued manuring. In Europe during medieval times, sod or other materials commonly were used for bedding livestock. Source materials for the bedding included heather, grass sod, or forest litter and turf (Blume and Leinweber, 2004). The bedding materials, mixed with manure, were subsequently spread on individual gardens as well as crop fields surrounding the village and spaded into the surface. The mineral materials brought in by this kind of manuring eventually produced an appreciably thickened Ap horizon (as much as 1 m or more thick) .
In northwestern Europe this custom was associated with the poorly fertile, sandy Spodosols. The practice more or less ceased at the turn of the 19th century, when fertilizers became available. Individual fields with a plaggen epipedon may be small (<1 to a few hectares), but some are much larger. Extensive areas of sandy soils in northwestern Europe were influenced with plaggen management techniques, and plaggen epipedons are estimated to collectively cover a few thousand km2, commonly clustered in areas around the villages (Blume and Leinweber, 2004).
Contributed by Craig Ditzler, USDA-NRCS, ret.
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A representative soil profile of Aquandic Cryaquents silty clay loam on a northwest-facing (320 degrees) slope of 1 percent under a cover of sedges at an elevation of 6,623 feet (2,019 meters). (Soil Survey of Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; by Andrew E. Conlin, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Depth to restrictive feature: More than 60 inches (152 centimeters) to bedrock
Mean annual soil temperature: 38 to 42 degrees F (3.3 to 5.6 degrees C) Soil moisture control section: Moist all year
Particle-size control section (thickest part): 0 to 10 percent clay and 35 to 45 percent rock fragments
Depth to fluctuating water table (if it occurs): 0 to 40 inches (0 to 102 centimeters)
Aquandic Cryaquents do not have an O horizon and have a surface layer of silty clay loam. These soils have several buried horizons; layers of coarse material occur under finer deposits.
These soils have a layer in the upper 75 cm that is 18 cm or more thick and is rich in pyroclastics. The clays in this layer normally do not disperse well and have a high pH-dependent charge.
Setting
Landform: Areas along channels in meadows in glacial lakes (relict)
Landform position (two-dimensional): Toeslope
Landform position (three-dimensional): Tread
Slope range and aspect: 0 to 8 percent, south to northeast aspects
Parent material: Glaciolacustrine deposits derived from volcanic rock
Drainage class: Very poorly drained
Capacity to transmit water (Ksat ): Moderately high to very high (See table on physical
properties)
Annual flooding frequency: Frequent
Annual ponding frequency: None
Minimum depth of seasonal high water table: About 0 to 40 inches
Salinity maximum: Not saline
Sodicity maximum: Not sodic
Available water capacity (entire profile): Low (about 5.4 inches)
Land capability class and subclass (nonirrigated): 5w
Hydric soil: Yes
Hydrologic soil group: C
Vegetation
Ecological site: Cryic lacustrine flat (R022BI206CA)
This ecological site is associated with sedge-dominated meadows occurring at the higher elevations. These meadows have developed in relict glacial lakes and have small Rosgen E type stream channels (Rosgen, 1996). The small meandering streams are deeper than they are wide and are stable due to the thick and matted structure of the sedge roots. In the wettest area Northwest Territory sedge (Carex utriculata) grows. Nebraska sedge (Carex nebrascensis) and analogue sedge (Carex simulata) are in the slightly less saturated areas. On the perimeter of the sedges there is a community of tundra aster (Oreostemma alpigenum var. andersonii) and rush (Juncus spp.). A mixed grass and sedge community dominated by tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa ssp. cespitosa) is in the drier areas. Sierra lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. murrayana) often borders these meadows. This site is associated with Vitrandic Cryofluvents and Aquandic Cryaquents.
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