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This region lies in the south-west of the Emirate, adjacent to the border with Saudi Arabia. It constitutes linear dune fields of interlayered white carbonatic and red quartzite sands with minor exposure of Quaternary dunes and inter-dune formation.
The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Typic Dystrocryept in Idaho.
Landscape: These soils are mostly in the mountains of the Western States and in Alaska. The vegetation is mostly coniferous forest. The soils are used mainly for timber production and wildlife habitat. A few areas are used for limited livestock grazing.
The central concept or the Typic subgroup of Dystrocryepts is fixed on deep, more or less freely drained soils that have an ochric epipedon. Typic Dystrocryepts are of large extent in the United States. Natural vegetation is mainly western hemlock, western redcedar, western larch, and western white pine with understory of big blueberry, common beargrass, myrtle pachystima and northern twinflower.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Peanutrock series. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Peanutrock-Tiak complex, 8 to 15 percent slopes. This map unit is moderately suited to pasture and to ponds.
The Peanutrock series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy and gravelly marine sediments of Cretaceous age. These soils are on nearly level to steep marine terraces and uplands in the Cretaceous Western Gulf Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area, MLRA 135B. Slopes are 1 to 35 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
Solum thickness is more than 80 inches. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to strongly acid in the A horizon; slightly acid to very strongly acid in the E and BE horizons; medium acid to very strongly acid in the Bt horizons; and strongly acid to extremely acid in the BC or C horizons.
Coarse fragments range from 15 to 60 percent by volume in the A, E, and BE horizons; 35 to 60 percent in the upper Bt horizon(s); and 35 to 80 percent in the lower Bt horizons; and 60 to 80 percent in the BC or C horizons. In some pedons, the lower Bt, BC and C horizons consist of gravels and cobbles of sandstone and/or chert and novaculite that are weakly to strongly cemented by iron, gypsum, calcite, dried clay binder, or a tuffaceous material.
Typically, the cementation is a yellowish color in the tuffaceous material and red or brown in the other materials. This cementation can occur in layers of varying thicknesses and, in some pedons, there is horizon stratification with strongly contrasting particle and fragment sizes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for native pasture and woodland. The vegetation is primarily southern red oak, sweetgum, American sycamore, white oak, and loblolly pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cretaceous Western Gulf Coastal Plain of southwest Arkansas and possibly southeast Oklahoma. The series is expected to be extensive. These soils were formerly included in the Saffell series. Saffell soils formed over Tertiary-aged sediments and are less stratified.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/pikeA...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PEANUTROCK.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Still series. (Soil Survey of Pinnacles National Monument, California; by Ken Oster, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Still soils are on flood plains and alluvial fans. They forned in alluvial material from sedimentary rocks. Elevations are 600 to 2,000 feet. The climate is subhumid mesothermal with warm dry summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 12 to 25 inches.
The Still series consists of deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvial material from sedimentary rocks. Still soils are on flood plains and alluvial fans and have slopes of 0 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 60 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Cumulic Haploxerolls
Note: A Still taxadjunct pedon was sampled in Pinnacles National Monument in 2006 - Pedon No 06N0207. The pedon was a taxadjunct due to silty clay loam textures below 40 inches that was strongly to violently effervescent.
USE AND VEGETATION: The soil is used for cultivated alfalfa, sugar beets and dry farmed grain. Natural vegetation is mainly annual grasses with scattered oaks.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Valleys of the south half of the Coast Range in California. The soils are inextensive.
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/STILL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The word “soil,” like many common words, has several meanings. In its traditional meaning, soil is the natural medium for the growth of land plants, whether or not it has discernible soil horizons. This meaning is still the common understanding of the word, and the greatest interest in soil is centered on this meaning. People consider soil important because it supports plants that supply food, fibers, drugs, and other wants of humans and because it filters water and recycles wastes. Soil covers the earth’s surface as a continuum, except on bare rock, in areas of perpetual frost or deep water, or on the bare ice of glaciers. In this sense, soil has a thickness that is determined by the rooting depth of plants.
Soil is formed when the rocks (parent material) are exposed to the weathering action of natural elements like wind, water, glaciers, and change in temperature. These weathering agents progressively break rocks into finer grains that are laid in layers to form the soil.
The distinct layers of soil lying one above the other, parallel to the soil surface, are known as soil horizons. They are identified on the basis of their physical features, mainly their color, structure, texture, particle size, as well as biological and chemical composition. Each horizon is the result of a number of geological, chemical, and biological processes that have been in progress for over thousands of years.
A soil horizon is a result of soil-forming processes (pedogenesis). Layers that have not undergone such processes may be simply called “layers”.
Soil profile: These Dystrudepts have some andic soil properties in a layer in the upper part that is 18 cm or more thick. Some of the soils contain a significant amount of volcanic ash. Some have an umbric epipedon. Andic and Vitrandic Dystrudepts are moderately extensive in the Northwestern United States.
Landscape: The native vegetation consists mostly of coniferous forest. Most of these soils support their native vegetation and are used as forest. A few of the less sloping soils have been cleared and are used as cropland or pasture.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
A plinthic horizon contains a significant amount of plinthite. If the horizon constitutes a "continuous phase", zones that roots can enter are more than 10cm apart and plinthite makes up 50 percent or more of the volume of the horizon (proposed). Plinthite (Gr. plinthos, brick) is an iron-rich, humus-poor mixture of clay with quartz and other highly weathered minerals. It commonly occurs as reddish redox concentrations in a layer that has a polygonal (irregular), platy (lenticular), or reticulate (blocky) pattern. Plinthite irreversibly hardens upon exposure to repeated wetting and drying, especially if exposed to heat from the sun. Other morphologically similar iron-rich materials that do not progressively harden upon repeated wetting and drying are not considered plinthite. The horizon in which plinthite occurs commonly has 2.5 percent (by mass) or more citrate dithionite extractable iron in the fine-earth fraction and a ratio between acid oxalate extractable Fe and citrate-dithionite extractable Fe of less than 0.10.
Plinthite has platy and nodular forms. Platy plinthite bodies are red to yellowish red or strong brown about 1 cm thick and 2 to 4 cm long. They commmonly have a horizontal orientation. Nodular plinthite bodies have a similar color range but have an irregular to spherical shape. A horizon with about 10% platy plinthite will perch water. Horizons with nodular plinthite do not perch water, but the underlying reticulately mottled zone is a restrictive horizon that perches water. It is suggested that platy plinthite forms on level landscapes with a freely fluctuating water table. Nodular plinthite apparently forms on more sloping landscapes where lateral movement of water above a restrictive horizon is a contributing factor.
In plinthic soils of the southeastern US, the underlying layers typically act as an aquitard restricting water movement, facilitating the formation of plinthite (especially platy plinthite) in the overlying horizons. In this pedon, the plinthic B horizon is underlain by a red, dense, compact, non-cemented layer that contains numerous tubes or channels of infilled grayish clayey material. These tubes or channels are thought to be formed by biological activity at a time when the sediments were being deposited. In the current environment, they commonly contain coarse roots within elongated macropores. The macropores may be completed filled with soil material or they be open (areas that once contained live roots, but are currently void of roots due to decomposition), allowing for the transmission of air and water within the channel.
Because of the dark red color and dense characteristics, these layers are referred to by the local soil scientists as the "brick" layer.
For more information about a plinthic horizon, visit;
www.researchgate.net/publication/242649722_Rationale_for_...
or;
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00167061220043...
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-...
Fibrous gypsum is used as building materials. It is used in rubber, plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, paints, textiles, food, medicine, household chemicals, arts and crafts, culture and education. Gypsum is usually divided into raw gypsum and plaster. The raw gypsum (gypsum ore) is pulverized into a very fine powder and it is called plaster of Paris after heating. The plaster of Paris will solidify when it meets water, and it can be used to fix the injured limb of the fracture, the shape of the crafts, the mold of the foundry industry, and the mold of the jewelry. (Scale is 10cm / 4 in).
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-...
Human settlement in the area covered by the emirate has existed for over 120,000 years, with significant finds made of early axes and stone tools as well as Copper and Iron Age implements in Al Dhaid, Al Thuqeibah, Mileiha, Tell Abraq, Muwailah, Al Madam and Jebel Faya.
Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soybeans, corn, and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil’s agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area. Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soybeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand.
Soils of the cerrado are in the order of Oxisols. 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 about the Brazilian Soil Classification system, visit:
www.embrapa.br/en/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/10940...
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Mollisol from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)
Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation (pastureland) occurring on upland side-slopes in Brazil.
Mollisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. Mollisols form in semi-arid to semi-humid areas, typically under a grassland cover. They are most commonly found in the mid-latitudes, namely in North America, mostly east of the Rocky Mountains, in South America in Argentina (Pampas) and Brazil, and in Asia in Mongolia and the Russian Steppes. Their parent material is typically base-rich and calcareous and include limestone, loess, or wind-blown sand. The main processes that lead to the formation of grassland Mollisols are melanisation, decomposition, humification and pedoturbation.
Mollisols have deep, high organic matter, nutrient-enriched surface soil (A horizon), typically more than 25 cm thick. This fertile surface horizon, known as a mollic epipedon, is the defining diagnostic feature of Mollisols. Mollic epipedons result from the long-term addition of organic materials derived from plant roots, and typically have soft, granular soil structure.
Mollisol (Chernossolos) and landscape BRAZIL--In the Brazil soil classification system, these Chernossolos are well structured soils, rich in organic matter, with high content of exchangeable cations. They are typically found in the south and east parts of Brazil.
A soil profile of an Epiaquept used for paddy rice production in South Korea. Compaction of the upper part of the soil facilitates puddling with irrigation water so that areas remain flooded while the crop matures. The gray colors between depths of about 15 and 30 cm are caused by the human-induced wet soil conditions, which in turn result in the chemical reduction of iron in the upper part of the soil. This soil has an ochric epipedon about 15 cm thick underlain by a cambic horizon that extends below the base of the photo. The right side of the profile has been smoothed; the left side retains the natural soil structure.
Epiaquepts have one or more layers in the upper part of the profile that are saturated for part of the year and underlain by unsaturated layers (a perched water table). They have cool to warm soil temperatures. Before cultivation, most Epiaquepts supported forest vegetation. Epiaquepts are generally nearly level or gently sloping, and their parent materials are typically late-Pleistocene or younger sediments
(Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
The dark layer near the surface of the pit is a spodic horizon. What made this area so interesting was the presence of the spodic horizon and underlying subsoil that contained plinthite.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
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-...
Soils are often dominated by two main coloring agents: organic matter and iron minerals. Often we see colors of red, yellow, brown, orange, etc. in a soil profile. All of these colors are created by different forms of iron minerals present on the soil particles. Historically, the term “mottles” has been used to identify differences in color patterns in a soil profile. Those color difference can be a result of something inherent in the parent material that formed the soil (lithochromic mottles) and chemical reactions in the soil (redixomorphic features--mottles that form as a result of saturated conditions in the soil). The word redoximorphic stems from “redox” which is short for reduction and oxidation and “morphic” which is short for “morphology”, which is the study of how things form.
In this example, most of the naturally occuring iron has been stripped from the ped face leaving a neutral gray color as a result of redoximorphic processes.
Alfisols (SOIL TAXONOMY; JA.1. a or c.) Even though the ped interior does not have a predominately gray interior color, it is considered aquic if 50 percent or more redox depletions with chroma of 1 or less are on faces of peds or chroma of 2 or less with redox concentrations in the matrix.
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-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
Yadkin sandy clay loam, 2 to 6 percent slopes, moderately eroded. (Soil Survey of Iredell County, North Carolina)
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-iredell-county-no...
Setting
Major land resource area: Southern Piedmont (MLRA 136)
Landscape: High stream terrace on upland and interfluve
Landform position: Summit
Elevation: 700 to 1,200 feet
Map Unit Composition
Yadkin and similar soils: Typically 90 percent, ranging from about 80 to 95 percent
Typical Profile
Yadkin
Surface layer:
0 to 6 inches; dark reddish brown sandy clay loam
Subsoil:
6 to 80 inches; dark red clay
Minor Components
Dissimilar components:
• Clifford soils, which have a red subsoil, in similar areas
• Danripple soils, which have a brown or red subsoil, in similar areas
Soil Properties and QualiYadkin
Available water capacity: Moderate (about 8.5 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: Low
Surface fragments: None
Parent material: Old alluvium derived from granite and gneiss
Use and Management Considerations
Cropland
Suitability: Well 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 a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/Y/YADKIN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Salidic Haplocalcids are the Haplocalcids 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. These soils are not commonly used for irrigated agriculture due to salt content.
Haplocalcids are the Calcids that have a calcic horizon with its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. These soils do not have a duripan or an argillic, natric, or petrocalcic horizon within 100 cm of the soil surface. Some of the soils have a cambic horizon above the calcic horizon. Haplocalcids are extensive.
Calcids are the Aridisols with calcium carbonate that was in the parent materials or was added as dust, or both. Precipitation is insufficient to leach or even move the carbonates to great depths. The upper boundary of the calcic or petrocalcic horizon is normally within 50 cm of the soil surface. If the soils are irrigated and cultivated, micronutrient deficiencies are normal. These soils are extensive in the western part of the United States and in other arid regions of the world.
Aridisols, as their name implies, are soils in which water is not available to mesophytic plants for long periods. During most of the time when the soils are warm enough for plants to grow, soil water is held at potentials less than the permanent wilting point or has a content of soluble salts great enough to limit the growth of plants other than halophytes, or both. The concept of Aridisols is based on limited soil moisture available for the growth of most plants. In areas bordering deserts, the absolute precipitation may be sufficient for the growth of some plants. Because of runoff or a very low storage capacity of the soils, or both, however, the actual soil moisture regime is aridic.
The Kina series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in partially decomposed organic material derived from sedges. Kina soils occupy depressional bench-like areas associated with drumlinoid hills and the toeslope, lower backslopes, and floors of valleys. Mean annual temperature is about 45 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is about 100 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 60 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic Typic Cryohemists
Mean annual soil temperature ranges from 38 to 42 degrees F. The subsurface tier is dominated by hemic material. pH (0.01M CaCl2) is less than 4.5 throughout the control section.
An Oi2 layer up to 8 inches thick may be present and an Oe3 layer up to 20 inches thick may be present. Hue ranges from 10YR to 2.5YR in all horizons. Broken face value and chroma may range as low as 2 for the Oe horizons. Coarse fragment content ranges up to 5 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: The Kina soils are used for watershed protection and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is dominantly sedges, mosses, and plants of the Ericaceae family.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeast Alaska. The series is of moderate extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#kina
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: The Eva series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained, moderately rapid permeable soils. (Soil Survey of Stevens County, Kansas; by Thomas C. Byrd, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Sunflowers in an area of Eva loamy fine sand, 1 to 3 percent slopes, on the south side of the Cimarron River in Stevens County.
Eva soils formed in sandy eolian deposits of Holocene age. These soils are on very gently to strongly sloping dunes and plains of the Southern High Plains, northern part (MLRA 77A). Slope ranges from 1 to 9 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 13 degrees C (57 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 460 mm (18 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustalfs
Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 in)
Thickness of the ochric epipedon: 8 to 48 cm (3 to 19 in)
Thickness of the argillic horizon: 25 to 180 cm (10 to 71 in)
Depth to secondary calcium carbonate: 152 to 203 cm (60 to 80 in)
Depth to lithologic discontinuity (where present): 120 to 185 cm (47 to 73 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Silicate clay: 8 to 16 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are mainly used for rangeland. Some areas are used for irrigated crops. Native vegetation is dominantly sand bluestem little bluestem, sideoats grama, sand lovegrass, sand paspalum, fall witchgrass, and sand dropseed. Sand sagebrush is the major woody species with lesser amounts of skunkbush sumac and yucca.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Kansas and Southeastern Colorado south of the Cimarron River, and the Oklahoma Panhandle (MLRA-77A in LRR H). This soil is moderately extensive. These soils were formerly included in the Vona series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/kansas/KS189/0...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/EVA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Narragansett series. (Photo provided by Mark Stolt University of Rhode Island's Dept. of Natural Resources; New England Soil Profiles)
The Narragansett series consists of very deep, well drained loamy soils formed in a mantle of medium-textured deposits overlying till. They are nearly level to moderately steep soils on till plains, low ridges and hills. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. Permeability is moderate in the surface layer and subsoil and moderately rapid or rapid in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 50 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is about 47 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Thickness of the solum and depth to the lithologic discontinuity range from 18 to 38 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 0 to 25 percent in the solum and from 10 to 50 percent in the substratum. Except where the surface layer is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded pebbles and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, the soil is extremely acid to moderately acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for cultivated crops, hay or pasture. Common crops are silage corn, tobacco and vegetables. Some areas are wooded and scattered areas are used for community development. Common trees are red, white and black oak, hickory, white ash, sugar maple, red maple, gray birch, white pine and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent; more than 50,000 acres.
For additional information about New England soils, visit:
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NARRAGANSETT.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Skyuka series. (Soil Survey of Polk County, North Carolina; by Scott C. Keenan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Skyuka series consists of gently sloping to strongly sloping, very deep, well drained soils on stream terraces of the Piedmont. They formed in old alluvium washed from upland soils underlain dominantly by dark colored high grade metamorphic rocks such as hornblende gneiss, amphibolite, hornblende schist, and biotite gneiss. Slopes range from 2 to 15 percent. Mean annual precipitation is 64 inches and mean annual temperature is 59 degrees F. near the type location.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Ultic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness ranges from 48 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 72 inches. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid unless lime has been added. Limed soils typically range from moderately acid to neutral in the upper part of the solum. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 15 percent by volume throughout. Fragments are gravel or cobbles. Content of mica flakes ranges from none to common. Content of iron-manganese masses ranges from few to common in the B and C horizons of some pedons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are cleared and used for cropland, hayland or pasture. Important crops include corn, soybeans, small grains, and specialty crops such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, snap beans, and cabbage. The major forages are tall fescue and ladino clover. A few areas are in forest. Native trees include red maple, sweetgum, yellow poplar, black oak, white oak, southern red oak, shortleaf pine, and Virginia pine. A few areas are managed for improved loblolly pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont area of North Carolina and possibly Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is of small extent.
This soil was previously included with the Masada series. Masada soils are Typic Hapludults. Classification of this soil is supported by reference laboratory data from the typical pedon (NSSL Nos. 90P1477, 90P1478). This revision changes the depth to the seasonally high water table to 4 to 6 feet.
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/S/SKYUKA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Rainbow soil series. (Photo provided by Mark Stolt University of Rhode Island's Dept. of Natural Resources; photo location is the Great Swamp Management Area, Kingston, RI. 41°28'10.76"N 71°34'33.28"W)
The Rainbow series consists of moderately well drained loamy soils formed in silty mantled lodgement till. The soils are very deep to bedrock and moderately deep to a densic contact. They are nearly level to strongly sloping soils on till plains, hills and drumlins. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the surface layer and subsoil, and low to moderately high in the dense substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 48 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
Thickness of the solum ranges from 18 to 40 inches. Depth to the densic contact commonly ranges from 20 to 40 inches but the range currently includes 18 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 0 to 20 percent by volume in the solum and from 5 to 35 percent in the substratum. Except where the surface is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded gravel and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used mostly for cultivated crops, hay, or pasture. Some areas are used for vegetables, nursery stock, and other specialty crops. Scattered areas are used for community development. Stony areas are mostly wooded. Common trees are ash, hemlock, white pine, hickory, red and white oak, red maple, and sugar maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
For more information about New England soils, visit:
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Soil profile of Altamira soil and hayland in an area of Altamira gravelly clay, 2 to 20 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of San Germán Area, Puerto Rico by Jorge L. Lugo-Camacho, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Setting
Landscape: Hills
Landform: Limestone hills
Major uses: Hayland, pasture, and naturalized pastureland
Elevation: 100 to 1,312 feet
Composition
Altamira and similar soils: 85 percent
Dissimilar soils: 15 percent
Typical Profile
Surface layer:
0 to 8 inches—very dark brown gravelly clay
Subsoil:
8 to 14 inches—brown clay that has masses and concretions of calcium carbonate
Substratum:
14 to 33 inches—very pale brown clay loam that has masses and concretions of calcium carbonate
33 to 43 inches—pale brown clay loam that has masses and concretions of calcium carbonate
43 to 54 inches—grayish brown loam that has masses and concretions of calcium carbonate
54 to 80 inches—very pale brown and grayish brown, stratified, soft limestone bedrock
Minor Components
Dissimilar:
• Costa soils, which have fractured limestone bedrock below a depth of 20 inches
• Pitahaya soils, which have fractured limestone bedrock at a depth of 5 to 14 inches
• La Covana soils, which have a petrocalcic horizon
Similar:
• Guayacán soils, which are in a fine-loamy family
Soil Properties and Qualities
Depth class: Deep
Depth to soft bedrock: 40 to 60 inches
Parent material: Material that weathered from soft limestone bedrock
Surface runoff: Medium
Drainage class: Well drained
Permeability: Moderate
Available water capacity: Very low
Flooding: None
Hazard of water erosion: Moderate
Rock fragments in the surface layer: 5 to 60 percent, by volume, pebbles and cobbles
Shrink-swell potential: Moderate
Natural fertility: Moderate
Content of organic matter in the surface layer: Moderate
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline throughout
Land Use
Dominant uses: Naturalized pastureland
Other uses: Hayland; pasture
Agricultural Development
Cropland
Suitability: Unsuited
Management concerns: Erosion; slope; very low available water capacity
Pasture and hayland
Suitability: Moderately suited
Commonly grown crops: Kleberg’s bluestem
Management concerns: Erosion; slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Erosion is a concern in unprotected areas.
• The moderately steep slopes increase the difficulty of management.
• Including grasses and legumes in the cropping system helps to control further erosion.
• Returning crop residue to the soil helps the soil to retain moisture.
• Overgrazed pastures should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
Naturalized pastureland
Suitability: Moderately suited
Management concerns: Erosion; slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Erosion is a concern in unprotected areas.
• The moderately steep slopes increase the difficulty of management.
• Overgrazed pastures should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/puerto_rico/PR...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ALTAMIRA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Tate series. The average content of semi-rounded rock fragments is as much as 35 percent in the solum and s much as 60 percent in the substratum. Depth to bedrock is more than 150 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Grayson County, Virginia; Robert K. Conner, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A restored pioneer farm in Grayson Highlands State Park, in an area of Tate loam, 7 to 15 percent slopes, stony. Areas of this map unit are on footslopes and toeslopes.
The Tate series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on benches, fans, and toe slopes in coves in the Blue Ridge (MLRA 130). They formed in colluvium weathered from felsic to mafic high-grade metamorphic rocks. Mean annual temperature is 52 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation about 52 inches near the type location. Slope ranges from 2 to 50 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
Thickness of the solum ranges from 24 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Content of rock fragments is less than 35 percent by volume in the A and Bt horizons, and less than 60 percent in the BC and C horizons. The soil is very strongly acid to slightly acid unless limed. Content of mica flakes is few or common.
USE AND VEGETATION: About half is cleared and used for growing corn, small grain, tobacco, truck crops, and pasture. Common trees in forested areas are scarlet oak, white oak, yellow-poplar, eastern white pine, shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, and northern red oak. Understory plants include mountain-laurel, rhododendron, blueberry, greenbrier, flowering dogwood, black locust, honeysuckle, sourwood, and flame azalea.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Blue Ridge (MLRA 130) of North Carolina, Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and possibly Georgia and South Carolina. The series has large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/VA077...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
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Clayey soil baking in the hot desert sun. The soil survey of the Northern Emirates, United Arab Emirates (UAE) was conducted during 2010 – 2012. The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) implemented the Soil Survey through GRM International. The project was funded by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and its objective was to develop a digital soil information repository to aid in broad land-use planning and agricultural expansion in the Northern Emirates.
Information from the soil survey is expected to be used by various groups, including the agricultural farming community, decision makers, land-use planners, officials, engineers, and environmental impact assessors. Conservationists and specialists in recreation, wildlife management, waste disposal, and pollution control will also use the soil information to help understand, protect and enhance the environment.
A soil profile of a Haploturbel in Alaska. Involutions of soil material (brown) are mixed into the underlying soil by cryoturbation. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Haploturbels have an ochric (typically thin and/or light-colored) epipedon and have sufficient moisture for cryoturbation. Commonly, the cryoturbation is not well expressed. These soils occur in Alaska, Canada, and Siberia.
Turbels are the Gelisols that have one or more horizons with evidence of cryoturbation (intense frost churning) in the form of irregular, broken, or distorted horizon boundaries; involutions; the accumulation of organic matter on top of the permafrost; ice or sand wedges; or oriented rock fragments. Cryoturbation occurs only in soils that have sufficient moisture for the formation of ice crystals. Soils that have cryoturbated horizons and are dry for most of the year were probably moister in the past. Turbels are the dominant suborder of Gelisols. They account for about half of the Gelisols worldwide. These soils are common in the High and Middle Arctic Vegetation Regions of North America and Eurasia, at latitudes of 65 degrees north or more.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Hazleton series; the State Soil of Pennsylvania.
Landscape: A wooded area of Hazleton channery sandy loam, 8 to 25 percent slopes, extremely stony. Hazleton soils developed in residuum from sandstone and are found on summits, shoulders, and the upper third of backslopes. (Soil Survey of Clinton County, Pennsylvania; by Joseph J. Eckenrode, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The selection of Hazleton as the official state soil began in 1995 when the Pennsylvania Association of Professional Soil Scientists (PAPSS) and the Pennsylvania Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) collaborated on efforts to prepare for the National Soil Survey Centennial Celebration in 1999. Pennsylvania’s Soil Survey Centennial was celebrated in 2000 based on the first soil survey published in 1900 for “The Lancaster Area”. In order to increase awareness of our most important natural resource, many states developed plans to designate state soils as part of the centennial celebration.
The Hazleton series consists of deep and very deep, well drained soils formed in residuum of acid gray, brown or red sandstone on uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 80 percent. Permeability is moderately rapid to rapid. Mean annual precipitation is about 48 inches. Mean annual air temperature is about 51 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 25 to 50 inches. Depth to lithic contact ranges from 40 to 80 inches . Rock fragments of angular sandstone, dominantly less than 10 inches in size, range from 5 to 70 percent in individual horizons of the solum and from 35 to 80 percent in the C horizon. Boulders, stones, flags and channers cover about 5 to 60 percent of the surface of some pedons. The control section averages less than 18 percent clay. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through extremely acid throughout where unlimed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most Hazleton soils are in woodland of mixed oaks, maple, cherry and occasional conifers. Some areas have been cleared for pasture and cropland.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and possibly Ohio. MLRA's 124, 126, 127, 147, 148. The series is of large extent; over 2 million acres
For additional information about this state soil, visit:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/pa-state-soi...
For more information about the soil survey area, visit;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/pennsylvania/P...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HAZLETON.html
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Mazarn soil series. (Soil Survey of Montgomery County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Mazarn silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, in the middle ground and Sherless-Littlefir complex, 1 to 8 percent slopes, in the foreground and background. These soils are well suited to pasture and hayland. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Mazarn series consists of moderately deep, somewhat poorly drained, moderately slowly permeable soils that formed in loamy sediments from shale, siltstone and sandstone. These soils are adjacent to small, upland drains and intermittent streams in the Ouachita Mountains; MLRA 119. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 62 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 52 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
Solum thickness and depth to weathered, shale bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for pasture and woodland. The native vegetation was mixed hardwoods and pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. The series is of small extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/AR097...
and...
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/pikeA...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
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Soil profile: Chilicotal very gravelly fine sandy loam in an area of Chilicotal very gravelly fine sandy loam, 1 to 8 percent slopes. Rock fragments comprise more than 35 percent of the 10- to 40-inch control section.
Landscape: A healthy plant community, about one year after a prescribed fire, of black grama, Texas prickly pear, and skeletonleaf goldeneye occupy this area of Chilicotal very gravelly fine sandy loam, 1 to 8 percent slopes. Abundant summer precipitation following the fire allowed the vegetation to recover. Some mortality of pricklypear is evident in the foreground. Rock outcrop-Brewster complex, 20 to 70 percent slopes, is mapped on the Chisos Mountains in the background. (Cover of 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 Chilicotal series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy gravelly piedmont sediments from igneous mountains. These soils are on gently undulating to strongly rolling fan remnants and alluvial fans. Slopes range from 1 to 50 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Ustic Haplocalcids
USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Grasses in most areas are mainly chino grama, slim tridens, black grama, and threeawns with woody vegetation of lechuguilla, creosotebush, skeletonleaf goldeneye, catclaw, sotol, yucca, and ceniza.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West Texas in MLRA 42. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/bigbendT...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CHILICOTAL.html
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Note: The left side of the profile is dry colors; the right side has been moistened.
A representative soil profile of the Southwick series in Washington State. Soil color on the left side of the profile is dry, whereas color on the right side is moist. (Soil Survey of Spokane County, Washington; by Scott H. Bare, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Note: The Southwick soils in this survey area are a taxadjunct to the series because the upper part has properties that meet the criteria for the Vitrandic subgroup. They formed in loess with an influence of volcanic ash in the upper part over older loess. This difference, however, does not significantly affect the use, management, and interpretations of the soils
Landscape: These soil are on loess hills in the Columbia basalt plateau. They are dominantly used as cropland of wheat, barley, peas, hay, pasture, and for timber production.
Slope--3 to 40 percent; dominantly north-facing slopes
Parent material--recent loess over older loess
Mean annual precipitation--about 585 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about 8 degrees C
Depth class--very deep
Drainage class--moderately well drained
Soil moisture regime--xeric
Soil temperature regime--mesic
Soil moisture subclass--oxyaquic
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Oxyaquic Argixerolls
Note: The classification of this series was changed from fine-silty, mixed, mesic Boralfic Argixerolls to fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Oxyaquic Argixerolls based on the latest revision to Soil Taxonomy. This pedon does not meet the criteria for the aquic subgroup based on the absence of redoximorphic depletions (zones with chroma less than that of matrix) within a depth of 75 cm of the mineral soil surface. The Btxb horizon is not currently considered to meet the criteria for a fragipan, but further study is needed.
Depth to diagnostic horizons and other features are measured from the top of the first mineral layer.
Thickness of mollic epipedon--40 to 75 cm
Depth to argillic horizon--70 to 100 cm
Moisture control section--dry 45 to 60 consecutive days late in summer and early in fall
Mean annual soil temperature--8 to 12 degrees C
Content of clay in particle-size control section (weighted average)--24 to 35 percent
An Oi horizon is in some pedons.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--dominantly wheat, barley, peas, hay, pasture, and timber production
Natural vegetation--ponderosa pine, common snowberry, white spirea, rose
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Idaho; MLRA 9; moderate extent
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
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A representative soil profile of the Pittstown series. (Photo provided by Mark Stolt University of Rhode Island's Dept. of Natural Resources Science; New England Soil Profiles)
These soils are moderately well drained and formed in loamy dense till derived primarily from carboniferous rocks and minerals dominated by sandstone, slate, schist, phyllite, and shale. The dark colored till is due to the high carbon contained in minerals within the parent rocks. The dark colors of the soil causes some difficulty to determine the depth to estimated average seasonal high water table. Pittstown soils are in a catena with well drained Newport soils, poorly drained Stissting soils and very poorly drained Mansfield soils. These soils are mapped primarily in the Narragansett Basin and in the Boston Basin in southern New England.
The Pittstown series formed in lodgement till derived mainly from slate, phyllite, shale, and schist. These soils are very deep to bedrock and moderately deep to a densic contact. They are nearly level through moderately steep soils on uplands. Slope ranges from 0 through 25 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral solum and moderately low or moderately high in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F. (9 degrees C.), and mean annual precipitation is about 45 inches (1143 millimeters).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
Thickness of the mineral solum and depth to dense substratum ranges from 20 through 30 inches (50 through 76 centimeters), but the range currently includes 15 through 30 inches (38 through 76 centimeters). The solum in the fine earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or very fine sandy loam with more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. Rock fragments consist of dark phyllite, slate, and schist. Rock fragments, by volume, larger than 10 inches range from 0 through 20 percent in the surface and 0 through 5 percent in the subsoil and substratum. 3 through 10 inch size fragments range from 0 through 15 percent in surface, 0 through 10 percent in the subsoil, and 0 through 15 percent in the substratum. Fragments less than 3 inches range from 5 through 25 percent in the surface, 5 through 25 percent in the subsoil, and 15 through 30 percent in the substratum. The soil, below the A or Ap horizon and above a depth of 30 inches (76 centimeters), is very strongly acid through moderately acid where not limed, and ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid below a depth of 30 inches (76 centimeters).
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. Cleared areas are used for growing hay and pasture in support of dairy farming. Principal trees are northern red, white and scarlet oak, red and sugar maple, gray and yellow birch, white ash, eastern white pine, and eastern hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and eastern New York. MLRA 144A. The series is of moderate extent, estimated to be about 125,000 acres.
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For a detailed soil description, visit:
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Soil profile: Laidig soil in an area of Laidig channery loam, 3 to 15 percent slopes, rubbly. A fragipan (a dense subsurface horizon that restricts water flow and root penetration) begins at a depth of about 122 centimeters. (Soil Survey of New River Gorge National River, West Virginia by Wendy Noll and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Laidig soils are on middle and lower slopes. Slopes are mostly 8 to 55 percent but range from 0 to 55 percent. Laidig soils formed in loamy colluvium, 6 or more feet thick, derived largely from acid gray sandstone with small amounts of siltstone and shale of the adjacent uplands. Most areas are forested. Red, white, and chestnut oaks are the most common trees with some sugar maple, beech, and hemlock. A relatively small acreage of these soils is cleared and used for cropland or pasture.
Map Unit Setting
Major land resource area (MLRA): 127—Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains
Landscape: Mountains
Elevation: 473 to 962 meters
Mean annual precipitation: 1,034 to 1,289 millimeters
Mean annual air temperature: 5 to 17 degrees C
Frost-free period: 141 to 190 days
Map Unit Composition
Laidig and similar soils: 70 percent
Dissimilar minor components: 30 percent
Soil Classification: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Fragiudults
Setting
Landform: Mountain slopes
Landform position (two-dimensional): Footslope
Landform position (three-dimensional): Mountain base
Down-slope shape: Linear and concave
Across-slope shape: Concave and linear
Aspect (representative): Southwest
Aspect range: All aspects
Slope range: 3 to 15 percent
Parent material: Rubbly colluvium derived from interbedded sedimentary rock
Properties and Qualities
Depth to restrictive feature: 76 to 127 centimeters to fragipan
Shrink-swell potential: Low (about 1.2 LEP)
Salinity maximum based on representative value: Nonsaline
Sodicity maximum: Not sodic
Calcium carbonate equivalent percent: No carbonates
Hydrologic Properties
Slowest capacity to transmit water (Ksat ): Moderately low
Natural drainage class: Well drained
Flooding frequency: None
Ponding frequency: None
Seasonal water table (depth, kind): About 76 to 117 centimeters; perched (see
table 24)
Available water capacity (entire profile): Very high (about 23.4 centimeters)
Interpretive Groups
Land capability subclass (nonirrigated areas): 7s
West Virginia grassland suitability group (WVGSG): Very Rocky, Acid Soils (RA3)
Dominant vegetation map class(es):
Oak - Hickory Forest
Disturbed Area
Eastern Hemlock - Sweet Birch - Tuliptree / Great Laurel Forest
Deciduous Tree / Great Laurel Forest
Hydric soil status: No
Hydrologic soil group: C
Representative Profile
Oi—0 to 2 centimeters; stony slightly decomposed plant material
A—2 to 9 centimeters; gravelly highly organic loam
A/B—9 to 19 centimeters; gravelly loam
Bt1—19 to 80 centimeters; gravelly loam
Bt2—80 to 122 centimeters; gravelly loam
Btx—122 to 200 centimeters; gravelly loam
For a detailed soil description, visit:
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The view looking east from the Canyon Rim Visitor Center Overlook. Layland-Dekalb-Rock outcrop complex, 55 to 80 percent slopes, extremely stony is the dominant detailed soil map unit on the steep slopes of the New River Gorge in this
area.
New River Gorge National River is located in parts of Fayette, Raleigh, and Summers Counties, West Virginia. Established as part of the National Park Service in 1978, the park encompasses more than 70,000 acres of land along the New River and extends along the New River from Hinton, West Virginia, north to Hawks Nest State Park near Anstead, West Virginia, a distance of 53 miles (84.8 kilometers). New River Gorge National River is rich in cultural and natural history and offers an abundance of scenic and recreational opportunities. The New River is a rugged, whitewater river that flows northward through deep canyons. It is one of the oldest rivers on the continent.
A soil survey is a detailed report on the soils of an area. The soil survey has maps with soil boundaries and photos, descriptions, and tables of soil properties and features. Soil surveys are used by farmers, real estate agents, land use planners, engineers and others who desire information about the soil resource.
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A representative soil profile of Andic Durixerepts in California. These Andic Durixerepts consist of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in ash over outwash from volcanic rocks. These soils are on outwash terraces. Slopes range from 3 to 20 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 63 inches (1,600 millimeters), and the mean annual air temperature is about 41 degrees F (5 degrees
C).
Depth to restrictive feature: 20 to 40 inches (51 to 102 centimeters) to duripan
Mean annual soil temperature: 40 to 41 degrees F (4.6 to 5 degrees C)
Period that soil moisture control section is dry: July to October (about 90 days)
Particle-size control section (thickest part): 3 to 4 percent clay and 64 to 70 percent rock fragments
Surface fragments: 5 to 50 percent gravel, 1 to 5 percent cobbles, 0 to 3 percent stones, and 0 to 3 percent boulders
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/las...
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.
Landscape: Naturalized pastureland in an area of Guanajibo gravelly sandy clay loam, 2 to 12 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of San Germán Area, Puerto Rico; by Jorge L. Lugo-Camacho, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Setting
Landscape: Coastal plains
Landform: Coastal terraces and alluvial fans
Major uses: Naturalized pastureland
Elevation: 15 to 165 feet
Composition
Guanajibo and similar soils: 90 percent
Dissimilar soils: 10 percent
Typical Profile
Surface layer:
0 to 10 inches—very dark reddish brown gravelly sandy clay loam
Subsoil:
10 to 21 inches—strong brown clay that has red mottles
21 to 37 inches—strong brown clay that has plinthite and red mottles
37 to 63 inches—mottled light olive brown, pale yellow, dark red, strong brown, and brown clay that has plinthite
Minor Components
Dissimilar:
• Delicias soils, which do not have plinthite in the subsoil and are in the higher positions
Soil Properties and Qualities
Depth class: Very deep
Depth to bedrock: More than 80 inches
Parent material: Fine-textured sediments of mixed origin
Surface runoff: Low or medium
Drainage class: Well drained
Permeability: Moderate
Available water capacity: Very high
Seasonal high water table: None within a depth of 80 inches
Flooding: None
Hazard of water erosion: Low or moderate
Rock fragments in the surface layer: 0 to 30 percent, by volume, pebbles
Shrink-swell potential: Low
Natural fertility: Moderate
Content of organic matter in the surface layer: Moderate to high
Reaction: Very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout
Land Use
Dominant uses: Naturalized pastureland
Other uses: Pasture; urban development
Agricultural Development
Cropland
Suitability: Well suited
Commonly grown crops: Sugar cane
Management concerns: Slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Using a resource management system that includes terraces and diversions, stripcropping, contour tillage, no-till planting, and crop residue management reduces the hazard of erosion, helps to control surface runoff, and maximizes rainfall infiltration.
• Applying lime and fertilizer on the basis of soil testing increases the availability of nutrients to plants and maximizes productivity.
Pasture and hayland
Suitability: Well suited
Commonly grown crops: African star grass; guineagrass; pangola grass
Management concerns: Slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Using rotational grazing and implementing a well planned schedule of clipping and harvesting help to maintain the pasture and increase productivity.
• Applying lime and fertilizer on the basis of soil testing increases the availability of nutrients to plants and maximizes productivity during the establishment, maintenance, or renovation of hayland and pasture.
• Overgrazed pastures should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
Naturalized pastureland
Suitability: Well suited
Commonly grown crops: Guineagrass
Management concerns: Slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Applying lime and fertilizer on the basis of soil testing increases the availability of nutrients to plants and maximizes productivity during the establishment, maintenance, or renovation of pasture.
• Overgrazed areas should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
Interpretive Group
Land capability classification: IVe
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/puerto_rico/PR...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GUANAJIBO.html
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Craggey soils are abruptly underlain by hard felsic to mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks.
Lithic contact is the boundary between soil and a coherent underlying material such as bedrock. Except in Ruptic-Lithic subgroups, the underlying material must be virtually continuous within the limits of a pedon. Cracks that can be penetrated by roots are few, and their horizontal spacing is 10 cm or more. The underlying material must be sufficiently coherent when moist to make hand-digging with a spade impractical, although the material may be chipped or scraped with a spade. The material below a lithic contact must be in a strongly cemented or more cemented rupture-resistance class. Commonly, the material is indurated. The underlying material considered here does not include diagnostic soil horizons, such as a duripan or a petrocalcic horizon.
A lithic contact is diagnostic at the subgroup level if it is within 125 cm of the mineral soil surface in Oxisols and within 50 cm of the mineral soil surface in all other mineral soils. In Gelisols composed mainly of organic soil materials, the lithic contact is diagnostic at the subgroup level if it is within 50 cm of the soil surface in Folistels or within 100 cm of the soil surface in Fibristels, Hemistels, and Sapristels. In Histosols the lithic contact must be at the lower boundary of the control section to be recognized at the subgroup level.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
Dig It! The Secrets of Soil. Get the dirt on dirt – one of the most valuable resources on Earth. Soils are crucial to our everyday lives, storing carbon, filtering water, growing plants, and so much more. Discover a whole new world beneath your feet. The Secrets of Soil exhibit from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. This exhibit was on display at the Museum from July 18, 2008, through Jan 10, 2010.
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A representative soil profile of the Acorph series. (Soil Survey of Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; by Andrew E. Conlin, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Acroph series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in tephra over residuum from andesite, dacite and rhyodacite. Acroph soils are on scoured glacial-valley walls and floors and roche moutenees in the southern Cascade mountains. Slopes range from 5 to 80 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 107 inches (2718 mm) and the mean annual temperature is about 40 degrees F (5 degrees C).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy-skeletal, glassy Lithic Vitricryands
Depth to restrictive feature: Lithic contact 10 to 20 inches (25 to 51 cm).
Mean annual soil temperature: 38 to 42 degrees F (3 to 6 degrees C).
Mean summer soil temperature: 43 to 46 degrees F (6 to 8 degrees C).
Soil moisture control section is dry: July to October (about 90 days).
Particle-size control section (thickest part): 2 to 5 percent clay, and 35 to 62 percent rock fragments.
Surface fragments: 5 to 66 percent gravel, 3 to 15 percent cobbles, 2 to 6 percent stones, and 2 to 5 percent boulders.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for wildlife habitat, recreation, ecosystem management and watershed. Vegetation is pinemat manzanita, California red fir, western white pine, and mountain hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The soils are inextensive and are mapped in MLRA: 22B, Southern Cascade Mountains.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ACROPH.html
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A representative soil profile of Sinbul soil (loamy-skeletal, Typic Haplumbrept) from the MPRC (Multi-Purpose Range Complex) in South Korea.
MPRC also known as Rodriguez Range at Yeongpyeong-ri, north of Pocheon, South Korea supports units of the 2nd Infantry Division for helicopter, Bradley Fighting Vehicle, M1 Abrams tank, artillery, mortor, and close air support training. The image is illustration 3.25 from the Planning Level Survey, 8th US Army Korea (1998). The primary purpose of planning level surveys are to ensure Army activities and natural resources conservation measures on mission land are integrated and consistent with federal stewardship requirements and host nation agreements.
Sinbul soils are in valleys on stream and river terraces. Elevation ranges from about 0 to 100 meters. The native vegetation consists of mixed deciduous hardwoods. The soils formed in old alluvial from mixed igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Soils classified as Typic Haplumbrepts have been revised to Humic Dystrudepts with the latest revision of Soil Taxonomy. These soils have an umbric or mollic epipedon that is less than 50 cm thick. They are otherwise like the soils of the Typic subgroup. Humic Dystrudepts are moderately extensive 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.
For more information about Korea soil series, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Tifton series. (Soil Survey of Webster County, Georgia; by Scott Moore, Alfred Green, and Jerry Pilkinton, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Peanuts in an area of Tifton sandy loam. Most areas of Tifton soils are under cultivation with cotton, corn, peanuts, vegetable crops, and small grains.
The Tifton series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in loamy marine sediments. Tifton soils are on interfluves. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 18 degrees C (64 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 with 5 percent or more plinthite is dominantly 76 to 127 centimeters (30 to 50 inches), but in some pedons it is 63 centimeters (25 inches).
Silt content is less than 20 percent.
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 Tifton soils are under cultivation with cotton, corn, peanuts, vegetable crops, and small grains. Some areas are in pasture and forestland. The forested areas consist largely of longleaf pine, loblolly pine, slash pine with some scattered hardwoods on cutover areas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Major Land Resource Area (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 additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/GA087/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/webste...
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A soil profile of Acove loamy sand, 1 to 5 percent slopes. These soils are moderately deep, well drained with a sandy loam surface and clayey subsoil. There is a characteristic stone line within the profile at approximately 15 to 19 inches (38 to 48 cm). (Soil Survey of Mason County, Texas; by Julia A. McCormick, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Acove series consists of soils that are moderately deep to paralithic sandstone bedrock. These well drained soils formed in loamy residuum derived from sandstone of Cambrian age. These nearly level to strongly sloping soils are on shoulders and summits of ridges on dissected plateaus of the Central Basin. Slope ranges from 0 to 12 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 19 degrees C (67 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 686 mm (27 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Typic Haplustalfs
Depth to paralithic contact: 61 to 100 cm (24 to 40 in)
Solum thickness: 61 to 100 cm (24 to 40 in)
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for rangeland. Some areas are used for growing peanuts, small grains, and grain sorghums. Native vegetation is sideoats grama, fall witchgrass, threeawn, sand dropseed, and little bluestem. Scattered trees include post oak, mesquite, prickly ash, and hackberry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Plateaus and Plains Range and Cotton Region, LRR-I. MLRA 82A-Texas Central Basin. The series is of moderate extent.
A representative soil profile of the Ockley series.
The Ockley series consists of very deep, well drained soils that are deep or very deep to calcareous, stratified sandy and gravelly outwash. Ockley soils formed in as much as 51 cm (20 inches) of loess or silty material and in the underlying loamy outwash. They are commonly on stream terraces and outwash plains, and less commonly on kame moraines and eskers. Slope ranges from 0 to 30 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1016 mm (40 inches), and mean annual air temperature is about 11 degrees C (52 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
Thickness of the loess or silty material: 0 to 51 cm (0 to 20 inches)
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 102 to 183 cm (40 to 72 inches)
Depth to calcareous, stratified gravelly and sandy material: 102 to 183 cm (40 to 72 inches)
Rock fragments: dominantly of igneous lithology
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of these soils are used to grow corn, soybeans, wheat and hay. Native vegetation is dominantly mixed hardwood forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and southeastern Indiana, central and northern Illinois, southwestern Michigan, central and southern Ohio, and southern Wisconsin; dominantly in MLRA 111A, 111B, 111D, and 111E, and to a lesser extent in MLRAs 108A, 95B, 97, 98, and 114A. The type location is in MLRA 111A. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/indiana/IN035/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/O/OCKLEY.html
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Kaolin clay is derived from the mineral Kaolinite which comes from the Earth’s crust. It is a hydrous aluminum silicate formed by the decomposition of minerals such as feldspar. The mineral Kaolinite, also referred to as Kaolinite clay, is a layered silicate mineral and is soft, earthy, and usually white in color, produced by the chemical weathering of aluminum silicate minerals. Rocks that are rich in Kaolinite are also known as Kaolin or China Clay. This means the terms Kaolin clay and Kaolinite clay can be used interchangeably.
Kaolinite is a common clay that has a variety of uses. Because of its low shrink-swell potential, kaolinite is used for making ceramics, bricks, and tile. It is also the source of white pigment in paper, light bulbs, and paint and an active ingredient in digestive medicines.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of an Inceptisol (bordrline Oxisol) from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)
Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation (sugarcane and vegetable crops) occurring on upland side-slopes in Brazil.
This pedon has a lithologic discontinuity at a depth of about 50 centimeters (loamy colluvium over heavier-textured residuum).
Inceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are more developed than Entisols. They have no accumulation of clays, iron oxide, aluminium oxide or organic matter. They have an ochric or umbric horizon and a cambic subsurface horizon. The central concept of Inceptisols is that of soils that are of cool to very warm, humid and subhumid regions and that have a cambic horizon and an ochric epipedon. The order of Inceptisols includes a wide variety of soils. In some areas Inceptisols are soils with minimal development, while in other areas they are soils with diagnostic horizons that merely fail the criteria of the other soil orders. Inceptisols have many kinds of diagnostic horizons and epipedons.
Oxisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. Oxisols are weathered soils that are low in fertility. They are most common on the gentle slopes of geologically old surfaces in tropical and subtropical regions. Their profiles are distinctive because of a lack of obvious horizons. Their surface horizons are normally somewhat darker than the subsoil, but the transition of subsoil features is gradual. Some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.
Inceptisol (Latossolos) and landscape BRAZIL--In the Brazil soil classification system, these Latossolos are highly weathered soils composed mostly of clay and weathering resistant sand particles. Clay silicates of low activity (kaolinite clays) or iron and aluminum oxide rich (haematite, goethite, gibbsite) are common. There are little noticeable horizonation differences. These are naturally very infertile soils, but, because of the ideal topography and physical conditions, some are being used for agricultural production. These soils do require fertilizers because of the ease of leaching of nutrients through the highly weathered soils.
For additional information about these soils, visit:
sites.google.com/site/soil350brazilsoilsla/soil-formation...
and...
For additional information about U.S. soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
Paralithic (lithic-like) contact is a contact between soil and paralithic materials (defined below) where the paralithic materials have no cracks or the spacing of cracks that roots can enter is 10 cm or more.
Paralithic materials are relatively unaltered materials that have an extremely weakly cemented to moderately cemented rupture resistance class. Cementation, bulk density, and the organization are such that roots cannot enter, except in cracks. Paralithic materials have, at their upper boundary, a paralithic contact if they have no cracks or if the spacing of cracks that roots can enter is 10 cm or more. Commonly, these materials are partially weathered bedrock or weakly consolidated bedrock, such as sandstone, siltstone, or shale. Fragments of paralithic materials 2.0 mm or more in diameter are referred to as pararock fragments.
The photo is from the Polkton soil series. Polkton soils are moderately deep, moderately well drained, and very slowly permeable, occurring on uplands of the Triassic Basins in the Southern Piedmont. They formed in residuum weathered from Triassic siltstone, mudstone, shale, and sandstone. Slope ranges from 2 to 25 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Oxyaquic Vertic Hapludalfs
Polkton soil series:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/POLKTON.html
Blocky structure. In this type of soil structure, the structural units are blocklike or polyhedral. They are bounded by flat or slightly rounded surfaces that are casts of the faces of surrounding peds. Typically, blocky structural units are nearly equidimensional but may grade to prisms or plates.
The structure is described as angular blocky if the faces intersect at relatively sharp angles; as subangular blocky if the faces are a mixture of rounded and plane faces and the corners are mostly rounded.
Blocky structures are common in subsoil but also occur in surface soils that have a high clay content. The strongest blocky structure is formed as a result of swelling and shrinking of the clay minerals which produce cracks. Sometimes the surface of dried-up sloughs and ponds shows characteristic cracking and peeling due to clays.
Clayey soils have 35 (more than 30 percent in Vertisols) to less than 60 percent (by weight) clay in the particle-size control section.
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:
The Carbonton series consists of moderately deep, somewhat poorly drained soils with slow permeability. They formed in residuum from Triassic siltstone, mudstone, conglomerate, and shale. These soils are on uplands of the Triassic Basin in the Southern Piedmont. Slope ranges from 2 to 40 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to paralithic contact with weathered bedrock (Cr) ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to a lithic contact with unweathered bedrock (R) is 40 to more than 60 inches. Rock fragments are less than 35 percent by volume in the A or Ap horizon, less than 15 percent by volume in the E, BE, Bt, and BCt horizons, and less than 35 percent by volume in the C horizon. Exchangeable aluminum is high (greater than 10 meq/100g). Reaction ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid except where surface layers have been limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in woodland with some small areas in pasture. Forested areas are loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, southern red oak, white oak, and hickory. Understory species are dominantly red maple, sweet gum, eastern red cedar, flowering dogwood, and sourwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Triassic Basins of the thermic Southern Piedmont of North Carolina and possibly South Carolina and Virginia. The series has small extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CARBONTON.html
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Chemehuevi soil in an area of Chemehuevi-Carrizo-Riverbend complex, 2 to
30 percent slopes. series. (Interim Report for the Soil Survey of Chemehuevi Wash Off-Highway Vehicle Area, California; by Leon Lato, Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, and Heath McAllister, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typical area of a Chemehuevi soil. Chemehuevi soils are on fan remnants. Slopes range from 2 to 8 percent. These soils formed in alluvium from granite, gneiss, and schist. Elevations range from approximately 145 to 540 meters (about 475 to 1,800 feet). The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and warm, dry winters.
The Chemehuevi series consists of very deep, well drained soils. The mean annual precipitation is about 100 millimeters (about 4 inches) and the mean annual temperature is about 23 degrees C (about 73 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Typic Haplocalcids
Soil moisture control section: usually dry throughout, rarely moist in some part during summer or winter. The soils have a typic-aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 25 to 28 degrees C (about 77 to 83 degrees F).
Depth to calcic horizon: 3 to 25 centimeters.
Organic matter: 0 to 0.5 percent.
Control section -
Rock fragments: averages 35 to 60 percent, mainly fine and medium gravel.
Clay content: averages 8 to 12 percent, ranges from 6 to 12 percent in the upper part and 2 to 8 percent in the lower part.
USE AND VEGETATION: Chemehuevi soils are used for recreation and wildlife habitat. Overland flow for Chemehuevi soils ultimately drains into Lake Havasu. The present vegetation is mainly creosote bush, plantain, spiny turkshead, and burrobush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Lower Colorado Desert of southeastern California, U.S.A.;MLRA 31. These soils are of small extent. The name is derived from Chemehuevi Wash located in the eastern portion of the Mojave Desert, west of the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation and Colorado River.
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/C/CHEMEHUEVI.html
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Soil profile: A typical profile of a Mountview soil. Mountview soils have few limitations affecting crop production. (Soil Survey of Overton County, Tennessee; by Carlie McCowan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A field of snap beans on Mountview silt loam, 2 to 5 percent slopes, eroded. This soil is highly productive for most row crops.
Soil profile: A profile of Mountview silt loam. Two different parent materials are evident where loess overlies clayey residuum derived from cherty limestone at a depth of about 95 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Hickman County, Tennessee; By Douglas F. Clendenon, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Mountview series consists of very deep, well drained and moderately well drained, soils that formed in 2 to 3 feet of a silty mantle, presumably loess, and underlying residuum of limestone or old alluvium. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. Near the type location, average annual air temperature is about 59 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 54 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Oxyaquic Paleudults
Solum thickness and depth to rock exceeds 60 inches. The upper solum formed in a silty mantle, presumably loess, and commonly is about 30 inches thick but ranges from about 22 to 36 inches. This overlies a lower solum developed in residuum of limestone or old alluvium. Coarse fragments, commonly fragments of chert, range from 0 to about 5 percent in the upper 30 inches and from about 5 to 35 percent below that depth. Transition horizons have characteristics similar to adjacent horizons. Reaction of each horizon is very strongly acid or strongly acid, except the surface layer is less acid where limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing hay, pasture, small grains, cotton, corn, and tobacco. Some areas are in woodland consisting chiefly of oak, hickory, gum, and maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Highland Rim of Tennessee, northern Alabama, Pennyroyal of Kentucky, and possibly southern Missouri. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/TN08...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MOUNTVIEW.html
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Soil profile of Evadale silt loam, 0 to 1 percent slopes. The light gray material is loess that was deposited on the red clayey material. (Soil Survey of Tyler County, Texas; by Levi Steptoe, Jr., Natural Resources Conservation Services)
The Evadale series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils. These nearly level soils formed in loamy fluviomarine deposits of the Beaumont Formation of Late Pleistocene age. Slope ranges from 0 to 1 percent but mainly less than 1 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 19.5 degrees C (67 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 1422 mm (56 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, active, thermic Typic Glossaqualfs
Soil Moisture: An aquic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 20.6 to 21.7 degrees C (69 to 71 degrees F)
Depth to argillic horizon: 20 to 58 cm (8 to 23 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 30 to 35 percent
CEC/clay ratio: 0.40 to 0.60
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for timber and native pasture. Most forested areas are a mix of pine and hardwoods, mainly loblolly pine, water oak, and sweetgum. The understory vegetation is mainly pinehill bluestem, longleaf uniola, spreading panicum, brownseed paspalum, splitbeard bluestem, greenbrier, Carolina jessamine, and southern bayberry. A few areas have been cleared and used for improved pastures of bahiagrass and bermudagrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeast Texas mainly east of the Trinity River and possibly southwestern Louisiana; LRR T; Western Gulf Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 152B); large extent.
The Evadale series was formerly included with the Wrightsville series. A former ponded phase of the Evadale series is now included with the Camptown series. The classification was changed from a fine family to fine-silty family during the correlation of the MLRA 152B update. Data from the Texas A&M University Soil Characterization laboratory at the type location and data from other pedons show the particle-size control section to be dominantly fine-silty.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX457/0/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/EVADALE.html
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Whipple series in an area of Stormjade-Whipple complex, 8 to 50 percent slopes. (Interim Report for the Soil Survey of Chemehuevi Wash Off-Highway Vehicle Area, California; by Leon Lato, Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, and Heath McAllister, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typical area of a Whipple soil. Whipple soils are on backslopes of hills. Slopes range from 8 to 50 percent. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium from granite. Elevations are 390 to 490 meters (1280 to 1600 feet). The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and warm, dry winters.
The Whipple series consists of very shallow and shallow, somewhat excessively drained soils. The mean annual precipitation is about 100 millimeters (4 inches) and the mean annual air temperature is about 24 degrees C (75 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Lithic Haplargids
Soil moisture control section: usually dry throughout, rarely moist in some part during summer or winter. The soils have a typic-aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 22 to 26.7 degrees C (72 to 80 degrees ).
Depth to argillic horizon: 2 to 4 centimeters.
Depth to bedrock: 13 to 36 centimeters.
Control section - Clay content: averages 12 to 18 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Whipple soils are used for recreation and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly burrobush, brittlebush and creosote bush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Colorado Desert of southeastern California, U.S.A.; MLRA 31. These soils are of small extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA6...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WHIPPLE.html
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Related site:
Soil Profile: A representative soil profile of the Watauga series. Watauga soils are very deep, but most have minimal profile development as indicated by a relatively thin argillic horizon.
Landscape: Watauga soils are on gently sloping to very steep ridges and side slopes in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Slopes range from 2 to 50 percent. Elevation ranges from 1,400 to 4,000 feet. They formed in residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper part and are weathered from high-grade metamorphic rocks that are high in mica content such as mica gneiss and mica schist. (Photo from the Upper Mountain Research Station, NCSU)
Mica Research Project
In the summer of 2003, a team of soil scientists was assembled to study and evaluate how mica has historically been described in soil profile descriptions (official soil descriptions and field descriptions) and to determine if a need exists to refine quantification and description techniques as related to soil classification and making and interpreting soil maps. In addition to soil scientists, resource specialists (geologists, engineers, research specialists, and university staff) were asked to provide input, guidance, and historical perspective.
For more information about the Mica Research Project, visit:
[www.researchgate.net/publication/363254375_Report_of_the_...]
Upper Mountain Research Station
The station is located in Ashe County at an elevation of 3,200 feet, making it the highest research station in the state. The 454-acre station is host to a variety of research programs centered around Christmas trees, livestock and agriculture. Crops including tobacco, corn, pumpkins, turfgrass and small fruits — blackberries, raspberries and blueberries — are tested for their suitability for high elevations. The station also has a variety of greenhouses.
For more information about the research farm, visit:
cals.ncsu.edu/research/research-stations/upper-mountain-r...
Watauga Soil
The Watauga series consists of very deep, well drained soils on gently sloping to very steep ridges and side slopes of the Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130B). Slope ranges from 2 to 50 percent. They formed in residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper part, and is weathered from high-grade metamorphic rocks that are high in mica content such as mica gneiss and mica schist.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, micaceous, mesic Typic Hapludults
The solum ranges from 20 to 60 inches thick. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Content of coarse fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the A, Ap, AB, or E horizon, and 0 to 15 percent in the B horizon. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid unless limed. Flakes of mica are common or many in the surface layer and upper B horizon and many in the lower B and C horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: About half of the areas of this series is cleared and used for corn, small grain, tobacco, truck crops, hay, or pasture. Some areas are being used for Christmas tree production. Common trees include scarlet oak, chestnut oak, black oak, white oak, hickory, eastern white pine, Virginia pine, and pitch pine. Yellow poplar and northern red oak are common in the northern portions of MLRA 130B. The dominant understory is flowering dogwood, mountain laurel, rhododendron, and sourwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130B) of North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The series is extensive.
For more information about the "Soil Survey Report of Ashe County, NC", visit:
archive.org/details/asheNC1985
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WATAUGA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit: