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A representative soil profile of the Walong series. The moderately deep to soft bedrock Walong soils have a mollic epipedon, weak structure, and a paralithic contact of gneiss at a depth of 50 to 100 centimeters. (Supplement to the Soil Survey of Los Angeles County, California, Southeastern Part; by Randy L. Riddle and Christopher “Kit” Paris, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Walong soils are on uplands and have gradients of 15 to 75 percent. They formed in material weathered from granite. Elevations are 800 to 5,800 feet. The climate has cold moist winters and hot dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 10 to 30 inches. The mean annual temperature ranges from 57 to 62 degrees F.; the mean January temperature is about 47 degrees F.; and the mean July temperature is about 83 degrees F. The frost free season is 150 to 250 days.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Haploxerolls
Depth to a paralithic contact with weathered granitic rock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The soil between depths of 8 to 24 inches is usually dry all the time from late May until mid November (or 1/2 the time), and is moist in some part for more than 90 consecutive days. The mean annual soil temperature is 59 to 64 degrees F. Organic matter is more than 1 percent to a depth of 14 to 18 inches and decreases regularly to less than 1 percent at this depth. An 01 horizon is present in some pedons where there has been some accumulation of organic matter or litter. Rock fragments 2 mm to 2 cm in diameter range from 0 to 15 percent by volume, and rock fragments 7 to 25 cm in diameter range from 0 to 10 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for range, wildlife, watershed, and recreation. Vegetation is annual grasses, blue oaks, ad=nd live oaks.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Foothills of the southern Sierra Neveda and the Tehachapi Mountains. The soils are moderately extensive.
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/W/WALONG.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of an Ultisol (Humic Hapludult).
When photographing soil profiles, a soil scientist will commonly use a knife to pick the face to show natural soil structure (left side of profile). Or they may use a knife or shovel to smooth the surface (right side of the profile) which helps show change in color or pedogenic features, or horizonation.
Hapludults are the Udults that mostly formed in areas of acid rocks or sediments on surfaces that are at least of Pleistocene age. Where the soils are not cultivated, the vegetation consists almost exclusively of forest plants, either hardwood trees or conifers. Hapludults are extensive in the Southeastern United States, in the Middle Atlantic States, and on the coastal plain along the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern States east of the Mississippi River. Slopes generally are gently sloping to steep, but a few of the soils on the lowest part of the coastal plain are nearly level.
Humic Hapludults have a dark colored surface layer. They have a color value, moist, of 3 or less and a color value, dry, of 5 or less (crushed and smoothed sample) in either an Ap horizon that is 18 cm or more thick; or the surface layer after mixing of the upper 18 cm has these colors.
Some have an umbric epipedon or, if heavily limed, a mollic epipedon. Humic Hapludults are mainly in the mountains in the Southeastern United States. They are of moderate extent. The natural vegetation consisted of forest plants. Slopes range from nearly level to very steep. Many of these soils are used as cropland or forest. Some are used as pasture.
When photographing soil profiles, a soil scientist will commonly use a knife to pick the face to show natural soil structure or a knife or shovel to smooth the surface which helps show change in color or pedogenic features.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
A representative soil profile of the Highpeaks series. (Soil Survey of Pinnacles National Monument, California; by Ken Oster, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Highpeaks series consists of shallow to a lithic contact, well drained soils that formed in residuum weathered from igneous rocks. The Highpeaks soils are on hills. Slopes range from 35 to 70 percent. These soils formed in residuum weathered from rhyolite and andesite. The Highpeaks soils are on hills. The mean annual precipitation is about 17 inches (432 millimeters) and the mean annual air temperature is about 61 degrees F (16 degrees C).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Lithic Haploxerolls
Depth to bedrock: 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters)
Mean annual soil temperature: 60 to 63 degrees F (16 to 17 degrees C).
Soil moisture: Soil is dry from mid-June through mid-November.
Particle size control section: clay content averages 15 to 25 percent; rock fragments average 35 to 75 percent, mostly gravel
Base saturation by ammonium acetate: 89 to 98 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for watershed, wildlife habitat and recreation. Vegetation is mixed chaparral.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: San Benito and Monterey Counties, California in MLRA 15, Central California Coast Range. These soils are of small extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA7...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HIGHPEAKS.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Fluvaquentic Endoaquept (loamy) and landscape PRC-08 from Xinxing County, Guangdong Province, Peoples Republic of China (PRC)
These are the Endoaquepts that have either 0.2 percent or more organic carbon (Holocene age) at a depth of 125 cm below the mineral soil surface or an irregular decrease in organic-carbon content (Holocene age) between a depth of 25 cm and either a depth of 125 cm below the mineral soil surface or a densic, lithic, or paralithic contact, whichever is shallower. They also have slopes of less than 25 percent.
Endoaquepts are the Aquepts that have endosaturation. The ground water commonly fluctuates from a level near the soil surface to below a depth of 50 cm. These soils have a frigid or warmer soil temperature regime and do not have any sulfuric, placic, or salic horizon or a fragipan near the soil surface. Before they were cultivated, most Endoaquepts supported forest vegetation. Generally, Endoaquepts are nearly level, and their parent materials are typically late-Pleistocene or younger sediments.
These soils are extensive in the United States. They are on flood plains in all parts of the country, except for the coldest and the driest parts. The native vegetation is mostly water-tolerant trees and grasses. Some of these soils are used as forest, and some have been cleared and artificially drained and are used as cropland or pasture.
Xinxing County is a county of the prefecture-level city of Yunfu in Guangdong, China.
The government of China has placed great importance on work relating to agriculture, rural areas, and the rural population. Since the convening of the Sixteenth National Congress, the government has implemented a series of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit the rural population, and enable people in rural areas to prosper and thus ensuring balanced development of urban and rural areas. These efforts have brought about remarkable advances in China's agricultural and rural development. China's grain output has grown steadily for years, and overall progress has been made in farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery. The development of agriculture is our number one priority and the key focus of our macro-control policies.
About two-fifths of the people of Guangdong province live in villages, which remain the basic functional units in the countryside. The greatest numbers of villages are in the fertile river deltas and along the waterways. To an even greater extent, towns and cities are located in the deltas and coastal areas and along major communication lines. The most highly urbanized area within the province is the Pearl River Delta, where the great majority of the population lives in urban areas. Guangdong is a relatively highly urbanized province for China, with its largest urban agglomeration centered on Guangzhou.
A representative soil profile of the Crosscan series. (Soil Survey of Arches National Park, Utah; by Catherine E. Scott, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A typical landscape of Crosscan family-Rock outcrop complex, 5 to 30 percent slopes.
The Crosscan series consists of shallow and very shallow, well drained soils that formed in colluvium and residuum derived from sandstone and shale. Crosscan soils are in canyons and on hills. Slopes range from 6 to 80 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 12 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 48 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic, shallow Ustic Torriorthents
Note: Crosscan soils in this survey area include Lithic Ustic Torriorthents.
Soil moisture regime: aridic bordering on ustic
Soil temperature regime: mesic
Mean annual soil temperature: 52 to 54 degrees F
Depth to paralithic contact: 6 to 20 inches
Reaction: slightly or moderately alkaline
Particle-size control section: 27 to 35 percent clay
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used principally for wildlife habitat and livestock grazing. Dominant vegetation in the potential plant community are pinyon, juniper, mountain mahogany, and Indian ricegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Colorado. LRR D, MLRA 36. The series is of moderate extent.
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/C/CROSSCAN.html
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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.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, thermic Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts
Solum thickness ranges from about 20 to more than 60 inches. The content of mica flakes ranges from few to many. The soil ranges from very strongly acid through neutral, but some part of the 10 to 40 inch control section is moderately acid through neutral. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 5 percent by volume in the A and B horizons, and from 0 to 20 percent by volume in the C horizons. Fragments are dominantly pebbles in size.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the area is in forest; chiefly water tolerant hardwoods such as sweetgum, blackgum, water oak, willow, oak, poplar, hickories, beech, and elm. Drained areas are used for pasture, corn, and hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The soil is of moderate extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WEHADKEE.html
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A representative soil profile of the Tatum soil series in North Carolina.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
SOIL FEATURES:
Depth Class: Deep
Drainage Class: Well drained
Permeability: Moderate
Surface Runoff: Slow to very rapid
Parent Material: residuum from sericite schist, phyllite, or other fine-grained metamorphic rocks
Slope: 0 to 50 percent
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Mostly in woodland
Dominant vegetation: Where wooded--mostly hardwoods and pine. Where cultivated--corn, small grain, hay and soybeans
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Thermic piedmont plateau in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia
Extent: Moderate
For a detailed description, please visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TATUM.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Arkansas State Soil
Soil profile: The Stuttgart series consists of very deep, moderately well to somewhat poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in silty and clayey alluvium. There is an abrupt texture change between the ochric epipedon and the underlying argillic horizon. (Soil Survey of Arkansas County, Arkansas; by Cornelius Harris, Kenneth Crader, and Edgar Mersiovsky, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Because of the surface layer of silt loam and slow permeability in the clayey subsoil, the soils are ideal for rice production. These level to gently sloping soils are on Prairie terraces in the Lower Mississippi Valley, MLRA 131. Slopes are typically less than 3 percent, but range to 5 percent. The terraces are thought to be made up of sediments from the Arkansas River system with a silty mantle from the Mississippi River system. The upper mantle may be mixed with loess in some places.
Stuttgart soils are named for the City of Stuttgart in southeast Arkansas. They are used primarily for crops, mainly rice, soybeans, small grains, and corn. The Stuttgart area is famous for its large fall and winter population of ducks and geese. These waterfowl feed heavily on the crops grown on the Stuttgart soils. Stuttgart soils have been mapped on about 200,000 acres in Arkansas.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/AR001...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/STUTTGART.html
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Oxford series.
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
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Left Photo: Describing Myra soil and landscape
John Kelley, Soil Survey Project Leader for the Soil Survey of Pike County, KY, stands at the edge of a reclaimed mine site, describing a newly formed soil derived from overburden—the displaced material from mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. MTR is a method of surface mining where entire summits are blasted away to access underlying coal seams. The resulting spoil, a mix of fractured rock and soil, is redistributed across adjacent valleys and slopes.
This site represents a transitional landscape—where geology, mining history, and pedogenesis intersect. The soil here is not a legacy soil shaped by centuries of natural processes, but a technogenic soil, formed in the aftermath of industrial disturbance. Its genesis reflects both the calcareous nature of the spoil and the early stages of horizon development, offering a rare opportunity to document soil formation in real time. Kelley’s field notes and diagnostic observations contribute to the formal recognition of a new soil series, shaped by human activity yet governed by natural recovery.
Center Photo: Landscape Reimagined
This photo captures the newly formed terrain resulting from MTR operations—an engineered landscape of broad benches, steep fill slopes, and recontoured ridgelines. Once forested and dissected by hollows, the land has been reshaped into a mosaic of reclaimed surfaces. Vegetation is in early succession, with grasses, legumes, and pioneer hardwoods establishing cover over the loose, rocky substrate.
Despite its industrial origin, this landscape is undergoing ecological renewal. Soil formation begins with the weathering of spoil material, root penetration, and organic matter accumulation. Over time, these processes will evolve, reflecting the unique parent material and hydrologic conditions of reclaimed mine lands. The photo invites reflection on the resilience of Appalachian ecosystems and the role of soil scientists in documenting their transformation.
Right Photo: Profile of the Myra Soil Series
This soil profile represents the Myra series, a soil formally recognized in Pike County, KY, and West Virginia. Myra soils are very deep, well-drained soils formed in calcareous materials derived from coal mine overburden—a mix of siltstone, shale, sandstone, and minor coal fragments. The regolith is loamy-skeletal, with high rock fragment content and moderate to moderately slow permeability.
• Taxonomic class: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Typic Udorthents
• Solum depth: >60 inches
• Rock fragments: 35–70% in the control section; mostly channers and flagstones
• Reaction: Slightly to moderately alkaline; very slightly effervescent
• Structure: Weak angular blocky in surface; massive below
• Color: Dominantly gray and grayish brown hues, reflecting spoil origin
This profile exemplifies the diagnostic complexity of soils formed in anthropogenic parent materials. It also underscores the importance of soil survey work in documenting post-mining landscapes—not just for classification, but for guiding reclamation, land use planning, and ecological restoration.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Nallen loam in a forested area. Nallen soils have bedrock at a depth of 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches). In this photo, weathered sandstone bedrock begins at a depth of about 90 centimeters (35 inches). (Soil Survey of New River Gorge National River, West Virginia; by Wendy Noll and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
MLRA(s): 127 (Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains)
Depth Class: Moderately deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Absent
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: High
Landscape: Foothills and mountains of the Allegheny Plateau
Parent Material: Pennsylvanian-aged sandstone
Slope: 0 to 35 percent
Elevation (type location): 646 meters (2120 feet)
Frost-free period (type location): 166 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 11.1 degrees C. (52 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1168 mm (46 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
Depth to the top of the Argillic: 8 to 51 cm (3 to 20 inches)
Depth to the base of the Argillic: 30 to 102 cm (12 to 40 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches). The bedrock is strongly cemented to indurated acid sandstone.
Rock Fragment content (by volume): 0 to 15 percent in the upper solum, 5 to 50 percent in the BC and C horizons.
Soil Reaction: very strongly acid to extremely acid throughout, except where limed or affected by burning.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland, pasture and hay land, and urban development
Dominant Vegetation: Oak-hickory or mixed mesophytic forests.
Where wooded--scarlet, black, white, red, or chestnut oak, red maple, pignut or mockernut hickory, yellow poplar, American holly, beech, and Virginia or white pine.
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 soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NALLEN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
credit: Kristy Dybala/Point Blue
Riparian soil monitoring at STRAW site; Dec 2018
Avian Ecologists Renee Cormier (L) and Hilary Allen
A hydric soil is defined by federal law to mean "soil that, in its undrained condition, is saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough during a growing season to develop an anerobic condition that supports the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation". This term is part of the legal definition of a wetland included in the United States Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198).
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
A profile of Musgrave silty clay in an area of Musgrave silty clay, 1 to 20 percent slopes. Musgrave soils very shallow or shallow densic material. The densic material begins at a depth of about 50 cm. (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 Musgrave series consists of soils that are very shallow and shallow to weathered tuff bedrock. They are well drained soils that have moderately slowly permeable surface layers over slowly permeable tuffaceous bedrock of the Duff and Pruett Formations. They formed in residuum derived from tuff. These soils are on scarps and erosional remnants. Slopes range from 1 to 30 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, mixed, superactive, calcareous, hyperthermic, shallow Ustic Torriorthents
Soil moisture - Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during July-September. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime. Geographically associated soils occur in the thermic temperature regime.
Depth to weathered tuff bedrock: 4 to 20 inches
Clay content of the particle-size control section: 35 to 55 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: less than 15 percent
Ignimbrite, tuff, limestone, and chert pebbles, cobbles, stones, and boulders cover 35 to 95 percent of the surface
These soils do not have subsoil horizons above the densic contact that have soil structure.
Reaction: moderatelt alkaline to strongly alkaline
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Woody species include creosotebush, ocotillo, whitethorn acacia, and range ratany. Grass species include black grama, chino grama, sideoats grama, bush muhly, plains bristlegrass, Arizona cottontop, and slim tridens.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Trans-Pecos Texas in the Southern Desertic Basins, Plains, and Mountains, Desert Shrub vegetative zone. This soil occurs in LRR-D, MLRA 42. The soil is of moderate extent.
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/M/MUSGRAVE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
credit: Kristy Dybala/Point Blue
Riparian soil health sampling at STRAW site; Jan 2019
Hilary Allen, Avian Ecologist
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Miami series; the State Soil of Indiana.
In 1900, when the Miami series was established, soil units were differentiated by surface texture alone. In 1904, the Miami Series was called one of the “four or five great series of uniform characteristics” in the Ohio and Mississippi River basins. The Miami soils have been studied in detail. In 1986, the Indiana Association of Professional Soil Scientists (IAPSC) voted to designate Miami as their state soil.
The Miami series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that are moderately deep to dense till. Miami soils formed in as much as 46 cm (18 inches) of loess or silty material and in the underlying loamy till. They are on till plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. Mean annual precipitation is 1016 mm (40 inches), and mean annual temperature is 11.1 degrees C (52 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs
Thickness of the loess or silty material: 0 to 46 cm (0 to 18 inches)
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 61 to 102 cm (24 to 40 inches)
Depth to densic contact: 61 to 102 cm (24 to 40 inches)
Depth to carbonates: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to bedrock: greater than 203 cm (80 inches)
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used to grow corn, soybeans, small grain, and hay. Much of the more sloping part is in permanent pasture or forest. Native vegetation is deciduous forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Indiana, southern Michigan, central and northern Illinois, southeastern Wisconsin, and western Ohio; mainly in MLRAs 111A and 111D, and lesser extents in MLRAs 95B, 97, 98, 108A, 110, 114A, and 115C. The type location is in MLRA 111A. The series is of large extent, about 1 million acres.
For additional information about this state soil, visit:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/in-state-soi...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MIAMI.html
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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 series, designated as hydric, have phases that are not hydric depending on water table, flooding, and ponding characteristics.
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
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The Vallers series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils that formed in calcareous fine-loamy till on till plains, moraines and lake plains. These soils have moderately slow permeability. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 22 inches, and mean annual air temperature is about 43 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Calciaquolls
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/V/VALLERS.html
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.
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
Thickness of the Underlying Material: Greater than 203 centimeters (80 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 203 centimeters (80 inches)
Depth to the Mineral Soil Material: 40 to 130 centimeters (16 to 51 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 0 to 30 centimeters (0 to 12 inches), January to December
Rock Fragments: 0 to 5 percent, by volume throughout the profile, mostly rounded quartz gravels
Electrical Conductivity: Greater than 16 mmhos/cm in organic layers and 4 to more than 16 mmhos/cm in mineral layers
Soil Reaction: Slightly acid to neutral in the natural state and extremely acid to strongly acid upon drying
Sulfur Content: 0.75 percent to 3.0 percent in organic layers and 0.05 to 0.50 percent in mineral layers
Other Features: Mineral horizons have n-value less than 1.0, typically less than 0.7
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, euic, mesic Terric Sulfihemists
USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly as wetland wildlife habitat. Dominant vegetation is black needlerush (Juncus roemerianus), saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens), saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), marsh-elder (Iva frutescens), and groundsel-tree (Baccharis halimifolia).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Coastal Plain of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia
Extent: Moderate
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HONGA.html
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Agricultural development in Liwa Oasis area of the UAE.
Most of the UAE's cultivated land is taken up by date palms, which in the early 1990s numbered about 4 million. They are cultivated in the arc of small oases that constitute the Al Liwa Oasis. Both federal and amirate governments provide incentives to farmers. For example, the government offers a 50 percent subsidy on fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. It also provides loans for machinery and technical assistance. The amirates have forty-one agricultural extension units as well as several experimental farms and agricultural research stations. The number of farmers rose from about 4,000 in the early 1970s to 18,265 in 1988.
Lack of arable land, intense heat, periodic locust swarms, and limited water supplies are the main obstacles to agriculture. The drive to increase the area under cultivation has resulted in the rapid depletion of underground aquifers, resulting in precipitous drops in water tables and serious increases in soil and water salinity in some areas.
Petrogypsic soils have a surface or subsurface soil horizon cemented by gypsum so strongly that dry fragments will not slake in water. The cementation restricts penetration by plant roots. This is a diagnostic horizon and occur in large areas of arid and semiarid regions of the world. The occurrence of gypsum in soils is considered a key feature by most soil classification and mapping systems that have designated specific names for these soils and horizons.
The petrogypsic horizon is a horizon in which visible
secondary gypsum has accumulated or has been transformed.
The horizon is cemented (i.e., extremely weakly cemented
through indurated cementation classes), and the cementation is
both laterally continuous and root limiting, even when the soil is
moist. The horizon typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but
it may occur at the surface in some soils.
Required Characteristics
A petrogypsic horizon meets all of the following
requirements:
1. Is cemented or indurated by gypsum, with or without other
cementing agents; and
2. Because of lateral continuity, can be penetrated by roots
only along vertical fractures with a horizontal spacing of 10 cm
or more; and
3. Is 5 mm or more thick; and
4. Is 40 percent or more (by weight) gypsum.
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:
Alluvial Soil landscapes formed by deposition along rivers and streams. Soil parent material is usually deep, sorted and often stratified or previously stratified alluvium. Alluvial soil landscapes include current floodplains and alluvial deposits.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Madison soil. This deep, well drained soil is characterized by a high content of mica, which is a result of weathering from mica gneiss and mica schist. (Soil Survey of Monroe County, Georgia; by Dee C. Pederson and Sherry E. Carlson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Blueberries in an area of Madison fine sandy loam, 6 to 15 percent slopes, moderately eroded. (Soil Survey of Coosa County, Alabama; by John L. Burns, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Madison series consists of well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in residuum weathered from felsic or intermediate, high-grade metamorphic or igneous rocks high in mica content. They are very deep to bedrock and moderately deep to saprolite. They are on gently sloping to steep uplands in the Piedmont. Slopes are mostly between 4 and 15 percent, but range from 2 to 60 percent. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 59 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 60 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 50 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 6 feet. Content of coarse fragments, mainly gravel, ranges from 0 to 25 percent in the A and E horizons and is 0 to 15 percent in the lower horizons. Content of mica ranges from few to many in the A, E, BE, and BA horizons; common or many in the Bt horizon; and many in the BC and C horizons. The soil is moderately acid to very strongly acid throughout, except where the surface has been limed. Limed soils are moderately acid or slightly acid in the upper part.
USE AND VEGETATION: About half the total acreage is cultivated or used for pasture. Principal crops grown are cotton, corn, wheat, oats, soybeans, peaches, apples, and vegetables. Original forest species include white, black, post, and red oaks; hickories; dogwood, sourwood; maple and elm. Shortleaf and loblolly pine were present in places and are now common, along with Virginia pine, in abandoned fields.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Piedmont of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/monroe...
and
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/alabama/AL037/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MADISON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
I wonder how it taste? It was very sweet and gritty. Sugarcane is commonly grown on Oxisols in Brazil. Oxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are classified as ferralsols in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources; some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.The main processes of soil formation of oxisols are weathering, humification and pedoturbation due to animals. These processes produce the characteristic soil profile. They are defined as soils containing at all depths no more than 10 percent weatherable minerals, and low cation exchange capacity. Oxisols are always a red or yellowish color, due to the high concentration of iron(III) and aluminium oxides and hydroxides. In addition they also contain quartz and kaolin, plus small amounts of other clay minerals and organic matter.
For more information on Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
A representative soil profile of Ririe silt loam in an area of Iphil-Lostine-Ririe complex, 0 to 12 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Teton Area, Idaho and Wyoming; by Carla B. Rebernak, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Ririe series consists of deep and very deep, well drained soils that formed in loess and silty alluvium derived from loess. Ririe soils are on hills, mountain slopes and terraces. Slopes are 0 to 80 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 430 mm and the mean annual air temperature is about 3.9 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, frigid Calcic Haploxerolls
Mollic epipedon thickness: 18 to 40 cm (when less than 25 cm, the mollic thickness is one-third or more of the thickness between the soil surface and the upper boundary of the calcic horizon.)
Particle size control section total clay: 4 to 25 percent
Particle size control section carbonate clay: 0 to 9 percent
Particle size control section non-carbonate clay: 4 to 18 percent
Depth to calcic horizon: 18 to 40 cm
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 35 percent in the calcic horizon (weighted average is less than 25 percent)
Mean annual soil temperature: 4.4 to 8.0 degrees C. (frigid soil temperature regime)
Mean summer soil temperature: 15 to 18.9 degrees C.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses: dryland wheat, barley, hay, and grazing; irrigated wheat, barley, seed potatoes, and range
Dominant native vegetation: mountain big sagebrush and bluebunch wheatgrass
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Southeastern and eastern Idaho, western Wyoming, MLRA 13, 25 and 11
Extent: these soils are extensive
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Teton County, Idaho, 1975; Teton Area, Idaho-Wyoming Soil Survey
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/wyoming/TetonI...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/R/RIRIE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of Haploxerolls. The pedon was correlated as a shallow, Lithic Ultic Haploxerolls to the Santa Lucia series. Santa Lucia soils are moderately deep, Pachic Ultic Haploxerolls. (Soil Survey of Pinnacles National Monument, California; by Ken Oster, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
These Haploxerolls consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum derived from acid shale. These soils are on hills. Slopes range from 30 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 17 inches (432 millimeters), and the mean annual air temperature is about 61 degrees F (16 degrees C).
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA7...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SANTA_LUCIA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: Guanajibo gravelly sandy clay loam, 2 to 12 percent slopes. Guanajibo soils are characterized by a surface layer of gravelly sandy clay loam, clayey subsurface layers, and a content of plinthite of 5 percent or more. They are in the udic soil moisture regime. (Soil Survey of San Germán Area, Puerto Rico; by Jorge L. Lugo-Camacho, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Guanajibo series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on coastal terraces and alluvial fans on humid coastal plains. They formed in fine textured sediments of mixed origin. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 77 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 68 inches. Slopes range from 2 to 12 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, mixed, isohyperthermic Plinthic Kandiudults
Solum thickness is more than 60 inches. Depth to the horizons having more than 5 percent plinthite ranges from 30 to 54 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to strongly acid throughout, except where the surface has been limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Guanajibo soils are in naturalized pastureland. The vegetation consists of native and introduced grasses, shrubs, and trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Humid coastal plains of Puerto Rico. The series is of minor extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/puerto_rico/PR...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GUANAJIBO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Colluvianation is the process where sheet erosion, water erosion, downward creep, or a combination of all transport loose unconsolidated debris from upslope to the base of the slope depositing different types of heterogeneous rocks and debris of varying sizes, and forming what is called “colluvium”.
Colluvium consists of poorly sorted angular fragments of various sizes from silt to rock debris, and sometimes slabs of bedrock, facing up the slope as if indicating its original location.
Distinguishing between colluvium and alluvium may not be easy, especially at valley edges where colluvial and alluvial materials may mix and become indistinguishable. (Note the rounded edges of the large boulder to the right.)
As a general rule... if the material has been transported downslope by water it is designated as alluvium; local alluvium if poorly sorted or graded. If transported primarily by gravity, it is designated as colluvium.
For additional information, visit:
www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-colluvium-and-how-is-...
A representative soil profile of a non-hydric Leon soil in Florida.
The Leon series consists of very deep, poorly and very poorly drained, moderately rapid to moderately slowly permeable soils on upland flats, depressions, stream terraces and tidal areas. They formed in sandy marine sediments of the Eastern Gulf Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 152A), the Atlantic Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 153A) and to a lesser extent in the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A) and the North-Central Florida Ridge (MLRA 138). Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, siliceous, thermic Aeric Alaquods
The Bh horizon is within 30 inches of the soil surface. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid throughout. In tidal areas, the soil reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately alkaline throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Leon soils are used for forestry, rangeland and pasture. Areas with adequate water control are used for cropland and vegetables. The natural vegetation consists of longleaf pine, slash pine, water oak, myrtle, with a thick undergrowth of sawpalmetto, running oak, fetterbush and other lyionia, inkberry (gallberry), wax myrtle, goldenrod, ligustrina, dog fennel, chalky bluestem, lowbush blueberry, creeping bluestem and pineland threeawn (wiregrass). In depressions, the vegetation is dominated by brackenfern, smooth sumac and swamp cyrilla are common. Vegetation in the tidal marshes includes bushy seaoxeye, marshhay cordgrass, seashore saltgrass, batis, and smooth cordgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain from Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. The series is of large extent.
The water table is at depths of 6 to 18 inches for 1 to 4 months during most years. In low flats or sloughs it is at a depth of 0 to 6 for periods of more than 3 weeks during most years. It is between depths of 18 and 36 inches for 2 to 10 months during most years. It is below 60 inches during the dry periods of most years. Depressional areas are covered with standing water for periods of 6 months or more in most years.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LEON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil scientists describing soil... staying low out of the wind.
A soil scientist is a person who is qualified to evaluate and interpret soils and soil-related data for the purpose of understanding soil resources as they contribute to not only agricultural production, but as they affect environmental quality and as they are managed for protection of human health and the environment. The university degree should be in Soil Science, or closely related field (i.e., natural resources, environmental science, earth science, etc.) and include sufficient soils-related course work so the Soil Scientist has a measurable level of understanding of the soil environment, including soil morphology and soil forming factors, soil chemistry, soil physics, and soil biology, and the dynamic interaction of these areas.
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
A representative soil profile of Great Bend silt loam. This soil is dark to a depth of about 30 centimeters; calcium carbonate is below this depth. (Soil Survey of Spink County, South Dakota; by James B. Millar, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Great Bend series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in glaciolacustrine sediments on lake plains. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderate to slow in the underlying material. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 19 inches, and mean annual air temperature is about 43 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, frigid Calcic Hapludolls
Thickness of the mollic epipedon ranges from 7 to 16 inches and extends into the Bw horizon in most pedons. Depth to carbonate ranges from 10 to 32 inches thick. The particle size control section contains a uniform fine sand distribution and less than 15 percent fine sand or coarser.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas cropped to corn, small grains, and alfalfa. Small areas are in native range of blue grama, big bluestem, green needlegrass, western wheatgrass, sideoats grama, needleandthread, little bluestem, porcupinegrass, bearded wheatgrass, sedges, and forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota. The series is of moderate extent.
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/G/GREAT_BEND.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Profile of Zanesville silt loam in an area of Apalona-Zanesville silt loams, 2 to 6 percent slopes. This soil has a darker surface layer overlying a brown argillic horizon over a fragipan starting at a depth of about 80 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Harrison County, Indiana by Steven W. Neyhouse, Sr., Byron G. Nagel, Gary R. Struben, and Steven Blanford, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: upland
Landform: hillslope, interfluve, ridge and saddle
MLRA(s): 113, 114A, 115A, 120A, 120B, 120C, 124, and 126
Geomorphic component: hills
Hillslope Profile Position: summit, shoulders and backslopes
Parent Material: loess over residuum derived from sandstone, siltstone, and shale
Slope: 0 to 30 percent
Elevation: 110 to 415 meters (360 to 1360 feet)
Frost-free period: 147 to 214 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 11.5 to 14.9 degrees C. (52.7 to 58.9 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 98.4 to 136.1 centimeters (38.7 to 53.6 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Fragiudalfs
Depth to the top of the Argillic: ranges from 7 to 28 centimeters (3 to 11 inches)
Depth to the top of the Fragipan: ranges from 60 to 99 centimeters (24 to 39 inches) except where eroded
Solum Thickness: ranges from 50 to 177 centimeters (20 to 70 inches).
Depth to bedrock: ranges from 100 to 203 centimeters (40 to 80 inches).
Depth Class: Deep and Very Deep
Reaction Class: moderately to very strongly acid, except where limed.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: row crop, pasture and woodland
Dominant Vegetation:
Where cultivated-- Corn, soybeans, wheat, tobacco.
Where wooded-- white oak, black oak, post oak, shagbark hickory, sugar maple, tulip poplar, dogwood, and sassafras.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio
Extent: Extent is large.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/indiana/IN061/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/Z/ZANESVILLE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A hydric soil is defined by federal law to mean "soil that, in its undrained condition, is saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough during a growing season to develop an anerobic condition that supports the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation". This term is part of the legal definition of a wetland included in the United States Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198).
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
A representative soil profile of Typic Argixerolls. (Soil Survey of Pinnacles National Monument, California; by Ken Oster, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Argixerolls are the Xerolls that have a relatively thin argillic horizon or one in which the percentage of clay decreases rapidly with increasing depth. Generally, the mollic epipedon is very dark brown and the argillic horizon is dark brown. Argixerolls formed mostly in mid-Pleistocene or earlier deposits or on surfaces of Tertiary age. Slopes range from nearly level to very steep. The natural vegetation is mostly grasses and shrubs, but some of the soils support coniferous forest vegetation with a grass and shrub understory and some have an open forest or savanna.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA7...
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
A representative soil profile of the Opolis soil series. (Soil Survey of Jasper County, Missouri; by Alan C. Peer, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Opolis series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in a thin mantle of silty loess over residuum on plains in the Cherokee Prairies (MLRA 112). Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is 57 degrees F and mean annual precipitation is 40 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Albaquic Hapludalfs
Soil moisture: The soil moisture control section is udic
Depth to abrupt textural change: 12 to 20 inches
Depth to argillic horizon: 12 to 20 inches
Depth to redox concentrations: 9 to 27 inches
Depth to redox depletions: 13 to 80 inches
Depth to episaturation: 13 to 24 inches in February
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 35 to 60 percent
Sand content: 3 to 20 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in cropland. A few areas are in native hayland or pasture. Principal crops are wheat, corn, milo, and soybeans. Native vegetation is prairie grasses, mainly big and little bluestem.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Missouri and possibly Southeast Kansas and Northeast Oklahoma. The soils are of minor extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/missouri/MO097...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/O/OPOLIS.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Greenville consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands. They formed in clayey marine sediments of the Coastal Plain. Slopes are dominantly less than 8 percent but range up to 18 percent. Near the type location, the average annual air temperature is about 65 degrees F. and the average annual precipitation is about 59 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Rhodic Kandiudults
Solum thickness exceeds 60 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout except for surface layers that have been limed. Few quartz pebbles are in some pedons. Content of ferro-manganese masses and concretions ranges from none to common throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and are used for the production of cotton, corn, small grain, soybeans, truck crops, orchards, and pasture. Wooded areas are in pine, oak, and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. This soil is extensive.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GREENVILLE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Fig. 5.33 Salidic Torripsamments (AD246) UAE
Salidic Torripsamments are the Torripsamments that have an ECe of more than 8 to less than 30 dS m-1 in a layer 10 cm or more thick, within 100 cm of the soil surface.
Torripsamments are the Psamments that have an aridic (or torric) moisture regime. They are the cool to hot Psamments of arid climates.
Psamments are the Entisols that have less than 35 percent (by volume) rock fragments and a texture of loamy fine sand or coarser in all layers (sandy loam lamellae are permitted) within the particle-size control section.
Many of these soils are on stable surfaces, some are on dunes, some are stabilized, and some are moving. These soils consist of quartz, mixed sands, volcanic glass, or even gypsum and may have any color. Generally, they are neutral or calcareous and are nearly level to steep. The vegetation consists mostly of xerophytic shrubs, grasses, and forbs. Some of the soils on dunes support a few ephemeral plants or have a partial cover of xerophytic and ephemeral plants. The shifting dunes may be devoid of plants in normal years.
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
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
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TONKA.html
Prairie potholes are depressional wetlands (primarily freshwater marshes) found most often in the Upper Midwest, especially North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. These potholes are the result of glacier activity in the Wisconsin glaciation, which ended about 10,000 years ago. The decaying ice sheet left behind depressions formed by the uneven deposition of till in ground moraines. These depressions are called potholes, glacial potholes, kettles, or kettle lakes. They fill with water in the spring, creating wetlands, which range in duration from temporary to semi-permanent.
A hydric soil is defined by federal law to mean "soil that, in its undrained condition, is saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough during a growing season to develop an anerobic condition that supports the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation". This term is part of the legal definition of a wetland included in the United States Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198).
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
Dr Fernando Bertolani sampling soil. A soil scientist is a person who is qualified to evaluate and interpret soils and soil-related data for the purpose of understanding soil resources as they contribute to not only agricultural production, but as they affect environmental quality and as they are managed for protection of human health and the environment. The university degree should be in Soil Science, or closely related field (i.e., natural resources, environmental science, earth science, etc.) and include sufficient soils-related course work so the Soil Scientist has a measurable level of understanding of the soil environment, including soil morphology and soil forming factors, soil chemistry, soil physics, and soil biology, and the dynamic interaction of these areas.
For more information about soil classification using the WRB system, visit:
www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf
For more information about describing soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For additional information about soil classification using Soil Taxonomy, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Grenada series. (Kentucky Soil Atlas; by Anastasios D. Karathanasis, University of Kentucky)
Landscape: The Grenada soils formed in thick beds of silty loess and water reworked loess material more than 48 inches thick. These nearly level to sloping soils are on uplands and stream terraces of low relief. Most of the acreage is used for row crops and pasture.
The Grenada series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in thick loess. These soils are shallow or moderately deep to a fragipan that perches water during wet seasons in late winter and early in spring. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan and slow in the fragipan. These nearly level to strongly sloping soils are in the Southern Mississippi Valley Silty Uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 12 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Oxyaquic Fraglossudalfs
Note: The Grenada series classification was changed from a Glossic Fragiudalf to an Oxyaquic Fraglossudalf in 2001 because the former classification was removed from taxonomy. The depth to saturated zone that the series has been interpreted with, and the amount of albic intrusions observed in the upper part of the fragipan near the type location support this new classification.
Thickness of the solum is more than 80 inches. Depth to the fragipan generally ranges from 18 to 36 inches, however an eroded phase is recognized that has a fragipan as shallow as 12 inches. Combined thickness of horizons having less than 10 percent sand is more than 48 inches. The A, Bw, E, and upper part of the Btx/E horizons are very strongly acid to moderately acid except for the surface layer in areas that have been limed; the lower part of the Btx/E horizon and the Btx horizon range from strongly acid to neutral.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is used for row crops and pasture. Cotton, corn, and soybeans are principal crops. A small acreage is in mixed hardwoods including oaks, beech, hickory, elm, and tulip poplar. Shortleaf and loblolly pines are in the southern part of the range.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. This series is of large extent.
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/G/GRENADA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of Dev very gravelly loam in an area of Dev-Riverwash complex, 0 to 3 percent slopes, frequently flooded. The parent material for this soil is flood deposition of very gravelly loam and very gravelly sand. This soil profile with finer textures above than below, is indicative of a fining upwards sequence commonly found in alluvial flood plain deposits. (Soil Survey of Edwards and Real Counties, Texas; by Wayne J. Gabriel, Dr. Lynn E. Loomis, and James A. Douglass II Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Dev series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils that formed in gravelly loamy alluvium derived from limestone. These nearly level to very gently sloping soils occur on flood plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 508 mm (20 in) and the mean annual air temperature is about degrees 17.8 C (64 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, thermic Cumulic Haplustolls
Soil moisture: Aridic-ustic moisture regime
Organic matter: an irregular decrease with depth and some pedons have a buried A horizon
Some pedons have layers consisting of nearly all coarse fragments and discontinuous strata of loam or clay loam.
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 8 to 35 percent
Rock fragments: 35 to 90 percent; limestone or chert; gravel, cobbles, and stones
Calcium carbonate: 40 to 80 percent by weight in less than 20 mm fraction
Periodic catastrophic floods deposit most of the coarse fragments which are mainly of limestone, and the smaller floods deposit a large part of the clay and silt size particles.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for native range. The soil commonly has a moderate cover of red grama, sideoats grama, threeawns, and plains bristlegrass, and a thin to moderate overstory of mesquite, cedar, and catclaw. A few live oak, pecan, and other deciduous trees are adjacent to stream channels.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western and southwestern Texas, LRR I - Southwest Plateaus and Plains Range and Cotton Region, Edwards Plateau, MLRA 81A and 81B. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX607/0/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DEV.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Clebit soil series. (Soil Survey of Sevier County, Arkansas; by Alex L. Winfrey, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Clebit series consists of shallow, well drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils over hard sandstone that is tilted about 40 degrees from horizontal. These soils formed in material weathered from sandstone of Pennsylvanian age. These very gently sloping to steep soils are on mountain tops and mountain sideslopes of forested uplands of the Ouachita Mountains (MLRA 119) and the Arkansas Valley and Ridges (MLRA 118A and 118B). Slopes are 2 to 60 percent. Mean annual temperature is 63 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 48 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Lithic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness and depth to hard sandstone bedrock ranges from 10 to 20 inches and may be extremely variable within short distances.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly as native range for beef cattle. Native vegetation is mainly scrubby hardwoods with an understory of grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ouachita Mountains and the Arkansas Valley and Ridges of Oklahoma and possibly Arkansas. The series is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/AR133...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CLEBIT.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Left: A soil profile of the Wedowee soil series (2 photo tapes--one in centimeters and one in inches).
Center: Typical North Carolina landscape of Wedowee soil.
Right: Closeup of clay coating in saprolite (clay film?) in the BC horizon.
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. These 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. Near the type location, the average annual temperature is about 63 degrees F. and average annual precipitation is about 53 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
Most areas are wooded and common trees include loblolly pine, Virginia pine, red oak, white oak, post oak, hickory, blackgum, maple, and dogwood. Many areas are cleared and used for cotton, corn, tobacco, small grain, hay, and pasture. Some areas are used for residual development.
For more information about describing, sampling, classifying, and/or mapping soils, please refer to the following references: "Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils", "Keys to Soil Taxonomy", and the "Soil Survey Manual".
A representative soil profile of the Owyhee series.
The Owyhee series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in lacustrine material or old alluvium on level to sloping terraces. The permeability is slow or moderately slow. Slopes are 0 to 30 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 230 millimeters, and the average annual air temperature is about 11 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Xeric Haplocalcids
Average annual soil temperature -- 10.5 to 12 degrees C.
Average summer soil temperature - 20.5 to 22 degrees C.
Depth to Laminae - 50 to 89 centimeters
Depth to carbonates - 30 to 61 centimeters
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly irrigated cropland. The principal crops are corn, small grains, sugar beets, potatoes, hops, alfalfa, pasture grasses, and onions. The vegetation on uncultivated areas is big sagebrush, Sandberg bluegrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, cheatgrass, basin wildrye, and annual weeds and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Valleys in southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon. The series is of moderate extent
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/O/OWYHEE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Delaware State Soil
On April 20, 2000, Governor Thomas R. Carper signed House Bill 436, which designated Greenwich loam as Delaware’s official
State soil. Students from Fifer Middle School assisted primary sponsor Rep. V. George Carey in convincing the General Assembly to adopt Greenwich loam as the State soil. The students made Greenwich soil mini-monoliths, which they distributed to
legislators in an attempt to illustrate the need for the public to be educated about the importance of soils and soil conservation.
The Greenwich series consists of very deep, well-drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils that formed in sandy marine and old alluvial sediments overlain by a thin mantle of sediments that have a high content of silt. These soils are in the uplands on the coastal plain of Delaware and adjacent States. They are among the most productive soils in Delaware for agriculture and forestry and are considered prime farmland. They have few limitations if used as sites for urban or recreational development.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
Solum Thickness: 50 to 127 cm (20 to 50 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 152 cm (60 inches)
Depth to Lithologic Discontinuity: 50 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 152 cm (60 inches)
Rock Fragments: 0 to 10 percent, by volume in the solum, 0 to 20 percent in the substratum, mostly fine rounded gravel
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, throughout the profile, unless limed
Other Features: Silt content ranges from 30 to 60 percent above the discontinuity and 2 to 25 percent below the discontinuity
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Delaware, Maryland and possibly New Jersey. The extent is small.
The Greenwich series was originally established in Calvert County, Maryland, 1942. It was made inactive in 1957 and the soils combined with the Sassafras series in Maryland and Delaware. The series was reactivated in 1992 in Sussex County, DE because of important differences in use and management.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GREENWICH.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Kenn soil series. (Soil Survey of Sevier County, Arkansas; by Alex L. Winfrey, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: These level to gently sloping soils are on flood plains of the Ouachita Mountains and the Arkansas Valley and Ridges.
The Kenn series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy alluvium. Slopes are 0 to 4 percent. Mean annual temperature is 63 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 1168 cm (46 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, active, thermic Ultic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness is 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 in). Depth to the gravelly 2BC ranges from 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 in). Depth to bedrock is greater than 152 cm (60 in).
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for tame pasture and woodland. The vegetation is primarily post oak, southern red oak, sweetgum, and shortleaf pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Flood plains of the Ouachita Mountains and the Arkansas Valley and Ridges of Arkansas and Oklahoma. The series is of minor extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/AR133...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/K/KENN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A soil profile of a Haplogypsid in New Mexico. This soil formed in gypsum-rich parent material. The white color is due primarily to the presence of gypsum throughout the profile. Scale is in cm. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska; photo courtesy of Dr. David Weindorf)
Some Haplogypsids have a cambic (minimal soil development) subsoil horizon overlying the gypsic horizon. Others have only a gypsic horizon. Haplogypsids are commonly very pale in color. They are not extensive in the United States. The largest concentrations in the United States are in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. These soils are more common in other parts of the world.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
Slaking v. Disaggregation
As footnoted in the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils (FBDSS), disaggregation is or equals “slaking”. However, at one time a distinction was made between materials that disaggregated as opposed to those that slaked. The term "slakes" was limited to fragments that exhibited a violent rupture as the fragments break down (a popping off of the materials as opposed to simply sloughing away). This is a common characteristic of fragments taken from a fragipan and is used by many to identify fragic soil properties.
Currently, slaking is defined as the breakdown of soil aggregates into smaller microaggregates when the aggregates are immersed in water. The slake test provides a measure of soil stability when soil aggregates are exposed to rapid wetting. No distinction is now made as to how the material reacts as it disaggregates.
Only air-dry soil fragments or aggregates should be tested by the slaking procedure. Large intact samples are separated into fist size aggregates <75-mm in size. Care should be taken not to destroy naturally cemented aggregates (e.g., potential plinthite nodules) as the material is separated. Submersion is for a minimum of one hour, but overnight (about 8 hours) is preferred.
For a complete discussion, visit:
Soil Survey Field and Laboratory Methods Manual
Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 51, Version 2
Issued 2014
3.7 Soil Stability, Dispersion, and Slaking (pp.148-162)
3.7.5 Slaking (Disaggregation) for Identification and Semiquantification of Cemented Materials
John Kelley and Michael A. Wilson, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Survey Staff
Citation: Soil Survey Staff. 2014. Soil Survey Field and Laboratory Methods Manual. Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 51, Version 2.0. R. Burt and Soil Survey Staff (ed.). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.