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A soil profile and landscape of the Bonner soil series in Idaho. The Bonner series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in glacial outwash material derived dominantly from granite, gneiss and schist, with a mantle of volcanic ash and loess. Permeability is moderate in the solum and rapid to very rapid in the underlying material.
Landscape: These soils are on terraces and terrace escarpments. Slopes range from 0 to 65 percent. Average annual precipitation is about 30 inches and average annual air temperature is about 43 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy over loamy-skeletal, aniso, glassy over isotic, frigid Typic Vitrixerands
Soil moisture control section - dry 45 to 60 days July to September, moist October through June Average annual soil temperature - 43 to 47 degrees F. Average summer soil temperature - 50 to 55 degrees F. with an O horizon
Solum thickness - 24 to 36 inches Reaction - moderately acid to neutral throughout
Volcanic ash mantle - 14 to 26 inches thick Volcanic glass content in the 0.02 to 2.0 mm fraction - 40 to 70 percent Acid-oxalate extractable Al + 1/2 Fe - 1 to 3 percent Phosphate retention - 55 to 90 percent 15-bar water content an air dried samples - 7 to 12 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for timber production, grazing, homesites, cropland, hay and pasture, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Natural vegetation is mainly grand fir, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and western larch, with an understory of pine reedgrass, myrtle pachystima, baldhip rose, common snowberry, longtube twinflower, American trailplant, piper anemone, goldthread, sedge, and common princes pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Idaho, northeastern Washington, and northwestern Montana. The series is extensive.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BONNER.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Typic Haplocryalf in Idaho.
Landscape: The Haplocryalfs of the United States are in the mountains of the Western States and have a cryic temperature regime. Most support coniferous forest vegetation.
Most Haplocryalfs are not cultivated because their slopes are steep and the growing season is short and cool. In other countries, Haplocryalfs occur on mountains and also on plains nearly as far north as the line of continuous permafrost. Some of the associated soils on these landscapes are Gelisols on northfacing slopes and Histosols.
The central concept or Typic subgroup of Haplocryalfs is fixed on freely drained soils that are deep or moderately deep to hard rock. These soils have a high color value in an Ap horizon or in a layer of comparable depth after mixing and have a loamy or finer textured argillic horizon. Most of them are under a coniferous forest. Slopes generally are moderately steep to very steep.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
Boulders are a major management concern for any use in areas of Toecane-Tusquitee complex, 15 to 30 percent slopes, very bouldery. (Soil Survey of Buncombe County, North Carolina; By Mark S. Hudson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Setting
Landscape: Low and intermediate mountains, dominantly in the western and eastern parts of the county
Elevation range: 2,400 to 4,800 feet
Landform: Coves, colluvial fans, drainageways, and benches
Landform position: Head slopes and footslopes
Shape of areas: Irregular or oblong
Size of areas: Up to 389 acres
Composition
Toecane soil and similar inclusions: 50 percent
Tusquitee soil and similar inclusions: 35 percent
Dissimilar inclusions: 15 percent
Typical Profile
Toecane
Surface layer:
0 to 8 inches—very dark grayish brown cobbly loam
Subsoil:
8 to 24 inches—yellowish brown very cobbly sandy clay loam
24 to 37 inches—dark yellowish brown very cobbly sandy loam
Underlying material:
37 to 80 inches—dark yellowish brown extremely cobbly loamy sand
Dominant Uses: Woodland and wildlife habitat
Other Uses: Recreation, building site development, and pasture
Woodland Management and Productivity
Potential for commercial species: Moderately high for cove hardwoods and northern hardwoods
Suitability: Suited
Management concerns: Equipment use and erodibility
Management measures and considerations:
• Using cable logging methods helps to overcome limited road and trail construction caused by the large number of stones and boulders on the soil surface.
• Designing roads on the contour and installing water-control structures, such as broad-base dips, water bars, and culverts, help to maintain road stability.
• Avoiding the diversion of water directly onto fill slopes helps to stabilize logging roads, skid trails, and landings.
• Reseeding all disturbed areas with adapted grasses and legumes helps to prevent soil erosion.
• When the soil is wet, skid trails and unsurfaced roads are highly erodible and very slick due to the slope and the high content of organic matter in the surface layer.
• Avoiding logging operations during periods when the soil is saturated helps to prevent rutting of the soil surface and damage to tree roots due to soil compaction.
• Leaving a buffer zone of trees and shrubs adjacent to streams helps to reduce siltation and provides shade for the aquatic habitat.
• Livestock should not graze in areas managed for woodland.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_carolina...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TOECANE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Macropores are too large to have any significant capillary force. Unless impeded, water will drain from these pores, and they are generally air-filled at field capacity. Macropores can be caused by cracking, division of peds and aggregates, as well as plant roots, and zoological exploration.
Note the accumulation of iron in the reddish area surrounding the pore and clay accumulation (dark gray areas) along the pore interiors, and iron depletions (light gray to light brown areas).
Redoximorphic features (RMFs) consist of color patterns in a soil that are caused by loss (depletion) or gain (concentration) of pigment compared to the matrix color, formed by oxidation/reduction of iron and/or manganese coupled with their removal, translocation, or accrual.
For more soil related images, visit:
www.flickr.com/photos/soilscience/sets/72157622983226139/
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...
Profile of Faula fine sand, 0 to 5 percent slopes. The thin brown bands located at 90 centimeters, are accumulations of finer material, and are known as lamellae. (Soil Survey of Lee County, Texas; by Maurice R. Jurena, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Faula series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained, rapidly permeable upland soils that formed in sandy sediments of Pleistocene age. These soils are on nearly level to undulating terraces of the Colorado, Brazos, and Navasota Rivers and their tributaries. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, siliceous, thermic Lamellic Paleustalfs
Solum thickness is greater than 80 inches. Mean annual soil temperature ranges from 68 to 72 degrees F.
USE AND VEGETATION: Dominantly used for rangeland. Native vegetation is post oak, blackjack oak, hickory, and yaupan with an understory of tall grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Drainage systems of the Colorado, Brazos, and Navasota Rivers and their tributaries within the Blackland and Claypan Prairies of Texas (MLRAs 86 and 87). The series is extensive. These soils were formerly included in the Eufaula series. They are separated based on mean annual soil temperature.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX287/0/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/F/FAULA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil Profile: A Typic Aquisalid in the United Arab Emirates Typic Aquisalids, sandy, carbonatic, hyperthermic (Soil AD128)
Landscape: These soils are associated with surface salt crust, commonly in a polygonal pattern. The soils occur in plains to slight depressions, or on coastal flats above the tidal zone. They are formed on alluvial sands. The soils are very deep sand, poorly drained and slowly permeable above the water table. Water table fluctuates between 40 and 80cm depth.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
library.wur.nl/isric/fulltext/isricu_i34214_001.pdf
The Aquisalids are formed on plains to slight depressions in coastal flats above the tidal zone. Inland they might occur in slight to moderate depressions where water is collected from nearby areas and evaporated.
The high salt concentration and the shallow water table prevent vegetation growth and the soils are typically unused and without any vegetation. The soils occur throughout the coastline of Abu Dhabi Emirate in small to large patches.
Plate 26: Typical soil profile and associated landscape for Typic Aquisalids sandy, carbonatic, hyperthermic (Soil AD128).
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.biosaline.org/projects/soil-survey-emirate-abu-dhabi
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Morley soil series. (Soil Survey of Delaware County, Indiana; by Gary R. Struben, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A grassed waterway in a wheat field in an area of Morley-Mississinewa clay loams, 5 to 10 percent slopes, severely eroded on the sideslopes.
The Morley series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that are moderately deep to dense till. Morley soils formed in as much as 46 cm (18 inches) of loess and in the underlying clay loam or silty clay loam till. They are on till plains and moraines. Slope ranges from 1 to 18 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 940 mm (37 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 10.6 degrees C (51 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, illitic, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to carbonates: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to densic contact: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Thickness of the loess: 0 to 46 cm (0 to 18 inches)
Particle-size control section: averages 35 to 50 percent clay, 15 to 25 percent sand, and 1 to 5 percent rock fragments
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used to grow corn, soybeans, and small grain. Some areas are used for hay and pasture, and a few areas are used for woodland. Native vegetation is mixed deciduous hardwood forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Indiana, southern Michigan, northwestern Ohio, eastern Illinois, and southeastern Wisconsin; mainly in MLRAs 111B, 110, and 99, and less extensively in MLRAs 95A, 95B, 97, 98, 108A, 111A, 111C, 111D, 111E, and 115C. The type location is in MLRA 111B. 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/M/MORLEY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Cid series consists of moderately deep, moderately well drained or somewhat poorly drained soils on Piedmont uplands. These soils formed in residuum weathered from argillite and other fine-grained metavolcanic rocks. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for forest with minor acreage in pasture, crops, or idle. Woodland consists primarily of shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, Virginia pine, southern red oak, white oak, willow oak, sweetgum, red maple, flowering dogwood, American holly, blackgum, post oak, black oak, scarlet oak, and eastern red cedar. Crops grown include corn, soybeans, small grains, and hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina. The series is of moderate extent.
The Arkaqua series consists of somewhat poorly drained, moderately permeable soils on nearly level flood plains along creeks and rivers in the Appalachian, Blue Ridge, and Great Smokey Mountains. They formed in loamy alluvial sediments washed largely from soils formed in residuum from granite, gneiss, schist, phyllite, and other metamorphic and crystalline rocks. Slopes are less than 2 percent. Near the type location the mean annual temperature is 56 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is 54 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Fluvaquentic Dystrudepts
Thickness of the solum ranges from 35 to 60 inches. Depth to stratified sand and gravel is 44 to more than 72 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid. Flakes of mica range from few to many in all horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of acreage is used for pasture, corn, and truck crops. The native trees are mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Mountains of Georgia, North Carolina, and possibly Tennessee and Virginia. The series is not extensive.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ARKAQUA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
An area of Ninepoint clay loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes. The eolian deposits associated with shrubs, are known as coppice dunes. (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)
Map Unit Setting
Major land resource area (MLRA): MLRA 42—Southern Desertic Basins, Plains, and
Mountains
Elevation: 1,835 to 3,430 feet
Mean annual precipitation: 10 to 13 inches
Soil Survey of Big Bend National Park, Texas 72
Mean annual air temperature: 68 to 72 degrees F
Frost-free period: 240 to 280 days
Map Unit Composition
Ninepoint and similar soils: 85 percent
Dissimilar minor components: 15 percent
Minor components:
Unnamed, minor components soils—11 percent; not hydric
Chillon soils—4 percent; not hydric
Description of Ninepoint soils
Soil taxonomic classification: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Ustic Haplocambids
Setting
Landscape: Basins
Landform: Alluvial flats
Slope: 0 to 3 percent
Down-slope shape: Linear
Across-slope shape: Linear
Representative aspect: Southeast
Aspect range: All aspects
Soil temperature class: Hyperthermic
Soil temperature regime: Hyperthermic
Soil moisture class: Aridic (torric)
Properties and Qualities
Runoff class: Very low
Parent material: Calcareous alluvium derived from limestone and mudstone
Depth to restrictive feature: None within 60 inches
Frequency of flooding: None
Frequency of ponding: None
Depth to water table: More than 72 inches
Drainage class: Well drained
Shrink-swell potential: Moderate (about 4.5 LEP)
Salinity maximum: Not saline (about 0.7 dS/m)
Sodicity maximum: Sodium adsorption ratio is about 1.0
Calcium carbonate maximum: 32
Available water capacity: Very high (about 15.1 inches)
Gypsum maximum: About 2 percent
Interpretive Groups
Land capability subclass (nonirrigated): 7c
Land capability subclass (irrigated): 3e
Hydric soil rating: No
Hydrologic soil group: C
Vegetation
Existing plants: Tobosa, alkali sacaton, pappusgrass, burrograss, plains bristlegrass, cane bluestem, fourwing saltbush, tarbush, western honey mesquite, catclaw acacia, creosotebush, other shrubs, perennial forbs, other annual forbs, other perennial grasses, vine mesquite
Ecological site name and identification: Loamy, Hot Desert Shrub (R042XG738TX)
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/bigbendT...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NINEPOINT.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Burgundy soil series. (Soil Survey of Pinnacles National Monument, California; by Ken Oster, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typical area of a Burgundy soil. This soil is used for watershed, wildlife habitat and recreation. Vegetation is mixed chaparral.
The Burgundy series consists of very shallow to bedrock, well drained soils that formed in residuum weathered from rhyolite. The Burgundy soils are on hills. Slopes range from 35 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 17 inches (432 millimeters) and the mean annual air temperature is about 61 degrees F (16 degrees C).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic Lithic Xerorthents
Depth to bedrock: 4 to 10 inches (9 to 25 centimeters)
Mean annual soil temperature: 71 to 76 degrees F (22 to 24 degrees C).
Soil moisture control section: dry in all parts from about May 15 to November 15 (180 days), and moist in all parts from about January 15 to April 15 (about 90 days).
Particle size control section: 10 to 15 percent clay, 40 to 70 percent rock fragments mostly gravel from rhyolite.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for watershed, wildlife habitat and recreation. Vegetation is mixed chaparral.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: San Benito County, California in MLRA 15 -- Central California Coast Range. These soils are of small extent. Source of name: landmark rock spires in Pinnacles National Monument. This series was established based on limited acreage observed within the National Park Service Pinnacles National Monument boundary.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA7...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BURGUNDY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Penistaja series; the State Soil of New Mexico. (Photos provided by Aaron Miller, Soil Scientist, USDA-NRCS)
Landscape: The profile location is close to La Bajada Mesa where the El Camino Real brought many of the early Spanish settlers into Santa Fe. Penistaja soils are on mesas, plateaus, hills, cuestas and bajadas with slopes of 0 to 10 percent at elevations from 4,800 to 7,100 feet.
The Penistaja series was established in Sante Fe County, NM in 1970. The soil was named after a small farming and stock raising community in northwest New Mexico. “Penistaja” is a Navajo word that means “forced to sit”. This soil is found in the Southwest landscape of sandstone mesas, snow-capped mountains and desert grass-lands.
The Penistaja series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soil that formed in mixed alluvium, fan alluvium, slope alluvium and eolian material derived from sandstone and shale. Penistaja soils are on mesas, plateaus, hills, cuestas and bajadas. Slopes are 0 to 10 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 12 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 55 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Ustic Haplargids
Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during December to March and July to September. The soil is driest during May and June. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil Temperature: 51 to 59 degrees F.
Organic matter: averages more than 1 percent organic matter in the upper 16 inches
Depth to base of argillic horizon: 13 to 35 inches
Reaction: Neutral to moderately alkaline
USE AND VEGETATION: Penistaja soils are used for livestock grazing. Vegetation is blue grama, western wheatgrass, Indian ricegrass, galleta, winterfat and fourwing saltbush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona. MLRA 35 and 36, LRR-D. This series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about this state soil, visit:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/nm-state-soi....
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PENISTAJA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
View of Cathedral Valley, looking northeast from near the Cathedral Valley campground. The valley floor is mapped Begay, saline-sodic-Begay, moist-Elias complex, 2 to 8 percent slopes. The escarpments and buttes are mapped Remorris, strongly alkaline-Rock outcrop complex, 30 to 70 percent slopes. The hillslope in the near foreground is mapped Milok, steep-Strych complex, 15 to 60 percent slopes.
Capitol Reef National Park is in south-central Utah and is 241,904 acres in size. It is located in the central parts of Wayne and Garfield Counties, in the southeast corner of Sevier County, and in the southwest corner of Emery County. It is bounded by Glen Canyon National Recreation Area on the south, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to the west, the Fishlake and Dixie National Forests to the north and west, and Henry Mountains Resource Area to the east.
Capitol Reef National Park (Capitol Reef NP) is irregular in shape and consists of monoclines, mesas, structural benches, canyons, river terraces, and flood plains. Under the NRCS land classification system, the United States is divided into regions known as major land resource areas (MLRAs). MLRAs are distinguished by regional climate, soils, geology, water, topography, and predominant plant communities characteristic of the region. Capitol Reef National Park is within MLRA 35—Colorado and Green River Plateaus. MLRA 35 occurs in Arizona (56 percent), Utah (22 percent), New Mexico (21 percent), and Colorado (1 percent). It makes up about 71,735 square miles (185,885 square kilometers). The cities of Kingman and Winslow, Arizona; Gallup and Grants, New Mexico; and Kanab and Moab, Utah, are in this area. The Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks and the Canyon de Chelly and Wupatki National Monuments are in the Arizona part of this MLRA. The Zion, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches National Parks and the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Hovenweep National Monuments are in the Utah part. The Aztec Ruins, El Morro, El Malpais, and Chaco Canyon National Monuments and Chaco Culture National Historic Park are in the New Mexico part. Currently, MLRA 35 in Utah is not subdivided by land resource units (LRUs).
The roads inside the park range from unimproved gravel and dirt roads to paved highways. State Highway 24 runs east and west through the park, and Scenic Drive runs south from the highway to Capitol Gorge. Several improved gravel roads run north into Cathedral Valley and south to Bullfrog, Utah. Burr Trail runs east and west through the park. Many hiking trails provide access to the most remote areas of the park and vary from easy to strenuous.
For more information, visit:
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-capitol-reef-nati...
The Tanana River is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river's headwaters are located at the confluence of the Chisana and Nabesna rivers just north of Northway in eastern Alaska. The Tanana flows in a northwest direction from near the border with the Yukon Territory, and laterally along the northern slope of the Alaska Range, roughly paralleled by the Alaska Highway. In central Alaska, it emerges into a lowland marsh region known as the Tanana Valley and passes south of the city of Fairbanks. In the marsh regions it is joined by several large tributaries, including the Nenana (near the city of Nenana) and the Kantishna. It empties into the Yukon approximately 70 miles (110 km) downriver from the village of Manley Hot Springs, near the town of Tanana.
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A representative soil profile of the Denbigh series (Eutric Endoleptic Cambisols) in England. (Cranfield University 2021. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK.)
Soils classified and described by the World Reference Base for England and Wales:
www.landis.org.uk/services/soilsguide/wrb_list.cfm
The Denbigh soils are brown stony well drained soils of moderate depth over Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks. They extend over more than 4,600 km² in the foothills of the Lake District, the Pennines, in South West England and Wales on hills and ridges from sea level to about 300 m O.D. Fine loamy typical brown earths, Denbigh series, cover much of the land with loamy brown rankers. The Denbigh soils are usually on cultivable slopes up to about 7 degrees. Rock outcrops and narrow valleys with alluvium and small river terraces occur locally. Formerly mapped widely in the South West as Highweek series, Denbigh series covers most of the cultivable slopes on low ground.
Typical brown earths differing from Denbigh series in soil depth and texture are scattered widely, for example the fine loamy East Keswick series are deeper. In west Somerset, north-east Devon and the South Hams reddish fine loamy Milford soils sometimes replace the Denbigh series over reddened rocks.
Most of the soils are permeable and naturally well drained (Wetness Class I). The soils accept most winter rain but temporary water storage capacity is limited by rock or, locally, by compact drift at less than 80 cm depth, which cause some run-off. For most of the land drought restrictions to crop production in average years are slight. Exceptions occur in drier districts where grassland and more rarely cereals suffer moisture stress on Denbigh soil.
Long-term grass is traditionally the most common crop although the soils are more frequently cultivated in the drier districts. The land is firm enough to carry farm vehicles and resist poaching. The growing season is usually seven to nine months (Smith 1976) but the livestock grazing period is often a month or two less to avoid damage to sward and soil structure. Rainfall is the main limitation to arable crops, particularly in the west where August is usually one of the wettest months. Apart from steeper land, the Denbigh soils are suitable for direct drilling. Patchy distribution of the wetter soils can reduce the time available for working some fields. Bare soil, even on gentle slopes, is eroded during heavy rain and capping occurs from raindrop impact where organic matter in the plough layer has been depleted by long continued arable use.
Conditions for disposal of slurry on Denbigh soils are generally favorable since there is little risk of pollution (Lea 1979), and soils carry traffic well, particularly when spreading is done during drier periods. Forest clearance over the centuries has left a scatter of woods mainly on steep or otherwise inaccessible ground. Such land is valuable for wildlife and game cover and adds scenic interest. Although the land is well suited for trees, large new plantations are expensive to establish, needing stockproof fencing and control of vigorous weeds which can smother young trees. Sitka spruce and Douglas fir yield well and many other soft and hard wood species are also grown for scenic as well as timber value.
For additional information about the soil association, visit:
www.landis.org.uk/services/soilsguide/mapunit.cfm?mu=54110
For more information on the World Reference Base soil classification system, visit:
The Al Madam series is a very deep soil formed in loamy and gravelly alluvial deposits containing gypsum as well as secondary calcium carbonate. It has a thin eolian mantle. (NE023) UAE.
Taxonomic classification: Typic Calcigypsids, coarse-loamy, carbonatic, hyperthermic
Diagnostic subsurface horizons described in this profile are: Calcic horizon, 34 to 95 cm; Gypsic horizon, 95 to 120 cm.
The pH (1:1) ranges from 7.0 to 8.5 throughout the profile. The EC (1:1) ranges from 0.1 to 2.0 in the A horizon. EC (1:1) ranges mostly from 0.5 to 5.0 in the B horizon, but it is as high as 8.5 in a few places. Gravel content is 0 to 15% in the A horizon. Many pedons have a mantle of eolian sand up to 40 cm thick, but this is not present on some pedons. Gravel content is mostly 5 to 35% in the B horizon, but in some pedons it is as high as 65% in one or more layers below 75 cm. The weighted average gravel content in the particle-size control section is less than 35%.
The A horizon ranges from about 10 to 40 cm thick. A thickness of more than 20 cm is generally associated with an eolian mantel. The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value 5 to 7, and chroma 3 to 6. It is very fine sand or loamy fine sand where an eolian mantel is present, and fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam where there is no mantle.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value 5 to 7, and chroma 2 to 4. It is mostly sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam, but includes layers of fine sand, loamy sand or loamy coarse sand. Also included are gravelly texture modifiers above 75 cm, and gravelly, very gravelly, or extremely gravelly texture modifiers in one or more layers below depths of 75 cm. Combined volume of visible secondary calcium carbonate and gypsum range from 2 to 25% in the B horizon. In some pedons, the B horizon is extremely weakly cemented to moderately cemented with gypsum and carbonates.
Some pedons near Rock outcrop areas have a 2R horizon below 150 cm.
Alaska State Soil
A representative soil profile of the Tanana soil series. The Tanana series consists of a mantle of mixed silty micaceous loess and alluvium overlying coarser textured alluvium. Under climax native vegetation, Tanana soils are poorly drained and contain permafrost within 50 inches of the surface. If the surface vegetation and organic mat is disturbed, either through wildfire or cultural activities such as farming, the soil will warm and become well drained. Tanana soils are on alluvial terraces. They support a native plant community of aspen, paper birch, white spruce, and black spruce. When cleared and developed for agriculture, Tanana soils are used for hay and pasture, small grains, and vegetables.
Depth class: shallow to deep over permafrost
Drainage class: poorly drained
Parent material: alluvium or silty micaceous loess over alluvium
Landform: terraces and flood plains.
Slope: 0 to 12 percent
Climate: continental with long, cold winters and short, warm summers.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, subgelic Typic Aquiturbels
Mean annual soil temperature: less than 32 degrees F.
Depth to permafrost ranges: 15 to 50 inches below the mineral soil surface two months after the summer solstice
Particle size control section: silt loam and very fine sandy loam with strata of fine sandy loam and fine sand
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Runoff is slow. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high above the permafrost and restricted in the permafrost. Free water is perched above the permafrost. Some pedons are subject to flooding. Disturbance to the organic mat by wildfire or clearing results in warming, lowering of the permafrost table, and subsequent lowering of the water table.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for grasses, small grains, and vegetables. Native vegetation consists of black spruce, paper birch, and willows.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 229, Interior Alaska Lowlands. The series is extensive.
Where disturbance to the organic mat has resulted in lowering of the permafrost table below the series control section, and if improved drainage occurs; the soil resembles and interprets similar to the Salchaket series.
The Tanana series is the Alaska state soil. It was established in the Yukon Tanana Area of Alaska in 1914 and is named after the Tanana River, whose name in-turn was derived from the Athabaskan word for “mountain river”. Tanana soils are extensive throughout the lowland areas of Interior Alaska. Tanana soils are important agricultural soils in Alaska.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/alaska/AK610/0...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TANANA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Hook series (Siltic Endogleyic Luvisols) in England. (Cranfield University 2021. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK.)
Soils classified and described by the World Reference Base for England and Wales:
www.landis.org.uk/services/soilsguide/wrb_list.cfm
Hook soils are deep, stoneless, well drained, silty soils affected by groundwater, over gravel usually on flat land. These soils are formed in a silty mantle and are only occasionally affected by wetness (Wetness Class II). The flat landscapes generally prevent much surface run-off and winter rain passes downward through the soil. Infiltration is impeded by surface soil compaction, and water may stand on fields for much of the winter. Subsoiling when the soil is dry helps to form fissures and so improves infiltration and throughflow. Comparison of the amount of water available for crop growth and potential soil moisture deficits indicate that cereal yields are slightly limited because of droughtiness, and grass yields are likely to be severely depressed in dry summers.
Where drained, Hook soils are easy to work in all but the wettest springs but because of the silty textures and weak soil structure they slake and cap readily, so reducing infiltration. Standing water is common in wet periods in winter. Subsoiling when the soil is dry forms fissures and improves infiltration and throughflow. There is sufficient available water for most cereal crops, but grass yields are likely to be severely limited in dry summers, and potatoes require irrigation. The soils are naturally acid and periodic liming is needed for successful arable cropping.
The large silt content of the soils makes them liable to cap and pan where they are under long term cultivation and organic matter contents are small. Capping often occurs during periods of heavy rain when fields are sparsely vegetated. Pans are easily created by cultivating the soils when too wet and plastic and the topsoil structure is easily damaged during the autumn harvesting of root crops if the soils are wet. The soils are naturally acid, and very low in phosphorus and potassium (Hodgson 1967). Chalking in previous times has done much to alleviate acidity, notably in those areas adjacent to chalk or calcareous drift deposits.
Arable farming is predominant with winter wheat and winter barley the principal crops. Oilseed rape and dry harvest peas are important break crops. Potatoes are grown where irrigation is available and in West Sussex early potatoes are grown. Glasshouse vegetable growing is a prominent but declining enterprise, most notably around Sidlesham on the West Sussex Coastal Plain where the Land Settlement Association estate was established in 1935 (Hodgson 1967). Pears and apples are grown in Kent between Marden and Hadlow, around Iwade and south of Hoo.
For additional information about the soil association, visit:
www.landis.org.uk/services/soilsguide/mapunit.cfm?mu=57126
For more information on the World Reference Base soil classification system, visit:
(Classification by UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy)
Calcic Petrogypsids are the Petrogypsids that have a calcic horizon above a petrogypsic horizon. The calcic horizon is an illuvial horizon in which secondary calcium carbonate or other carbonates have accumulated to a significant extent. The petrogypsic horizon is a horizon in which visible secondary gypsum has accumulated or has been transformed. The horizon is cemented (i.e., extremely weakly through indurated cementation classes), and the cementation is both laterally continuous and root limiting, even when the soil is moist. The horizon typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils.
Petrogypsids are the Gypsids that have a petrogypsic horizon that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. These soils occur in very arid areas of the world where the parent material is high in content of gypsum. When the petrogypsic horizon is close to the surface, crusting forms pseudohexagonal patterns on the soil surface. Petrogypsids occupy old surfaces. In Syria and Iraq, they are on the highest terraces along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These soils are not extensive in the United States but are extensive in other countries.
Gypsids are the Aridisols that have a gypsic or petrogypsic horizon within 100 cm of the soil surface. Accumulation of gypsum takes place initially as crystal aggregates in the voids of the soils. These aggregates grow by accretion, displacing the enclosing soil material. When the gypsic horizon occurs as a cemented impermeable layer, it is recognized as the petrogypsic horizon. Each of these forms of gypsum accumulation implies processes in the soils, and each presents a constraint to soil use. One of the largest constraints is dissolution of the gypsum, which plays havoc with structures, roads, and irrigation delivery systems. The presence of one or more of these horizons, with or without other diagnostic horizons, defines the great groups of the Gypsids. Gypsids occur in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, West Asia, and some of the most arid areas of the western part of the United States. Gypsids are on many segments of the landscape. Some of them have calcic or related horizons that overlie the gypsic horizon.
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. There is no period of 90 consecutive days when moisture is continuously available for plant growth. Because of an extreme imbalance between evapotranspiration and precipitation, many Aridisols contain salts. The dominant process is one of accumulation and concentration of weathering products. The accumulation of salts is the second most important constraint to land use.
The typical pedon of Yesan soil (coarse-loamy, Typic Dystrochrept) 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 3.5 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.
Yesan soils are on immediate hills. Elevation ranges from about 100 to 400 meters. The native vegetation is mixed deciduous hardwood forest. The soils formed in material weathered from granite. The land is primarily forested.
Typic Dystrochrepts.—The central concept or Typic subgroup of Dystrochrepts is fixed on soils that are moderately deep or deep to hard rock, are freely drained and acid. Typic Dystrochrepts are extensive in the United States. They are widely distributed in the US. The largest concentration is in the Northeastern 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.
NOTE: Dystrochrepts have been revised to "Dystrudepts" in the latest version of Soil Taxonomy.
For more information about Describing and Sampling soils, visit;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For more information about Soil Taxonomy, visit;
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
When excavating soil, slope stability is important for many uses. USDA-NRCS identifies slope instability as "cut banks cave". The soil scientist was to trying to excavate a soil pit for soil sampling in this Torripsamment, but no matter how he tried, the soil kept caving.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
Redoximorphic features (RMFs) consist of color patterns in a soil that are caused by loss (depletion) or gain (concentration) of pigment compared to the matrix color, formed by oxidation/reduction of iron and/or manganese coupled with their removal, translocation, or accrual; or a soil matrix color controlled by the presence of iron.
The composition and responsible formation processes for a soil color or color pattern must be known or inferred before it can be described as an RMF.
This is an example of a depleted matrix with Fe concentrations along an old root channel. A depleted matrix refers to the volume of a soil horizon or subhorizon in which the processes of reduction and translocation have removed or transformed iron, creating colors of low chroma and high value.
Once the soil is saturated, Fe in solution moves downward and laterally. As the soil dries, the Fe accumulates along the pore wall forming pore linings. The linings are zones of accumulation that may be either coatings on a ped or pore surface or impregnations of the matrix adjacent to the pore or ped. Over time, the Fe concentrations thicken, and cementation may occur.
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...
Soil profile: A young Andisol with multiple layers of ash and volcanic ejecta.
Landscape: A newly created landscape from the eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington.
The central concept of an Andisol is that of a soil developing in volcanic ejecta (such as volcanic ash, pumice, cinders, and lava) and/or in volcaniclastic materials, the colloidal fraction of which is dominated by short-rangeorder minerals or Al-humus complexes. Under some environmental conditions, weathering of primary aluminosilicates in parent materials of nonvolcanic origin may also lead to the formation of short-range-order minerals. Some of these soils also are included in Andisols.
The dominant processes in most Andisols are weathering and mineral transformation. Translocation within the soils and accumulation of the translocated compounds are normally minimal. The accumulation of organic matter, complexed with aluminum, however, is characteristic of Andisols in some regimes.
Andisols have andic soil properties in 60 percent of a layer in the upper part of the soils. The upper part is considered to start at the mineral soil surface or at the surface of organic soil materials with andic soil properties and end at a point 60 cm below the starting point or at a densic, lithic, or paralithic contact, a duripan, or a petrocalcic horizon, whichever is shallowest. These soils may have many kinds of diagnostic horizons below this layer. The soils are considered Andisols if the criteria for thickness and position of the andic layer or layers are met, irrespective of the nature of the underlying material or horizons.
Cultivation of the soils, as in puddling of the surface layer in areas used for rice paddies, may change some of the physical properties of the upper part of the soils, such as bulk density. A soil that, below this disturbed zone, has a layer, at least 36 cm thick, with andic soil properties meets the requirements for Andisols. Many Andisols, such as those that formed in some loess or alluvium, are stratified. Before the soils are considered Andisols, the layers that meet the requirements for andic soil properties must have a cumulative thickness of at least 36 cm within the upper 60 cm.
One of the outstanding features of Andisols is their high natural productivity. There are exceptions to this very general statement, but the dominance of physical properties that favor the growth of most plants, allied to the most common occurrence of the soils in areas of considerable rainfall, has resulted in volcanic soils being generally regarded as highly fertile soils.
Andisols cover more than 124 million hectares, or approximately 0.8 percent of the earth’s surface. By far, the most striking pattern in the distribution of Andisols follows the circum-Pacific Ring of Fire—that concentration of active tectonic zones and volcanoes along the western coast of the American continents, both North and South, across the Aleutian Islands, down the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia, through Japan, the Philippine Islands, and Indonesia, across Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu and other Pacific Islands to New Zealand. Other distinctive patterns are associated with the Rift Valley of Africa, the west coast of Italy, the Hawaiian Islands, the West Indies, Iceland, the Canary Islands, and other island locations.
Increasingly, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is being used in agronomic, archaeological, engineering, environmental, and soil investigations. GPR is a geophysical method that is often mentioned in news commentaries for its use in locating unmarked graves, clandestine burials and tunnels, terrorism and military hazards, and disaster victims. However, the effectiveness of GPR in these activities is highly site-specific and soil dependent. A common concern of GPR service providers is whether or not GPR will be able to achieve the desired depth of penetration in the soils of an assignment area. In many soils, high rates of signal attenuation severely restrict penetration depths and limit the suitability of GPR for a large number of applications. Knowledge of the probable penetration depth and relative suitability of soils can help service providers assess the appropriateness of using GPR and the likelihood of achieving acceptable results. Soil attribute data contained in the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) and the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) databases have been used to develop thematic maps showing, at different scales and levels of resolution, the relative suitability of soils for many GPR applications.
Using GPR to Characterize Plinthite and Ironstone Layers in Ultisols. Available from: www.researchgate.net/publication/282805887_Using_GPR_to_C... [accessed Dec 09 2020].
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
Soil profile: The Sherless series consists of moderately deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in residuum of interbedded shale and sandstone of Mississippian age. Water runs off the surface at a medium to rapid rate. (Soil Survey of Montgomery County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Sherless-Littlefir complex, 1 to 8 percent slopes, which is well suited to pasture and hayland. These gently sloping to moderately steep soils are on the tops and sides of low ridges in the valleys of the Ouachita Mountains. Slopes are 1 to 35 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
Thickness of solum is 20 to 40 inches. Gravel ranges from 5 to 20 percent by volume throughout the solum. Cobbles range from 0 to 20 percent by volume in the A horizon, and from 0 to 15 percent by volume in the B horizon. Total volume of coarse fragments is less than 35 percent in the B horizon.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for woodland and pastureland. Forest of white oak, southern red oak, sweetgum, blackgum, hickory, and shortleaf pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma and Arkansas. The series is of moderate extent. Sherless soils were formerly included with the Sherwood series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/AR097...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SHERLESS.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Hard Labor series. The Hard Labor soils have a perched water table typically at a depth of 75 to 100 centimeters (gray iron depletions are visible in the photo). These soils commonly occur on toeslopes. (Soil Survey of Greene County, Georgia; by Dee C. Pederson and Gregory H. Clark, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Land cover: Crimson clover planted in an area of Hard Labor-Appling complex, 2 to 6 percent slopes. Crimson clover is a cover crop that produces nitrogen. The cover crop reduces the hazard of erosion, and in situ nitrogen production enhances soil nutrients.
The Hard Labor series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in material weathered from felsic igneous and metamorphic rock, primarily granite and granite gneiss. The Hard Labor soils are on summits and side slopes of the Piedmont uplands. There is a perched water table in late winter and early spring. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is 60 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is 45 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Oxyaquic Kanhapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is more than 5 feet. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout the profile, unless limed. Limed soils typically are slightly acid or neutral in the upper part of the profile. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent by volume in the A and E horizons, and from 0 to 10 percent by volume in the B and C horizons. Fragments are dominantly pebbles in size. Most pedons have none to common flakes of mica in the A, E, and Bt horizons, and few to many flakes of mica in the BC and C horizons. Content of plinthite nodules ranges from 0 to 5 percent in the lower Bt and BC horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is in cultivation or pasture and the remainder is in forests of mixed hardwoods and pine. Common crops are cotton, corn, soybeans, and small grains.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Piedmont of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and possibly Virginia. The series is currently of small extent, but is anticipated to become of large extent with future examinations of areas in the Piedmont mapped as Appling, Durham, Vance, or Wedowee soils.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/greene...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HARD_LABOR.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A soil profile and landscape of a Haplogypsid from the United Arab Emirates.
Leptic Haplogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, lithic phase (Soil AD113) are moderately to very deep, sandy soils with gypsum occurring at or near the soil surface and underlain by a lithic contact between 50cm and 200cm. They are well drained or somewhat excessively drained and permeability is moderate or moderately rapid. These soils commonly occur on older sediments in deflation plains and at the higher margins of inland and coastal sabkha. They are formed in old sand and gravel deposits.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
library.wur.nl/isric/fulltext/isricu_i34214_001.pdf
Commonly used for low intensity camel grazing these soils frequently have less than 5% vegetation cover comprising Haloxylon salicornicum and Zygophyllum spp.
These soils are of limited extent and have been recorded in deflation plains in the north-east of the Emirate and also on the alluvial fans in the west, near Sila. The soils are a major component of one map unit and a minor component of two others.
Plate 11: Typical soil profile and associated landscape for Leptic Haplogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, lithic phase (Soil AD113).
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Monteola soil series.
Landscape: A stand of haygrazer growing on an area of Monteola clay, 0 to 1 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Goliad County, Texas; by Jonathan K. Wiedenfeld)
The Monteola series consists of very deep, well drained, very slowly permeable soils. These soils formed in clays and clays interbedded with sandstone and claystone of the Oakville and Fleming Formation. These gently to moderately sloping soils occur on hillslopes on inland dissected coastal plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 787 mm (31in) and the mean annual air temperature is about 21.7 degrees C (71 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, hyperthermic Typic Haplusterts
Soil Moisture: A typic ustic soil moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for more than 90 but less than 180 cumulative days in normal years.
Mean annual soil temperature: 22 to 24 degrees C (72 to 75 degrees F).
Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 inches)
Electrical Conductivity: ranges from nonsaline in the upper part to moderately saline in the lower part.
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 40 to 60 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 3 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Monteola soils are in cropland and are used for cotton and grain sorghums. Principal native plants are mesquite, spiny hackberry, catclaw, and agarito. Native grasses are buffalograss, curlymesquite grass, and alkali sacaton.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern, Central, and Western Rio Grande Plains (MLRA 83A); LRR I. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/goliadTX...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MONTEOLA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Trevino stony loam. Trevino soils generally are near areas of Rock outcrop and on more recent pahoehoe flows, where loess and mixed alluvial deposits are less than 50 centimeters thick to bedrock. (Soil Survey of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho; by Francis R. Kukachka, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Trevino soils are on basalt plains, buttes, terraces, and terrace side slopes and plug domes, lava flow lobes, pressure ridges and tumuli on shield volcanoes and lava plains. Elevations are 2,000 to 5,400 feet. The soils formed in loess and weathered volcanic ash mixed with alluvium and colluvium from basalt. Slopes are 0 to 30 percent. These soils are used mainly for rangeland and wildlife habitat.
The Trevino series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained soils on plains. They formed in loess, alluvium, and material weathered from basalt. Permeability is moderate. Slopes are 0 to 30 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 9 inches and the average annual temperature is about 49 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Xeric Haplocambids
Average annual soil temperature - 47 to 56 degrees F.
Depth to bedrock - 8 to 20 inches
Depth to calcium carbonate - 8 to 18 inches
Particle-size control section
Clay content - 10 to 18 percent
Sand content - more than 15 percent coarser than VFS
Rock fragments - 0 to 35 percent including gravel, cobbles and stones
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for rangeland and wildlife habitat. Some minor areas are irrigated and used for small grains, corn, beans, hay, and pasture. Potential vegetation in the natural plant community is Wyoming big sagebrush, Thurber needlegrass, and bluebunch wheatgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Idaho; MLRA 11. The series is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/cratersN...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TREVINO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Finally got enough of the field showing to take some soil samples. I dry them out and send them to the Extension laboratory. They tell me what the nutrient and organic material levels are. They will also make recommendations for amendments if needed.
New England soils tend toward acidity so lime is occasionally needed to keep the pH within the range the plants like it. Different crops have different pH requirements, also.
I take several samples from a field and mix them, then spread them out and put them through a coarse screen to get the big chunks of stuff (sticks, rocks) out. I dry it so it's cheaper to mail to the laboratory. No point in sending them water.
The containers are labelled because I have to know which soil goes with which field. There are only 4 samples because not all the fields are dry enough to take samples. I'll send another batch later.
Soil profile and aerial view: A representative profile of Nelse soil, a major soil on first bottom floodplains in the Bluestone National Scenic River area. (Soil Survey of Bluestone National Scenic River, West Virginia; by Eileen Klein, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Map Unit Setting
Landscape: Mountains
Major land resource area: 127—Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains
Elevation: 435 to 478 meters
Mean annual precipitation: 865 to 1,044 millimeters
Mean annual air temperature: 6 to 18 degrees C
Frost-free period: 147 to 205 days
Map Unit Composition
Potomac and similar soils: 60 percent
Nelse and similar soils: 20 percent
Dissimilar minor components: 20 percent
Description of Nelse Soil
Classification
Sandy, mixed, mesic Mollic Udifluvents
Setting
Landform: High-energy flood plains in river valleys
Landform position (two-dimensional): Toeslope
Landform position (three-dimensional): Tread
Down-slope shape: Linear
Across-slope shape: Linear
Aspect (representative): Southwest
Aspect range: All aspects
Slope range: 0 to 5 percent
Parent material: Nonacid sandy alluvium derived from interbedded sedimentary rock
Properties and Qualities
Depth to restrictive feature: None within a depth of 150 centimeters
Shrink-swell potential: Low (about 1.5 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 high
Natural drainage class: Well drained
Flooding frequency: Frequent
Ponding frequency: None
Depth to seasonal water table: About 122 to 183 centimeters
Available water capacity (entire profile): Very high (about 18.7 centimeters)
Interpretive Groups
Land capability subclass (nonirrigated): 5w
West Virginia grassland suitability group (WVGSG): Moist Loams (ML3)
Dominant vegetation map class(es):
Floodplain Forest and Woodland
Modified Successional Floodplain Forest and Woodland
Oak - Hickory - Sugar Maple Forest
Hydric soil status: No
Hydrologic soil group: B
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/west_virginia/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NELSE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
John Kelley, Soil Scientist, USDA-NRCS photographing Iredell County landscape. Iredell County is located in the west-central part of North Carolina. It is bordered by Wilkes and Yadkin Counties to the north, Davie and Rowan Counties to the east, Cabarrus and Mecklenburg Counties to the south, and Lincoln, Catawba, and Alexander Counties to the west.
Iredell County Soil Survey report:
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-iredell-county-no...
The lowest elevations in Iredell County, around 600 feet, occur along Coddle Creek in the southeastern part of the county near the Rowan-Cabarrus County line and along the South Yadkin River near the Davie-Rowan County line. The highest elevations occur in the Brushy Mountains in the northwest part of the county and include Fox Mountain, which has an elevation of about 1,760 feet. Iredell County has a total area of 380,045 acres, or about 594 square miles. Land covers 366,945 acres, and water covers the other 13,100 acres. Lake Norman, which is North Carolina’s largest manmade lake by surface area, extends into the southwest corner of the county. Statesville, the county seat, is in the central part of the county, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, and has a population of about 24,875. Mooresville, the second largest city, is in the southern part of the county and has an estimated population of 20,500. According to 2008 census figures, the county has an estimated population of 155,359. This soil survey updates the survey of Iredell County published in 1964 (USDASCS, 1964). It provides additional information and has larger scaled maps, which show the soils in greater detail.
The update soil survey of Iredell County, North Carolina was conducted to ensure that soils information provided for survey areas within Major Land Resource Area 136 have modern interpretations and up-to-date soil descriptions. This information meets the standards established and defined for the survey area in the memorandum of understanding that was developed among cooperating agencies. Soil surveys that are consistent and uniform within a broad area enable the coordination of management recommendations and uniform program application of soils information.
The survey was made to provide information about the soils and miscellaneous areas in the survey area. The information includes a description of the soils and miscellaneous areas and their location and a discussion of their suitability, limitations, and management for specified uses. Soil scientists observed the steepness, length, and shape of the slopes; the general pattern of drainage; the kinds of crops and native plants; and the kinds of bedrock. They dug many holes to study the soil profile, which is the sequence of natural layers, or horizons, in a soil. The profile extends from the surface down into the unconsolidated material in which the soil formed. The unconsolidated material is devoid of roots and other living organisms and has not been changed by other biological activity.
The soils and miscellaneous areas in the survey area are in an orderly pattern that is related to the geology, landforms, relief, climate, and natural vegetation of the area. Each kind of soil and miscellaneous area is associated with a particular kind of landform or with a segment of the landform. By observing the soils and miscellaneous areas in the survey area and relating their position to specific segments of the landform, a soil scientist develops a concept, or model, of how they were formed. Thus, during mapping, this model enables the soil scientist to predict with a considerable degree of accuracy the kind of soil or miscellaneous area at a specific location on the landscape.
Commonly, individual soils on the landscape merge into one another as their characteristics gradually change. To construct an accurate soil map, however, soil scientists must determine the boundaries between the soils. They can observe only a limited number of soil profiles. Nevertheless, these observations, supplemented by an understanding of the soil-vegetation-landscape relationship, are sufficient to verify predictions of the kinds of soil in an area and to determine the boundaries.
Map unit documentation in the updated survey of Iredell County consists primarily of soil transects conducted by soil scientists. Soil transects are a systematic procedure for sampling a specific soil type. Soil borings are taken at fixed, random, subjectively determined intervals. Soil scientists record the characteristics of the soil profiles that they study. They note soil color, texture, size and shape of soil aggregates, kind and amount of rock fragments, distribution of plant roots, reaction, and other features that enable them to identify soils. This information can then be used to run statistical analyses for specific soil properties. The results of these analyses, along with other observations, enable the soil scientists to assign the soils to taxonomic classes (units).
Taxonomic classes are concepts. Each taxonomic class has a set of soil characteristics with precisely defined limits. The classes are used as a basis for comparison to classify soils systematically. Soil taxonomy, the system of taxonomic classification used in the United States, is based mainly on the kind and character of soil properties and the arrangement of horizons within the profile. After the soil scientists classified and named the soils in the survey area, they compared the individual soils with similar soils in the same taxonomic class in other areas so that they could confirm data and assemble additional data based on experience and research.
While a soil survey is in progress, samples of some of the soils in the area generally are collected for laboratory analyses and for engineering tests. Soil scientists interpret the data from these analyses and tests as well as the field-observed characteristics and the soil properties to determine the expected behavior of the soils under different uses. Interpretations for all of the soils are field tested through observation of the soils in different uses and under different levels of management. Some interpretations are modified to fit local conditions, and some new interpretations are developed to meet local needs. Data are assembled from other sources, such as research information, production records, and field experience of specialists. For example, data on crop yields under defined levels of management are assembled from farm records and from field or plot experiments on the same kinds of soil.
Predictions about soil behavior are based not only on soil properties but also on such variables as climate and biological activity. Soil conditions are predictable over long periods of time, but they are not predictable from year to year. For example, soil scientists can predict with a fairly high degree of accuracy that a given soil will have a high water table within certain depths in most years, but they cannot predict that a high water table will always be at a specific level in the soil on a specific date.
Aerial photographs used in this update survey were taken in 1998. Soil scientists also studied U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps and orthophotographs to relate land and image features. Adjustments of soil boundary lines on the update soil maps were made to coincide with the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data obtained from the North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program, including contour lines and tonal patterns on aerial photographs. Aerial photographs also show trees, buildings, fields, roads, and rivers, all of which help in locating boundaries accurately. The descriptions, names, and delineations of the soils in this survey area do not fully agree with those of the soils in adjacent survey areas. Differences are the result of a better knowledge of soils, modifications in series concepts, or variations in the intensity of mapping or in the extent of the soils in the survey areas.
Soil profile of Weesatche sandy clay loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes. The depth to secondary carbonates typically occurs within a depth of 45 to 100 centimeters (18 to 40 inches). (Soil Survey of Goliad County, Texas; by Jonathan K. Wiedenfeld, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Weesatche series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in calcareous loamy residuum weathered from sandstone of Pliocene age. These soils are on nearly level to gently sloping summits, backslopes, and footslopes of interfluves. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 711 mm (28 in) and the mean annual air temperature is about 22.2 degrees C (72 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Typic Argiustolls
Soil moisture: A typic-ustic moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for more than 90 days but less than 180 cumulative days in normal years. June through August and December through February are the driest months. These soils are intermittently moist in September through November and March through May.
Mean annual soil temperature: 22 to 23 degrees C (72 to 74 degrees F)
Depth to argillic: 15 to 76 cm (6 to 30 in)
Depth to calcic: 64 to 203 cm (25 to 80 in)
Depth to secondary carbonates: 51 to 203 cm (20 to 80 in)
Coarse fragments: 0 to 15 percent siliceous gravels
Particle-size control section (weighted average): clay content: 20 to 32 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The native plants are sideoats grama, little bluestem, threeawn, Texas wintergrass, and broomweed. Woody species are blackbrush, agarito, live oak, mesquite, and huisache. Some areas are used for crop production with crops being grain sorghum and corn. Minor areas are used for forage production.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern and Central Rio Grande Plain, Texas; LRR I; MLRA 83A; large extent. This is a benchmark series.
These soils were formerly included in the Goliad series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/goliadTX...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WEESATCHE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Bluegrass series.
The Bluegrass series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in silty material over residuum weathered from phosphatic limestone. These soils are on uplands.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Paleudalfs
Thickness of the solum ranges from 60 to 120 inches or more. Thickness of the argillic horizon ranges from 50 to 100 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 60 to 200 inches or more. Chert fragments, less than 3 inches in diameter, range from 0 to 5 percent in the 2Bt, 2BC and 2C horizons. The reaction of the Ap, A and Bt horizons range from neutral to strongly acid; the 2Bt, 2BC and 2C horizons range from slightly acid to strongly acid. The phosphate content in the solum is variable but is typically medium or high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for crops; such as burley tobacco, corn, small grains, alfalfa, and for pasture. Bluegrass and white clover are the most common pasture plants. Native vegetation was dominated by oaks, elm, ash, black walnut, black and honey locust, hackberry, black cherry, and Kentucky coffee tree. Glades of native grasses and canes were reported by early settlers.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Inner Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. The Bluegrass series was previously included with the Maury or Sandview phosphatic substratum series.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BLUEGRASS.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
BUNCOMBE COUNTY is located in the central mountains of western North Carolina about 230 miles west of Raleigh, the State Capital. It consists of 422,284 acres, or approximately 656 square miles, of very steep mountains, rolling intermountain hills, and narrow valleys. Elevation ranges from 1,705 feet above sea level, on the French Broad River at the Madison County line, to 6,410 feet, at Potato Knob on the Buncombe and Yancey County line. The county is in the southern Blue Ridge Mountain Physiographic Province (MLRA 130B). It is bordered on the east by McDowell County, on the south by Henderson and Rutherford Counties, on the west by Haywood County, on the north by Madison County, and on the north and east by Yancey County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county had a population of 206,330 in 2000 and will have an estimated population of 235,281 by 2010. In 2000, the county seat of Asheville had a population of 68,889. Populations in the towns of Black Mountain, Woodfin, and Weaverville were 7,511; 3,162; and 2,411, respectively. This soil survey updates the survey of Buncombe County published in July 1954. It provides additional information and has larger maps, which show the soils in greater detail.
For additional information about the Soil Survey area, visit:
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-buncombe-county-n...
The general procedures followed in making this survey are described in the “National Soil Survey Handbook” of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and in the “Soil Survey Manual”. Before fieldwork began, preliminary boundaries of slopes and landforms were plotted stereoscopically on leaf-off aerial photographs taken in March of 1985 at a scale of 1:12,000. United States Geological Survey geologic and topographic maps at a scale of 1:24,000 were also used. Map units were then designed according to the pattern of soils interpreted from photographs, maps, and field observations. Traverses in the valleys were made by truck or on foot. The soils were examined at intervals ranging from a few hundred feet to about 1 /4 mile, depending on the landscape and soil pattern. Observations of special features, such as landforms, vegetation, and evidence of flooding, were made continuously without regard to spacing.
Soil boundaries were determined on the basis of soil examinations, observations, and photo interpretations. In many areas, such as those where very steep slopes intersect with flood plains, these boundaries are precise because of an abrupt change in the landform. The soils were examined with the aid of a hand probe, a bucket auger, or a spade to a depth of about 3 to 5 feet. The typical pedons were observed in pits dug by hand or with a back hoe. Traverses in the mountainous areas were made by truck or on foot along the existing network of roads and trials. These traverses commonly were made a few miles apart where the geologic materials and landscapes were uniform. In areas where differences in geologic material or landscape were observed, traverses were made at intervals close enough for the soil scientists to observe any differences among the soils.
Examinations were made at intervals ranging from a few hundred feet to about 1/4 mile. Observations of landforms and vegetation were made continuously without regard to spacing. Where soil profiles were readily observable, such as along recently constructed access roads and along logging roads, observations of the content of rock fragments, depth to bedrock, depth of rooting, the landform, and the underlying material were made without regard to spacing. Soil boundaries were plotted stereoscopically on the basis of parent material, landform, and relief. Many of these boundaries cannot be exact because they fall within a zone of gradual change between landforms, such as an area where a mountain ridge becomes a mountainside. Much intermingling of the soils occurs in these zones. Samples for chemical and physical analyses were taken from the site of the typical pedon of the major soils in the survey area. Most of the analyses were made by the Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Some soils were analyzed by the North Carolina State University Soils Laboratory, Raleigh, North Carolina. Commonly used laboratory procedures were followed. After completion of the soil mapping on un-rectified aerial photographs, map unit delineations and surface drainage were transferred by hand. Cultural features were transferred from 7.5-minute topographic maps of the United States Geological Survey. Soil survey data was compiled and digitized onto orthophotographs at a scale of 1:12,000 (1 inch equals 1,000 feet).
For additional information about identifying soils within a geographic area, visit:
websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx
For information on how to plan and manage soil surveys; collect, document, and interpret soil survey information; and disseminate, publish, and promote the use of information about the soils of the United States and its trust territories, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/natio...
For more information about the major principles and practices needed for making and using soil surveys and for assembling and using related soils data, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Nankin soil series. (Soil Survey of Stewart County, Georgia; by By Kenneth W. Monroe, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Gullied land-Nankin-Ailey complex, 15 to 90 percent slopes, severely eroded, in Providence Canyon State Park. The park is locally referred to as “Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon.” The major components of this map unit are about 40 percent Gullied land; about 25 percent Nankin and similar soils; and about 15 percent Ailey and similar soils.
The Nankin series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slowly permeable soils on uplands of the Coastal Plain. They formed in stratified loamy and clayey marine sediments. Near the type location, the mean annual air temperature is about 65 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 50 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 60 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout, except where limed. Nodules or fragments of ironstone range from 0 to 25 percent, by volume, in the A and B horizons. Few to common flakes of mica occur in the lower parts of some pedons. The control section has an average clay content of 35 to 50 percent and an average silt content of less than 20 percent. Plinthite ranges from 0 to 3 percent, by volume, in the Bt horizon.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in woodland with some areas in cropland or pasture. Loblolly pine, longleaf pine, and slash pine the dominant trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Coastal Plain of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/stewar...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NANKIN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/stewar...
This region lies adjacent to the coastal plain in central parts of the Emirate. It represents carbonatic sand sheets with minor areas of saline soils. Some flat-topped mesas occur, capped by evaporite deposits from earlier soil forming periods and subsequently left upstanding by erosion.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of an Oxisol (fine, kaolinitic, isohyperthermic Typic Kandiudox) 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 by Brazil soil classification system.)
Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation (pastureland) occurring on upland interfuve and side-slope in Brazil.
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.
In the Brazil soil classification system, these soils are Latossolos. They 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...
A hydric soil is a soil that formed under conditions of saturation, flooding or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part.
Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season. Water saturation (hydrology) largely determines how the soil develops and the types of plant and animal communities living in and on the soil. Wetlands may support both aquatic and terrestrial species. The prolonged presence of water creates conditions that favor the growth of specially adapted plants (hydrophytes) and promote the development of characteristic wetland (hydric) soils.
The concept of hydric soils includes soils developed under sufficiently wet conditions to support the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation. Soils that are sufficiently wet because of artificial measures are included in the concept of hydric soils. Also, soils in which the hydrology has been artificially modified are hydric if the soil, in an unaltered state, was hydric. Some soil series, designated as hydric, have phases that are not hydric depending on water table, flooding, and ponding characteristics.
For 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...
For more soil related images, visit:
A profile of a taxadjunct of the Knowlton series (fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Endoaquults) showing the mottled color pattern (redoximorphic features) which develop under saturated conditions (Soil Survey of New River Gorge National River, West Virginia by Wendy Noll and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service).
The Knowlton series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils that formed in alluvium weathered from interbedded Mississippian aged shale, sandstone, siltstone, limestone, and dolomite. Slopes range from 0 to 4 percent, but are dominantly 2 percent or less.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Endoaquults
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Coarse fragments, mostly rounded quartzite or sandstone gravels, range from 0 to 15 percent throughout the profile. Reaction is strongly acid to neutral in the surface layer and very strongly acid to moderately acid in the subsoil.
USE AND VEGETATION: Chiefly used as pasture, but some areas under artificial drainage are cropped to corn, soybeans, and legume-grass hay. A few isolated areas remain in woodland.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, West Virginia, and possibly Tennessee or Ohio. Series is moderate in extent.
The Knowlton series replaces areas previously included with the Morehead or Melvin series. The series may also be useful in replacing 1,210 acres of Peoga soils with a low base that were correlated in Montgomery County, Kentucky. The 2005 update revises the pedon description with terminology from version 2.0 of the "Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" after review of the original field notes. A map compilation error has placed the OSD location for this series in a delineation of Ne-Newark silt loam, frequently flooded map unit and is slated for correction during routine maintenance (Soil Survey of Powell and Wolfe Counties, Kentucky, 1993).
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/west_virginia/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/K/KNOWLTON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Inceptisols are one of the 12 soil orders in the U.S. Soil Taxonomy. Inceptisols are soils of relatively new origin and are characterized by having only the weakest appearance of horizons, or layers, produced by soil-forming factors. They are the most abundant on Earth, occupying almost 22 percent of all non-polar continental land area. Their geographic settings vary widely, from river deltas to upland forests to tundra environments. For example, they occur in the Mississippi valley, central Europe, the Amazon region, northeastern India, Indonesia, and Alaska. They are usually arable with appropriate control of erosion or drainage.
For more information on Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
Bonneau soil series:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BONNEAU.html
Soil scientists are actively involved in solving many of society's most pressing problems. World hunger, environmental quality, urban growth, and climate change are all issues currently being addressed by soil scientists around the world. You can visit the web site of the Department of Soil Science at North Carolina State University to learn more about becoming a soil scientist:
cals.ncsu.edu/crop-and-soil-sciences/
A soil scientist is a person who is qualified to evaluate and interpret soils and soil-related data for the purpose of understanding soil resources as they contribute to not only agricultural production, but as they affect environmental quality and as they are managed for protection of human health and the environment. The university degree should be in Soil Science, or closely related field (i.e., natural resources, environmental science, earth science, etc.) and include sufficient soils-related course work so the Soil Scientist has a measurable level of understanding of the soil environment, including soil morphology and soil forming factors, soil chemistry, soil physics, and soil biology, and the dynamic interaction of these areas.
The layers within a soil are called soil horizons. The arrangement of these horizons in a soil is known as a soil profile. Soil scientists, who are also called pedologists, observe and describe soil profiles and soil horizons to classify and interpret the soil for various uses.
"Bt3--40 to 50 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) sandy clay loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few medium tubular pores; many clay bridging of sand grains few faint clay films on faces of some peds; many medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) iron depletions and common medium faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of oxidized iron; few fine uncoated sand grains (in old root pores); very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary."
To learn more about describing soil horizons, visit;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlyDyQT6_WE
To learn about the Field Book for describing soils, visit;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For more soil related images, visit:
A representative soil profile of a Spodosol in Belgium. (Photo provided by Munsell Color.)
The central concept of Spodosols is the presence of a spodic horizon in which amorphous mixtures of organic matter and aluminum, with or without iron, have accumulated. In undisturbed soils there is normally an overlying eluvial horizon, generally gray to light gray in color, that has the color of more or less uncoated quartz. Most Spodosols have little silicate clay. The particle-size class is mostly sandy, sandy-skeletal, coarse-loamy, loamy, loamy- skeletal, or coarse-silty.
The spodic horizon may be destroyed by cultivation, yet spodic materials may still be present. In undisturbed soils there commonly is an overlying eluvial horizon, generally with a gray or light gray color similar to that of uncoated quartz. In some Spodosols this horizon is too thin to be preserved after cultivation, while in others it is very thick. Below the spodic horizon, there may be a fragipan or another sequum that has an argillic horizon. A few Spodosols have a placic horizon either on or within a spodic horizon or on a fragipan. Some Spodosols have layers thicker than a placic horizon that are cemented by spodic materials and organic matter (ortstein).
Spodosols are most extensive in areas of cool, humid or perhumid climates. They also formed, however, in hot, humid tropical regions and in warm, humid regions, where they occur mostly in areas of quartz-rich sands that have a fluctuating level of ground water. In many of the latter soils, the silt and sand fractions contain very few weatherable minerals and the albic horizons tend to be thick. Soils with an albic horizon 200 cm or more thick, however, are excluded from Spodosols and are grouped with Entisols. Some of the very deep spodic horizons may be buried, but it seems likely that others have formed at great depths because the overlying soil materials have very little iron and aluminum that could precipitate the organic carbon.
The Spodosols in the United States occur mainly in areas of late-Pleistocene or Holocene deposits. They are common in Alaska, in the higher mountains of the West, in the Great Lakes States, in the Northeast, and along the Atlantic coast of both the United States and Canada. They also occur in Northern Europe and northwestern Asia as well as New Zealand and southern Australia. Most are covered with coniferous or, less commonly, hardwood forests if they are not cultivated or grazed. In tropical areas the vegetation may be rain forest, palms, or a savanna that probably is anthropic. The moisture regime of Spodosols is mostly udic, but a few of the soils have a xeric regime. Some have aquic conditions. Spodosols may have any soil temperature regime. Spodosols are naturally infertile, but they can be highly responsive to good management. Under cultivation, the spodic horizon may be biologically destroyed, particularly if lime and nitrogen are applied.
For more information about determining accurate soil color, visit:
munsell.com/color-blog/soil-formation-process-archaeology/
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
The Candor series is established for soils in a sandy family that have sufficient clay increase to qualify for an argillic horizon within 100 centimeters and have loamy or finer texture from 100 to 200 centimeters. Candor soils occurring on smooth to gentle landscapes on interstream divides may contain plinthite (3 to 10 percent) at depths of more than 150 centimeters. The criteria for placing this series in Kandiudults is based on the double clay bulge argillic horizon extending to 150 centimeters or more. Candor soils have been included in mapping with the Blanton series in North Carolina.
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Somewhat excessively drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Deep or very deep, common
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Slowest Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high
Shrink-swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Sandhills, upper coastal plain
Landform: Uplands, sand sheets
Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, backslopes
Parent Material: Marine deposits and eolian sediments
Slope: 0 to 15 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, kaolinitic, thermic Grossarenic Kandiudults
Depth to the top of the upper argillic horizon: 50 to 100 centimeters (about 20 to 40 inches)
Thickness of sandy horizons: 100 to less than 200 centimeters (about 40 to 78 inches)
Depth to bedrock: Greater than 200 centimeters (about 78 inches)
Depth to seasonal high water table: Greater than 100 centimeters (historically, greater than about 48), December to March
Rock fragment content: Less than 15 percent, by volume above 100 centimeters (about 40 inches) and below 100 centimeters, 0 to 35 percent.
(Effective) Cation Exchange Capacity: 0 to 3 milliequivalents per 100 grams of soil in the A horizon; 0 to 2 in E and E' horizons, 0 to 2 in the Bt horizon, and 0 to 4 in the B't horizon
Organic matter content: 0.5 to 1.0 percent in the A horizon and less than 0.5 in E, E' Bt and B't horizons
Soil reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, except where limed
Mica content: 0 to 20 percent by volume, flakes of mica
Plinthite content: 0 to 10 percent below a depth of 150 centimeters (about 60 inches)
Fragic soil properties: 0 to less than 30 percent below a depth of 100 centimeters (about 40 inches)
Other features--0 to 20 percent, by volume fine to medium bodies of white kaolin
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: About one-third or more of the acreage is in native vegetation and the remainder is in field and horticultural crops.
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--blackjack oak, turkey oak, bluejack oak, post oak, longleaf pine, and occasional hickory or dogwood. Where cultivated--principal horticultural crops grown are peaches, apples, and grapes. The principal field and forage crops grown are watermelons, corn, soybeans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, tobacco, coastal bermuda, and sericea lespedeza. Longleaf pine needles are commonly harvested.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Sandhills and upper Coastal Plain of North Carolina and South Carolina and possible Georgia
Extent: Moderate
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CANDOR.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A profile of Dechel silty clay, 0 to 2 percent slopes. This is a bottom-land soil with a high water table. Wet soil conditions are indicated by the gray soil matrix and the oxidized (rust-colored) root channels. This site is in the Ngerikiil Valley, Airai State, Babeldaob Island. (Soil Survey of the Islands of Palau, Republic of Palau. by Jason L. Nemecek and Robert T. Gavenda, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Dechel silty clay, 0 to 2 percent slopes, on bottom land. This soil is relatively fertile and is well suited to wetland taro. It is one of the principal agricultural soils in Palau. The hillsides in the background are mapped as Palau silty clay loam, 6 to 12 percent slopes (map unit 636). This landscape is located in Airai State, Babeldaob Island.
The Dechel series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils on swamps, marshes, backswamps, and flood plains of valley floors located on volcanic islands. These soils formed in formed in organic deposits and alluvial sediments derived from basalt, andesite, dacite, marine deposits, volcanic breccias, tuff, bedded tuff, or schist. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the subsoil and in the underlying material. Slope is 0 to 2 percent. The mean annual rainfall is about 3685 millimeters (145 inches), and the mean annual temperature is about 27 C (81 F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, mixed, semiactive, acid, isohyperthermic Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are in wetland taro (Crytosperma and Colocasia) patches or swamp forest plant communities and are used for production of taro, watershed, and wildlife. Native vegetation includes; Campnosperma brevipetiolata, Horsfieldia amklaal, Stemmonorus ammui, Samadera indica, Callophyllum pelewense, Inocarpus fagifer, Hibiscus tiliaceous, Pandanus kanehirae, Crudia cynometroides, Dolichandrone, Barringtonia racemosa, Donax canneformis, Hanguana malayana
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 193 Volcanic Islands of Western Micronesia; Republic of Palau; Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia. These soils of this series are of small extent; about 1,100 acres in the Republic of Palau; about 1,100 acres in Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia. They are mapped on the islands of Babeldaob, Republic of Palau and Yap, Federated States of Micronesia.
The Dechel series had an O horizon when originally mapped in 1980 but due to changes in management practices such as; drainage ditches, fluctuating water table, lack of organic inputs, and turning over the soil. Over time, the organic matter has been oxidized and removed from the system. Now much of the Dechel series with O horizons can only be found in native vegetation. Dechel soils that formed in alluvium derived from soils that formed from schist typically have a higher pH value and base status than Dechel soils derived from soils on volcanic parent material. Dechel soils in Yap are classified as Fluvaquents and derived from schist. These soils have a high water table, are susceptible to subsidence, and have poor engineering properties.
The traditional system of agriculture included intensive taro cultivation. The soil is first dug out down to the fresh water lens, tall grasses and sedges, weeds, and young trees are removed or pushed into the mud as fertilizer. The soil is turned over and work, which requires the Palauans to dig down deep as far as they can with their hands and lift the mud and organic matter to turn it over. Wood ashes, twigs, grasses, and leaves are added below the mud to keep insects, fungus, and bacteria away and for fertilizer.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/pacific_basin/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DECHEL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Photo credit: Lishka Arata/Point Blue
date take: Friday, October 29, 2021
story: Isaiah gave Erika a tour of one of our sites were we helped to establish a pollinator hedgerow because Erika had never seen one before and this is one of the conservation practices she will be including in her study to document how much Carbon is stored in the soil at various ages with various conservation practices. It was a beautiful morning and a fun, collaborative time!
staff featured: Erika Foster, Soil Ecologist and Isaiah Thalmayer, Senior STRAW Project manager
location: Blake's Landing, a Strauss Family property and STRAW restoration site that borders Tomales Bay
Soil profile: Caguabo soils are characterized by a surface layer of clay loam and a subsurface layer of paragravelly silty clay loam over basalt bedrock.
Landscape: Naturalized pastureland in an area of Caguabo clay loam, 20 to 60 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of San Germán Area, Puerto Rico by Jorge L. Lugo-Camacho, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Setting
Landscape: Hills and mountains
Landform: Hillslopes and mountain slopes
Major uses: Wildlife habitat
Elevation: 500 to 2,460 feet
Composition
Caguabo and similar soils: 85 percent
Dissimilar soils: 15 percent
Typical Profile
Surface layer:
0 to 2 inches—very dark brown clay loam
Subsoil:
2 to 13 inches—dark reddish brown extremely paragravelly clay
Bedrock:
13 to 23 inches—highly fractured, unconsolidated chert
23 inches—hard, consolidated chert rock
Minor Components
Dissimilar:
• Múcara soils, which are moderately deep to bedrock
• Scattered areas of volcanic rock outcrop
Similar:
• Steeper Caguabo soils
Soil Properties and Qualities
Depth class: Shallow
Depth to bedrock: 5 to 19 inches
Parent material: Residuum and colluvium that weathered from basalt bedrock
Surface runoff: Very high
Drainage class: Well drained
Permeability: Moderate
Available water capacity: Very low
Flooding: None
Hazard of water erosion: Moderate to very severe
Rock fragments in the surface layer: Less than 15 percent, by volume, mostly pebbles
and cobbles
Extent of rock outcrop: Less than 10 percent
Shrink-swell potential: Low
Natural fertility: Moderate
Content of organic matter in the surface layer: Moderately low or moderate
Reaction: Moderately acid to neutral
Land Use
Dominant uses: Wildlife habitat
Other uses: Forestland; cropland
Agricultural Development
Cropland
Suitability: Poorly suited
Commonly grown crops: Pigeonpeas
Management concerns: Depth to rock; 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.
• Restricting tillage to periods when the soil is not wet minimizes clodding and crusting.
• Applying lime and fertilizer on the basis of soil testing increases the availability of nutrients to plants and maximizes productivity.
Pasture and hayland
Suitability: Poorly suited to pasture; unsuited to hayland
Commonly grown crops: Guineagrass
Management concerns: Erosion
Management measures and considerations:
• Erosion is a concern in unprotected areas.
• Returning crop residue to the soil improves the retention of soil moisture and increases the supply of plant nutrients.
• Overgrazed pastures should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
• Preventing overgrazing and restricting grazing to periods when the soil is not too wet help to prevent soil compaction and to maintain productivity and tilth.
Naturalized pastureland
Suitability: Poorly suited
Management concerns: Depth to rock; slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Overgrazed areas should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
• Preventing overgrazing and restricting grazing to periods when the soil is not too wet help to prevent soil compaction and to maintain productivity and tilth.
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/C/CAGUABO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit: