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Profile of LaCerda clay loam, 0 to 5 percent slopes. The LaCerda soils have clayey subsoils that developed over weakly bedded dense shale. (Soil Survey of San Augustine and Sabine Counties, Texas; by Kirby Griffith, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The LaCerda series consists of residual soils that are deep to weathered shale. They are moderately well drained and very slowly permeable. These soils are nearly level to moderately steep. The slope is dominantly less than 5 percent and ranges from 0 to 20 percent.
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TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, smectitic, thermic Chromic Dystruderts
The solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches. The weighted average clay content of the particle-size control section ranges from 60 to 72 percent. When dry, cracks 1/2 to more than 1 inch wide extend from the surface to a depth of more than 12 inches. Cracks are open from 60 to 90 cumulative days in most years. Slickensides and wedge shaped peds begin at a depth of 10 to 24 inches. Undisturbed areas have gilgai relief with microknolls about 4 to 12 inches above the microdepressions. Distance from the center of the microknoll to the center of the microdepression ranges from 4 to about 15 feet. Mottles are considered to be litho-chromic or relic.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for woodland of loblolly and shortleaf pine, red oak, and sweetgum. A few areas are used for improved bermudagrass or penscola bahiagrass pastures.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East and Southeast Texas in MLRA 133B. The series is of large extent. These soils were formerly included with the Susquehanna and Vaiden soils. The classification is changed from Aquentic Chromuderts to Chromic Dystruderts in January 1994.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
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A representative soil profile of a Typic Haploxererts in Bulgaria. (Photo from the 4th International Meeting on Red Mediterranean Soils, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 1997)
The central concept of Vertisols is that of clayey soils that have deep, wide cracks for some time during the year and have slickensides within 100 cm of the mineral soil surface. They shrink when dry and swell when moistened. Vertisols make up a relatively homogeneous order because of the amounts and kinds of clay common to them; however, their microvariability within a pedon is great. Before the advent of modern classification systems, these soils were already well known for their characteristic color, the cracks they produce during the dry season, and the difficulty of their engineering properties.
Xererts are the Vertisols of Mediterranean climates, which are typified by cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. These soils have cracks that regularly close and open each year. Because the soils dry every summer and remoisten in the winter, damage to structures and roads is very significant. If not irrigated, these soils are used for small grain or grazing. In the United States, most of the soils supported grasses before they were cultivated.
Haploxererts are the Xererts that do not have a calcic or petrocalcic horizon or a duripan. These are the most common of the Xererts. They formed in a variety of parent materials, including volcanic and sedimentary rocks, lacustrine deposits, and alluvium. In many areas these soils are used for grazing by livestock. In some areas they are used for citrus, small grain, truck crops, or rice.
Typic Haploxererts are centered on deep or very deep, clayey soils with dark colored surface layers. These soils do not have significant amounts of sodium or salts, a soil moisture regime that borders on aridic or udic, or aquic conditions within 100 cm of the soil surface for extended periods. They occur in Oregon, Idaho, and California and are used for rangeland, pasture, or dryland or irrigated crops.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
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Soil profile: Andic Dystrocryepts are the Dystrocryepts that have, throughout one or more horizons with a total thickness of 18 cm or more within 75 cm of the mineral soil surface, a fine-earth fraction with both a bulk density of 1.0 g/cm3 or less, measured at 33 kPa water retention, and Al plus 1/2 Fe percentages (by ammonium oxalate) totaling more than 1.0. Dystrocryepts are the Cryepts that do not have free carbonates and have a base saturation (by NH4OAc) of less than 60 percent in all horizons at a depth between 25 and 75 cm from the mineral soil surface.
Landscape: The vegetation is mostly conifers or mixed conifers and hardwoods. Few of the soils are cultivated. Dystrocryepts may have formed in loess, drift, or alluvium or in solifluction deposits, mostly late Pleistocene or Holocene in age. The soils commonly have a thin, dark brownish ochric epipedon and a brownish cambic horizon. Some have an umbric epipedon, and some have bedrock within 100 cm of the surface. In the United States, Dystrocryepts are moderately extensive in the high mountains of the West and in southern Alaska. They also occur in other mountainous areas of the world.
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Goldsboro series. Goldsboro soils are moderately well drained with a seasonal high water table within a depth of 45 to 75 centimeters commonly during December through April. (Soil Survey of Webster County, Georgia; by Scott Moore, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Goldsboro soils are moderately suited to corn, soybeans, peanuts, and wheat and well suited to cotton lint and tobacco. Management concerns--the seasonal high water table restricts equipment operation, decreases the viability
of crops, and interferes with the planting and harvesting of crops.
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Moderately well drained
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Moderately deep, transitory
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible to medium
Permeability: Moderate
Landscape: Lower to upper coastal plain
Landform: Marine terraces, uplands
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder
Geomorphic Component: Interfluve, talf
Parent Material: Marine deposits, fluviomarine deposits
Slope: 0 to 10 percent
Elevation (type location): Unknown
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Aquic Paleudults
Depth to top of the Argillic horizon: 5 to 19 inches
Depth to the base of the Argillic horizon: 60 to more than 80 inches
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 80 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 18 to 30 inches, December to April
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 50 percent, by volume throughout, mostly quartz pebbles
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, except where limed
Other soil features: Silt content in the particle-size control section is less than 30 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Cropland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, peanuts, tobacco, soybeans, small grain, cotton, and pasture. Where wooded--loblolly pine, longleaf pine, slash pine, sweetgum, southern red oak, white oak, water oak, and red maple, yellow poplar. Understory plants include American holly, blueberry, flowering dogwood, greenbrier, persimmon, redbay, southern bayberry (waxmyrtle), inkberry (bitter gallberry), honeysuckle, poison ivy, and summersweet clethra.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
Extent: Large
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A representative soil profile of the Bengal series. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Bengal series consists of moderately deep, well drained, slowly permeable soils. The upper part of the soil formed in colluvium and the underlying part formed in residuum weathered from shale of Pennsylvanian age. These nearly level to very steep soils are on uplands of the Ouachita Mountains (MLRA 119). Slopes range from 1 to 60 percent. Mean annual temperature is 63 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 46 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches and depth to weathered shale bedrock (Cr) ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Combined thickness of the A horizon is 5 to 12 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for woodland. Some of the less sloping and less stony areas are used for tame pasture. The vegetation is principally post oak and blackjack oak with minor amounts of shortleaf pine. Bermudagrass and bahiagrass are the principal pasture grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma and Arkansas. The series is of moderate extent. These soils were formerly included in the Carnasaw series.
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Soil motting--redoximorphic features in an Augusta soil:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/AUGUSTA.html
Mottling (mottles, mottled) refers to secondary soil colors not associated with compositional properties. Redoximorphic features are a type of mottle associated with wetness. 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.
Refer to Soil Color, Field Guide for Describing and Sampling Soils, page 2-8.
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:
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Terms such as mixed, intermingled, mottled, or multicolored to describe color are discouraged.
Example: If the color pattern is the result of redoximorphic processes, and a dominant color does not exist—
Bt=20 to 60 centimeters; 35 percent dark gray (5Y 4/1), 35 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), and 30 percent brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay loam; ...areas with dark gray color are iron depletions and areas with brown color are masses of oxidized iron; ...
Example: If the color pattern is the result of redoximorphic processes, and a dominant gray color does exist—
Btg--60 to 110 centimeters; gray (10YR 5/1) sandy clay; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; few faint clay films on faces of peds; common medium prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and red (2.5YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
In South Korea are areas adjacent to the DMZ referred to as the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ) where public access is restricted. Most of these areas are heavily farmed.
South Korean farmers see these areaa adjecent to the DMZ as valuable soil, frequently planting crops despite warnings to stay away, a typical example of how South Korea's population has encroached on once-rural training areas.
In 1996 and 1998, unexploded ordnance killed two Korean civilians who had entered the Story range to look for scrap metal. Unexploded munitions and live-fire exercises make the area very dangerous. Unexploded ordnance in that area presents a very real and significant danger to anyone walking in the area. This danger is greatly amplified if someone is planting or harvesting crops... or sampling soils!
The South Korean Army supervises farming. Farmers must have a pass to cross any of the three bridges, guarded by South Korean soldiers, leading to the CCZ. Normally, range control officials and Army explosive ordnance disposal teams would clear munitions from the area annually. But many of these areas are swampy, and teams can only look for duds on the surface.
Additionally, the entire area just south of the DMZ is rife with mines. Many are newer mines laid by the South Korean Army as part of the DMZ defense. But there are unmarked mine fields, and monsoon rains shift mines around. Korean contractors and 8th Army personnel have uncovered about 30 mines while putting in fence posts.
A representative soil profile of a Melanudand in Japan. The soil formed in successive layers of volcanic ash and debris. It has a thick, dark, humus-rich melanic epipedon about 55 cm thick. A cambic horizon extends from depths of 55 to 90 cm. An older surface layer, now covered by more recent deposits, can be seen between depths of 90 and 120 cm. The right side of the profile has been smoothed; the left side retains the natural soil structure. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Melanudands have a melanic (dark and humus-rich with andic properties) epipedon and a cambic (minimal soil development) subsoil horizon. The Melanudands in the United States generally developed in late Pleistocene deposits. Most formed under forest or savanna vegetation.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
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A representative soil profile of the Iphill soil series.
The Iphil series consists of deep and very deep, well drained soils formed in loess and silty alluvium derived from loess. Iphil soils formed on hills on terraces and fan remnants and have slopes of 1 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 360 mm and the mean annual air temperature is 6.6 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Calcixerolls
Mollic epipedon thickness: 18 to 40 cm Particle size control section total clay: 10 to 24 percent (weighted average of non-carbonate clay is less than 18 percent)
Control section carbonate clay: 2 to 14 percent
Control section non-carbonate clay: 10 to 18 percent
Control section sands coarser than very fine: 2 to 10 percent
Control section rock fragments: 0 to 3 percent Depth to calcic horizon: 18 to 40 cm
Depth to bedrock: 100 cm to greater than 152 cm
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 35 percent average in the calcic horizon
Mean annual soil temperature: 5.0 to 8.0 degrees C.
Mean summer soil temperature: 15.0 to 18.9 degrees C. (frigid soil temperature regime)
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses: irrigated areas are used primarily for small grains, potatoes, hay and pasture; non-irrigated areas are used for pasture and range.
Dominant native vegetation: mountain big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, antelope bitterbrush, western wheatgrass, and eriogonum
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Southeastern Idaho and Western Wyoming, MLRA 13
Extent: the series is not extensive
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Oneida County, Idaho, 1994; Oneida County Area Soil Survey.
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For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
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For a detailed description, visit:
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Descriptions and distribution maps of The 12 Soil Orders of Soil Taxonomy.
Distribution map of the twelve soil orders.
Soil scientists classify soils into groups much as biologists group plants and animals. Individual soils are grouped into series, series into families, and so on until the largest grouping is reached—that of orders.
How many orders does the soil have?
The United States Department of Agriculture recognizes 12 soil orders.
12 Soil Orders
All of the soils in the world can be assigned to one of just 12 soil orders: Gelisols, Histosols, Andisols, Oxisols, Vertisols, Alfisols, Aridisols, Inceptisols, Entisols, Mollisols, Spodosols, Ultisols.
What is the importance of knowing the 12 soil orders?
Soil Taxonomy is a soil classification system developed by the United States Department of Agriculture’s soil survey staff. This system is based on measurable and observable soil properties and was designed to facilitate detailed soil survey.
Soil orders and their characteristics
Gelisols
Soils of very cold climates that contain permafrost within 2 meters of the surface. These soils are limited geographically to the high-latitude polar regions and localized areas at high mountain elevations. Because of the extreme environment in which they are found, Gelisols support only ~0.4% of the world’s population – the lowest percentage of any of the soil orders.
Histosols
Soils that are composed mainly of organic materials. They contain at least 20-30% organic matter by weight and are more than 40 cm thick. Bulk densities are quite low, often less than 0.3 g cm3.
Andisols
Soils that have formed in volcanic ash or other volcanic ejecta. They differ from those of other orders in that they typically are dominated by glass and short-range-order colloidal weathering products such as allophane, imogolite, and ferrihydrite.
Oxisols
Very highly weathered soils that are found primarily in the intertropical regions of the world. These soils contain few weatherable minerals and are often rich in Fe and Al oxide minerals. Oxisols occupy ~7.5% of the global ice-free land area. In the US, they only occupy ~0.02% of the land area and are restricted to Hawaii.
Vertisols
Clay-rich soils that shrink and swell with changes in moisture content. During dry periods, the soil volume shrinks, and deep wide cracks form. The soil volume then expands as it wets up. This shrink/swell action creates serious engineering problems and generally prevents formation of distinct, well-developed horizons in these soils.
Alfisols
These gray to brown soils over clay subsoil are among the most fertile and productive soils in the country. They may require the addition of lime. Fertilizers and irrigation during dry periods will increase yields.
Aridisols
Soils are dry for long periods with only short periods of wetness, which reduces leaching and may allow accumulation of soluble salts. Arid conditions reduce plant growth and therefore also organic content. When irrigated and fertilized, soils may be very productive.
Inceptisols
Usually wet during the growing season, these young soils are greatly variable. They often produce well when amended.
Entisols
Soils of recent origin. The central concept is soils developed in unconsolidated parent material with usually no genetic horizons except an A horizon. All soils that do not fit into one of the other 11 orders are Entisols. Thus, they are characterized by great diversity, both in environmental setting and land use.
Many Entisols are found in steep, rocky settings. However, Entisols of large river valleys and associated shore deposits provide cropland and habitat for millions of people worldwide.
Mollisols
These dark, fertile soils of grasslands and some hardwood forests are relatively high in humus and nitrogen. They are highly productive but may need lime to correct acidity.
Spodosols
With a high sand content, these soils are usually moist and moderately to strongly acidic. Add lime and fertilizers.
Ultisols
Soils of humid warm regions, Ultisols are often acidic and heavily weathered. When managed well, they can be very productive. Fertilizing and liming are needed.
Soil profile: A typical profile of Reddies sandy loam. Reddies soils are very deep and formed from material deposited by streams and consisting mainly of sand. They occur in mountain valleys of low and intermediate mountains, predominantly at the upper end of large flood plains throughout Buncombe County. (Soil Survey of Buncombe County, North Carolina; by Mark S. Hudson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Burley tobacco and corn in an area of Dellwood-Reddies complex, 0 to 3 percent slopes, occasionally flooded, Reddies soil produces high crop yields when properly managed. (Soil Survey of Yancey County, North Carolina; by Bruce P. Smith, Jr., Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Reddies series consists of moderately well drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils on flood plains in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. They formed in recent alluvium that is loamy in the upper part and is moderately deep to sandy strata containing more than 35 percent by volume gravel and/or cobbles. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 56 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation is 49 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Oxyaquic Humudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 39 inches. The soil is underlain within depths of 20 to 40 inches, by horizons that contain more than 35 percent gravel and/or cobbles. The coarse-loamy material above the C horizon averages less than 50 percent fine and coarser sand. Rock fragments, dominantly gravel size are in the A and B horizons of some pedons, but comprise less than 35 percent by volume. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral. Content of mica flakes is few to many.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all of the acreage is cleared and is used for hay, corn, pasture, truck crops, ornamentals, and urban uses. The rest is mainly in hardwood forest. Yellow-poplar, sycamore, red maple, and river birch are the dominant trees. Common understory plants are rhododendron, ironwood, flowering dogwood, red maple, tag alder, greenbrier, and switchcane. A few areas have been planted to eastern white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B North Carolina and Tennessee and possibly Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. This series is of moderate extent.
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Sequum.—A horizon sequence consisting of a B horizon and an associated overlying eluvial horizon. Most soils have one sequum, but some have two or more. A soil with two sequa that formed in the same material is said to be “bisequal.” See bisequum.
Figure 100.—Soil profile and landscape of a Pomona soil (sandy, siliceous, hyperthermic Ultic Alaquods). The Pomona series consists of very deep, poorly and very poorly drained soils that formed in sandy and loamy marine sediments. These soils are bisequal with an eluvial albic horizon (E) underlain by a spodic horizon (Bh) which sits atop another eluvial horizon (E’) underlain by an argillic horizon (Btg). (Photos courtesy of L. Rex Ellis, Environmental Scientist V, Bureau of Water Resources, Division of Water and Land Resources, St. Johns River Water Management District, Palatka, Florida).
Soils of the Abell series are very deep and moderately well drained with moderate permeability. They formed in colluvium or alluvium over residuum. They are in upland depressions, on footslopes, and along intermittent drainageways. Slopes range from 0 to 7 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 30 to more than 60 inches. Depth to 2B horizons range from 24 to 48 inches. Depth to hard bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments average 0 to 15 percent by volume of the solum, but individual horizons are allowed to have up to 35 percent. The soil ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid unless limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are cleared and used for growing corn, wheat, soybeans, truck crops, and pasture. The natural vegetation was forest of oaks, pine, and gum.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils are moderately extensive throughout the Piedmont in Virginia.
Wooded landform showing Kintner loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes, occasionally flooded, very brief duration, and indurated limestone bedrock (Soil Survey of Harrison County, Indiana by Steven W. Neyhouse, Sr., Byron G. Nagel, Gary R. Struben, and Steven Blanford, Natural Resources Conservation Service).
Setting
Landform: Flood plains
Map Unit Composition
95 percent Kintner and similar soils
5 percent frequently flooded Kintner and similar soils on flood plains
Interpretive Groups
Land capability classification: 2w
Prime farmland: All areas are prime farmland
Properties and Qualities of the Kintner Soil
Parent material: Loamy-skeletal alluvium over Mississippian limestone bedrock
Drainage class: Moderately well drained
Permeability range to a depth of 40 inches: Moderate to rapid
Permeability range below a depth of 40 inches: Slow to rapid
Depth to restrictive feature: 40 to 60 inches to lithic bedrock
Available water capacity: About 6.5 inches to a depth of 60 inches
Organic matter content of surface layer: 1.0 to 3.0 percent
Shrink-swell potential: Low
Highest apparent seasonal high water table (depth, months): 2.5 feet; January,
February, and March
Ponding: None
Most likely flooding (frequency, months): Occasional; January, February, March, April,
May, and June
Hydric soil: No
Potential frost action: Moderate
Corrosivity: Low for steel and low for concrete
Potential for surface runoff: Low
Water erosion susceptibility: Slight
Wind erosion susceptibility: Slight
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Waynesboro soil series. Waynesboro soils are very deep and well drained and have a clay subsoil. (Soil Survey of Overton County, Tennessee; by Carlie McCowan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Waynesboro soils on karst topography. Areas of karst topography are underlain by limestone and commonly have sinkholes. Waynesville soil is commonly used for production of small grains, hay, pasture, tobacco, cotton, and truck crops.
The Waynesboro series consists of moderately permeable soils that formed in old alluvium or unconsolidated material of sandstone, shale, and limestone origin. Slopes range from 2 to 30 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Paleudults
Thickness of solum and depth to bedrock are more than 60 inches. The soil is strongly acid or very strongly acid except the surface layer where limed. Each horizon contains 0 to 15 percent chert or quartzite pebbles and sandstone cobbles, except the surface layer ranges to 25 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: About three-fourths of the soil is cleared. Principal crops are small grains, hay, pasture, tobacco, cotton, and truck crops. Forests are of oaks, hickory, beech, elm, maple, yellow- poplar, and in places, loblolly, shortleaf, and Virginia pines.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Great Valley and Highland Rim in Tennessee, northern Alabama, northwest Georgia, Maryland and Kentucky. The series is of large extent.
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(Classification by UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy)
Gypsic Haplosalids, aquic are the Haplosalids that have a gypsic horizon that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface and are saturated with water in one or more layers for 1 month or more in normal years at a depth of more than 100–200 cm from the soil surface.
Haplosalids are the arid soils that have a high concentration of salts but do not have the saturation that is associated with the wetter Aquisalids. Haplosalids may be saturated for shorter periods than Aquisalids or may have had a water table associated with a past climate.
Salids are most common in depressions (playas) in the deserts or in closed basins in the wetter areas bordering the deserts. In North Africa and in the Near East, such depressions are referred to as Sabkhas depending on the presence or absence of surface water for prolonged periods. Under the arid environment and hot temperatures, accumulation of salts commonly occurs when there is a supply of salts and a net upward movement of water in the soils. In some areas a salic horizon has formed in salty parent materials without the presence of ground water. The most common form of salt is sodium chloride (halite), but sulfates (thenardite, mirabilite, and hexahydrite) and other salts may also occur.
Salids are Aridisols that are unsuitable for agricultural use, unless the salts are leached out. Leaching the salts is an expensive undertaking, particularly if there is no natural outlet for the drainage water.
Aridisols, as their name implies, are soils in which water is not available to mesophytic plants for long periods. During most of the time when the soils are warm enough for plants to grow, soil water is held at potentials less than the permanent wilting point or has a content of soluble salts great enough to limit the growth of plants other than halophytes, or both. The concept of Aridisols is based on limited soil moisture available for the growth of most plants. In areas bordering deserts, the absolute precipitation may be sufficient for the growth of some plants. Because of runoff or a very low storage capacity of the soils, or both, however, the actual soil moisture regime is aridic.
A Humic Pachic Dystrudepts soil and landscape in Idaho. These soils have an umbric or mollic epipedon 50 cm or more thick. They are otherwise like the soils of the Typic subgroup. Humic Pachic Dystrudepts are of small extent in the United States. They are widely distributed but are concentrated in the mountains of the Eastern and Northwestern States. The native vegetation consists mostly of mixed forest. Most of these soils are used as forest. Many of the less sloping soils have been cleared and are used as cropland or pasture.
The umbric horizon (Latin: umbra, shade) is a thick, dark colored, surface horizon rich in organic matter. It is identified by its dark color and structure. Normally it has a pH of less than 5.5. It is similar to a mollic epipedon but with a base saturation of less than 50 percent.
Dystrudepts are the acid Udepts of humid and perhumid regions. They developed mostly in late-Pleistocene or Holocene deposits. Some developed on older, steeply sloping surfaces. The parent materials generally are acid, moderately or weakly consolidated sedimentary or metamorphic rocks or acid sediments. A few of the soils formed in saprolite derived from igneous rocks. The vegetation was mostly deciduous trees.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
The Peckmantown series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in stratified glaciolacustrine and glaciofluvial sediments. They are moderately deep to a fragipan. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Permeability is moderately rapid in the A and Bt horizons, slow or very slow throughout the fragipan and moderately rapid to very rapid in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 51 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation is about 50 inches. (Soil Survey of Essex County, New Jersey by Edwin Muñiz and Richard K. Shaw, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Fragiudalfs
USE AND VEGETATION: Peckmantown soils are commonly in highly urbanized areas. The few undeveloped areas are commonly wooded with white pine, Norway spruce, black cherry, oaks, and red maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeast New Jersey between the first and second Watchung Mountains in the Moggy Hollow glacial stage of Lake Passaic; MLRA 144A. The series is of small extent.
SERIES PROPOSED: Essex County, New Jersey, 2000.
REMARKS: The Peckmantown series is proposed as a well drained soil formed in stratified medium-textured over coarse-textured sediments. It is named for a settlement along the Peckman River. Cation exchange activity class placement is based upon available data.
For more information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/new_jersey/NJ0...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PECKMANTOWN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
This aggregate exhibits iron cementation in more than 85 percent of its volume. The cementation ranges from weakly cemented to indurated. The reddish zones (about 70 to 80%) are firm and brittle and are less than strongly cemented. The blackish zones (about 5%) are more than strongly cemented. Based on the following definitions, this layer is from a plinthic horizon.
A plinthic horizon (WRB system) (from Greek plinthos, brick) is a subsurface horizon that is rich in Fe (in some cases also Mn) (hydr-)oxides and poor in humus. The clay is mostly kaolinitic, with the presence of other products of strong weathering, such as gibbsite. The plinthic horizon usually changes irreversibly to a layer of hard concretions or nodules or a hardpan on exposure to repeated wetting and drying with free access to oxygen.
A plinthic horizon consists of mineral material and:
1. has within ≥ 15% of the volume, single or in combination:
a. discrete concretions and/or nodules that in the moist state are at least firm, with a redder hue or stronger chroma than the surrounding material; or
b. concentrations in platy, polygonal or reticulate patterns that in the moist state are at least firm, with a redder hue or stronger chroma than the surrounding material; and
2. one or more of the following:
a. has ≥ 2.5% (by mass) Fe dith in the fine earth fraction; or
b. has ≥ 10% (by mass) Fe dith in the concretions, nodules or concentrations; or
c. hardens irreversibly after repeated wetting and drying; and
3. has a ratio between Fe ox and Fe dith of < 0.1 in the fine earth fraction; and
4. does not form part of a petroplinthic or pisoplinthic horizon; and
5. has a thickness of ≥ 15 cm.
A plinthic horizon shows prominent concretions or nodules or concentrations in platy, polygonal or reticulate patterns. In a perennially moist soil, many concretions, nodules or concentrations are not hard but firm or very firm and can be cut with a spade. Repeated wetting and drying will generally change them irreversibly to hard concretions or nodules or a hardpan (ironstone), especially if also exposed to heat from the sun, but they do not harden irreversibly as a result of a single cycle of drying and rewetting.
If the concretions, nodules or mottles do not reach 15% of the volume, it may be a ferric horizon.
If the concretions and nodules of the plinthic horizon harden (strongly or more cemented) and reach ≥ 40% of the volume, the plinthic horizon becomes a pisoplinthic horizon.
If it hardens to a continuous sheet, the plinthic horizon becomes a petroplinthic horizon.
For more information about a plinthic horizon, visit;
www.researchgate.net/publication/242649722_Rationale_for_...
For more information about soil classification using the WRB system, visit:
www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
The Maben series consists of well drained soils that formed in thinly stratified sandy to clayey sediments and soft shale or laminar clays. Permeability is moderately slow. These gently sloping to very steep soils are on uplands of the Southern and Western Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Areas. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Ultic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 48 inches. The content of ironstone or sandstone fragments ranges from none to common throughout the profile. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the A and Ap horizons and from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the E, B, and C horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Maben soils are used for woodland. Vegetation of wooded areas is mixed hardwood and pine. Cleared areas are used for growing corn, cotton, hay, and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mississippi and Texas. The series is of moderate extent.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MABEN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Typic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, aquic phase (Soil AD147) are deep or very deep, sandy soils with salinity throughout the profile. A water table occurs below 100cm. The soils occur in coastal sabkha plains and some inland sabkha. They are typically somewhat poorly drained or moderately well drained and have moderately rapid or rapid permeability.
These soils are distributed in nearly level plains and slight depressions. They are formed in eolian sands and are influenced by fluctuating groundwater. These soils are distributed in nearly level plains and slight depressions.
Due to strongly saline nature, the soils are barren without any vegetation and are not used for any specific purpose.
These soils are common within the coastal sabkha areas and have also been described from inland sabkhas including Sabkha Matti and at Liwa. They have been identified as components of numerous map units across the Emirate outside of the central areas that are dominated by sand dunes.
Plate 45: Typical soil profile and associated landscape for Typic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, aquic phase (Soil AD147).
Soil conservation terraces are an example of an anthropogenic microfeature.
An anthropogenic microfeature is a discrete, individual, human derived form on the Earth’s surface or in shallow water that has a range in composition of unconsolidated earthy, organic, human-transported materials, or rock. It typically has a recognizable human-imposed shape. It is the direct result of human manipulation or activities. It typically cannot be mapped at common soil survey scales, such as order 1 (< 1:10,000) but can be observed locally. Anthropogenic microfeatures can originate from deposition (e.g., a conservation terrace; or removal (e.g., a ditch).
A representative soil profile of the Lindaas soil series. (Soil Survey of Polk County, Minnesota; by Charles T. Saari and Rodney B. Heschke, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Lindaas series consists of very deep, poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in glacial lake sediments or local alluvium from till. These soils are in shallow depressions and on broad flats on glacial lake plains, till plains and moraines. They have slopes of 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual air temperature is 40 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 19 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, frigid Typic Argiaquolls
The depth to carbonates ranges from 18 to 35 inches. The mollic epipedon is more than 16 inches thick and may include part or all of the Bt horizon. LE is less than 6 cm in the upper meter.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cropped to small grains, row crops and legumes. The original vegetation was tall prairie grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota. The series is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/minnesota/MN11...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LINDAAS.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Lamellae are thin, often discontinuous layers of clay-enriched material that are associated with iron oxides and may occur in Alfisols, Ultisols, Mollisols, Entisols, Inceptisols, or Spodosols. These soils are of small extent in the Southeastern United States. The natural vegetation consisted of forest plants. These soils generally are nearly level or gently sloping. They are used mostly as forest or cropland. Some are used as pasture or homesites.
The Alpin series consists of very deep, excessively drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils on uplands and river terraces of the Coastal Plain. They formed in thick beds of sandy eolian or marine deposits. Near the type location, the mean annual precipitation is about 55 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 68 70 degrees F. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Thermic, coated Lamellic Quartzipsamments
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of sand is 80 inches or more. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid throughout. Depth to lamellae ranges from 40 to 78 inches but most commonly is 50 to 70 inches. Cumulative thickness of lamellae ranges from 1 cm to 15 cm.
A representative soil profile of the Grigsby series. The Grigsby series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in mixed alluvium on flood plains. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Dystric Fluventic Eutrudepts
Thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 65 inches. Coarse fragments, mostly subrounded gravels or channers, range from 0 to 15 percent in the solum and from 0 to 60 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the solum and from strongly acid to neutral in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largely used for cultivated crops, hay or pasture. The native vegetation was a mixed mesophytic forest interspaced with canebrakes.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky and possibly Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The series is moderately extensive, over 100,000 acres.
For additional information about Kentucky soils, visit:
uknowledge.uky.edu/pss_book/4/
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GRIGSBY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Iosco loamy sand, which formed in sandy lacustrine deposits underlain by loamy glacial till. (Soil Survey of Alpena County, Michigan; by Thomas E. Williams, Michigan Department of Agriculture)
The Iosco series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained soils formed in sandy lacustrine deposits or outwash and the underlying loamy lacustrine deposits or till on ground moraines, outwash plains, and lake plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 6 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 762 mm (30 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 6.7 degrees C (44 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy over loamy, mixed, active, frigid Argic Endoaquods
Depth to the lithologic discontinuity (2Bt horizon): dominantly 53 to 91 cm (21 to 36 inches), and ranges from 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to carbonates: 89 cm (35 inches) to greater than 152 cm (60 inches)
USE AND VEGETATION: Less than one-half is cropped to corn, hay, oats, potatoes, and vegetables. The greater part is in permanent pasture or forest. Native vegetation is northern hardwoods and pines. Second growth forests are largely quaking aspen.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 90A, 93A, 93B, 94A, 94B, 94C, 95A, 96, and 98 in central and northern Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and northern Minnesota. This series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/michigan/MI007...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/I/IOSCO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Chilicotal series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy gravelly piedmont sediments from igneous mountains. These soils are on gently undulating to strongly rolling fan remnants and alluvial fans. Slopes range from 1 to 50 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Ustic Haplocalcids
USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Grasses in most areas are mainly chino grama, slim tridens, black grama, and threeawns with woody vegetation of lechuguilla, creosotebush, skeletonleaf goldeneye, catclaw, sotol, yucca, and ceniza.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West Texas in MLRA 42. The series is of moderate extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CHILICOTAL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of an Inceptisol from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)
Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation (eucalyptus plantation) associated with Inceptisols occurring on an interfluve in Brazil.
Inceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are more developed than Entisols. They have no accumulation of clays, iron oxide, aluminium oxide or organic matter. They have an ochric or umbric horizon and a cambic subsurface horizon. The central concept of Inceptisols is that of soils that are of cool to very warm, humid and subhumid regions and that have a cambic horizon and an ochric epipedon. The order of Inceptisols includes a wide variety of soils. In some areas Inceptisols are soils with minimal development, while in other areas they are soils with diagnostic horizons that merely fail the criteria of the other soil orders. Inceptisols have many kinds of diagnostic horizons and epipedons.
In the Brazil soil classification system, these Latossolos are highly weathered soils composed mostly of clay and weathering resistant sand particles. Clay silicates of low activity (kaolinite clays) or iron and aluminum oxide rich (haematite, goethite, gibbsite) are common. There are little noticeable horizonation differences. These are naturally very infertile soils, but, because of the ideal topography and physical conditions, some are being used for agricultural production. These soils do require fertilizers because of the ease of leaching of nutrients through the highly weathered soils.
For additional information about these soils, visit:
sites.google.com/site/soil350brazilsoilsla/soil-formation...
and...
For additional information about U.S. soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of an Histosol from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)
Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation associated with Histosols occurring in low-lying areas in Brazil.
In both the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) and the USDA soil taxonomy, a Histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having 40 centimetres (16 in) or more of organic soil material in the upper 80 centimetres (31 in). Organic soil material has an organic carbon content (by weight) of 12 to 18 percent, or more, depending on the clay content of the soil. These materials include muck (sapric soil material), mucky peat (hemic soil material), or peat (fibric soil material). Aquic conditions or artificial drainage are required. Typically, Histosols have very low bulk density and are poorly drained because the organic matter holds water very well. Most are acidic and many are very deficient in major plant nutrients which are washed away in the consistently moist soil.
Histosol (Organossolos) and landscape BRAZIL--In the Brazil soil classification system, these soils are classified as Organossolos. Organossolos are soils that are very rich in organic matter and are characterized by an organic carbon level that is greater than 80 g/kg. These soils are usually completely saturated for at least a month out of the year and/or have a large amount of organic matter accumulation.
For additional information about these soils, visit:
sites.google.com/site/soil350brazilsoilsla/soil-formation...
and...
For additional information about U.S. soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
Soil profile: A representative profile of Dothan loamy sand. The Dothan series consists of very deep, well drained, loamy soils.
Landscape: Dothan soils formed in thick beds of unconsolidated, medium to fine-textured marine sediments. They are commonly on interfluves with slopes of 0 to 15 percent. Most areas of Dothan soils have been cleared and are used for the production of corn, cotton, peanuts, vegetable crops, hay, and pasture. Forested areas are in longleaf pine, loblolly pine, sweetgum, southern red oak, and hickory.
Mean annual temperature is about 18 degrees C (65 degrees F), and the mean annual precipitation is about 1360 millimeters (53 inches).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Plinthic Kandiudults
Plinthite: Depth to horizons that contain 5 percent or more plinthite ranges from 60 to 152 centimeters (24 to 60 inches).
Silt content is less than 20 percent.
Clay content is between 18 to 35 percent in the upper 51 centimeters (20 inches) of the Bt horizon.
Depth to Redox features: Predominantly greater than 102 centimeters (40 inches), but some pedons have iron depletions below a depth of 76 centimeters (30 inches).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Major Land Resource Areas (MLRA): The series occurs primarily in the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A), but it also occurs to a lesser extent in the Atlantic Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 153A).
Extent: large extent
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DOTHAN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The drive along the Al Qua'a-Um al Zamool road bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia is amazing. It is the best area to view the largest star dunes in this area of the Rub' al Khali. The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, mesic Typic Kanhapludults
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Low to high
Permeability: Moderate
Shrink-Swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Hill, interfluve
Geomorphic Component: Interfluve, side slope, nose slope
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, backslope
Parent Material: Residuum weathered from felsic crystalline rock such as mica schist, gneiss, granite gneiss, mica gneiss, granodiorite, and granite
Slope: 2 to 60 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Where cultivated--small grains, corn, soybeans, hay, tobacco, and orchards. Where forested--Eastern white pine, Virginia pine, red oak, white oak, post oak, hickory, blackgum, red maple, yellow poplar, and dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia and North Carolina with moderate extent
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CLIFFORD.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Mollisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. Mollisols form in semi-arid to semi-humid areas, typically under a grassland cover. They are most commonly found in the mid-latitudes, namely in North America, mostly east of the Rocky Mountains, in South America in Argentina (Pampas) and Brazil, and in Asia in Mongolia and the Russian Steppes. Their parent material is typically base-rich and calcareous and include limestone, loess, or wind-blown sand. The main processes that lead to the formation of grassland Mollisols are melanisation, decomposition, humification and pedoturbation.
Mollisols have deep, high organic matter, nutrient-enriched surface soil (A horizon), typically between 60–80 cm in depth. This fertile surface horizon, known as a mollic epipedon, is the defining diagnostic feature of Mollisols. Mollic epipedons result from the long-term addition of organic materials derived from plant roots, and typically have soft, granular, soil structure.
Mollisols occur in savannahs and mountain valleys (such as Central Asia, or the North American Great Plains). These environments have historically been strongly influenced by fire and abundant pedoturbation from organisms such as ants and earth worms. It was estimated that in 2003, only 14 to 26 percent of grassland ecosystems still remained in a relatively natural state (that is, they were not used for agriculture due to the fertility of the A horizon). Globally, they represent about 7% of ice-free land area. As the world's most agriculturally productive soil order, the Mollisols represent one of the more economically important soil orders.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
The Dekalb series consists of moderately deep, excessively drained soils formed in material weathered from gray and brown acid sandstone in places interbedded with shale and graywacke. Slope ranges from 0 to 80 percent. Permeability is rapid. Mean annual precipitation is about 48 inches and mean annual air temperature is about 53 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness and depth to bedrock range from 20 to 40 inches. Flat, subangular or angular, sandstone fragments, 1 to 10 inches across increase with depth and range from 10 to 60 percent in individual horizons of the solum and from 50 to 90 percent or more in the C horizon. The amount of rock fragments typically increases with depth. Weighted average rock fragment content ranges from 35 to 75 percent in the particle-size control section. Cobbly, channery, and very stony phases are common. Reaction ranges from extremely through strongly acid where unlimed. Illite, kaolinite, and vermiculite are common clay minerals.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most Dekalb soils are in forests of mixed oaks, maple, and some white pine and hemlock. Smaller areas have been cleared for cultivation and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. The series is of large extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DEKALB.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The A, B, and C horizons are known as the dominant master horizons. They are part of a system for naming soil horizons in which each layer is identified by the capital letters O, A, E, B, C, L, M, W, and R.
Soil profile: Typical profile of a Lewhand soil. The ochric epipedon extends from the surface to a depth of 20 centimeters (A horizon). (Soil Survey of Clearwater Area, Idaho; by Glenn Hoffman, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Area of Lewhand-Teneb complex, 0 to 2 percent slopes, on Weippe Prairie, where camas grows in abundance. Lewhand soils are in drainageways and small basins.
The Lewhand series consists of shallow to a fragipan, poorly drained soils formed in mixed alluvium with an admixture of volcanic ash. Permeability is very slow and slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 35 inches and the average annual temperature is about 42 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, frigid Vitrandic Fragiudalfs
Depth to fragipan - 13 to 19 inches
Average annual soil temperature - 39 to 45 degrees F. (Frigid temperature regime)
Soil moisture control section - not dry for 45 consecutive days following the summer solstice. Aquic conditions from November to June. Udic moisture regime.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for livestock grazing, watershed and some crop production. The main crops are hay and oats. Potential native vegetation is black hawthorn, scattered lodgepole pine, snowberry, sedges and rushes.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North central Idaho; Lewhand soils are not extensive.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/clearwat...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LEWHAND.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Renaghmore series in an area of unimproved grassland from Ireland. These soils formed in fine loamy material over shale bedrock.
For detailed information about this soil, visit;
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/rep_profile_sheet.php?series_code=11...
For information about the soil series of Ireland, visit;
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/soilguide.php
In the Irish soil classification system these soils are Humic Brown Earths (relatively young soils or soils with little profile development).
For more information about describing and classifying soils using the Irish Soils Classification System, visit:
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/downloads/SIS_Final_Technical_Report...
With four mills in operation, São Martinho is one of the largest sugarcane producers in the Brazilian sugar and ethanol sector. Since the construction of its first sugar mill in the interior of of São Paulo state in the early 20th century, the company stood out in the processing and sale of sugarcane products. Its portfolio includes the production of several types of sugar, as well as three types of ethanol - hydrated, fuel, and industrial - electricity from the residual bagasse and, finally, by-products - yeast, fusel oil, and ribonucleic acid sodium salt
The landscape is dominated by Oxisols.
For more information about Sao Martinho, visit;
d29n0te02mpm3j.cloudfront.net/m/77ff80226799b16c/original...
Noboco soils are very deep, moderately permeable soils that are moderately well drained or well drained with a seasonal water table from 75 to 150 centimeters, commonly during December through April. They formed in loamy marine deposits or fluviomarine deposits and are on interfluves or side slopes of summits or shoulders with slopes of 6 percent or less.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Oxyaquic Paleudults
Noboco soils were previously mapped as the Norfolk series. In 11/2002, the series was reclassified from Typic to Oxyaquic Paleudults and the type location relocated from Orangeburg County, SC to Lee County, SC. In 10/2004, the drainage class was expanded to allow moderately well drained or well drained soils. Although Noboco soils are classified as Paleudults, soils mapped as Noboco commonly have a kandic horizon. Since use and management of the kandic and non-kandic soils is very similar, it is not considered useful to establish a Kandiudult counterpart. The Kandiudult components are to be identified in the NASIS database and correlation and classification documents as taxadjuncts and once sufficient acreage has been reached, a new series may be considered.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Mostly cleared and used for general farm crops.
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, cotton, peanuts, tobacco, and soybeans. Where wooded--pines and mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Coastal Plain of North Carolina and South Carolina, and possibly Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia
Extent: Large
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/south_carolina...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/N/NOBOCO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#noboco
______________________________________________
Goldsboro soils are moderately well drained with a seasonal high water table within a depth of 45 to 75 centimeters, commonly during December through April.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Aquic Paleudults
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Cropland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, peanuts, tobacco, soybeans, small grain, cotton, and pasture. Where wooded--loblolly pine, longleaf pine, slash pine, sweetgum, southern red oak, white oak, water oak, and red maple, yellow poplar. Understory plants include American holly, blueberry, flowering dogwood, greenbrier, persimmon, redbay, southern bayberry (waxmyrtle), inkberry (bitter gallberry), honeysuckle, poison ivy, and summersweet clethra.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
Extent: Large
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GOLDSBORO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile and landscape of the Sutton soil series from England. (Photos and information provided by LandIS, Land Information System: Cranfield University 2022. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK. Last accessed 14/01/2022). (Photos revised.)
These and associated soils are dominantly brownish or reddish subsoils and no prominent mottling or greyish colours (gleying) above 40 cm depth. They are developed mainly on permeable materials at elevations below about 300 m.0.D. Most are in agricultural use.
They are loamy or clayey with an ordinary clay-enriched subsoil. They formed in medium loamy material over calcareous gravel.
They are classified as Endoskeletic Luvisols by the WRB soil classification system. (www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf)
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Flash flooding is common in northern parts of the Emirates and police always advise residents avoid driving near wadis during treacherous weather.
Iowa State Soil
A representative soil profile of the Tama soil series in Iowa. The Tama series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in loess. These soils are on interfluves and side slopes on uplands and on treads and risers on stream terraces in river valleys. Slope ranges from 0 to 20 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 9 degrees C (48 degrees F). Mean annual precipitation is about 909 millimeters (36 inches).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Argiudolls
Thickness of the mollic epipedon--25 to 49 centimeters
Depth to carbonates--110 to more than 200 centimeters
Clay content of the particle-size control section (weighted average)--26 to 35 percent
Sand content of the particle-size control section (weighted average)--less than 5 percent
Rock fragment content--0 percent
USE AND VEGETATION:
Nearly level to gently sloping areas are cultivated. The principal crops are corn, soybeans, small grains, and legume hays. Steeper slopes are pastured. The native vegetation is big bluestem, little bluestem, switchgrass, and other grasses of the tall grass prairie.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Physiographic Division--Interior Plains
Physiographic Province--Central Lowland
Physiographic sections--Eastern lake section, Wisconsin driftless section, Dissected till plains, Till plains
MLRAs--Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois Drift Plain (95B),
Eastern Iowa and Minnesota Till Prairies (104),
Northern Mississippi Valley Loess Hills (105), and
Illinois and Iowa Deep Loess and Drift (108)
LRR M; Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin
Extent--large
The thickness of the A horizon, depth to sub-horizon highest in clay, maximum percent clay, thickness of Bt horizon, depth to carbonates, and depth to redoximorphic features usually decrease as gradient increases on convex slopes.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/iowa/IA171/0/t...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TAMA.html
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Profile of Kamay silt loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes. The lighter-colored Cr material is composed of fractured and weathered limestone and shale. (Soil Survey of Young County, Texas by Thomas E. Cyprian, Natural Resources Conservation Services).
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX503/0/...
The Kamay series consists of very deep, well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in clayey redbeds. These soils are on nearly level to very gently sloping uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Typic Paleustalfs
Solum thickness ranges from 60 to more than 80 inches. Depth to films, threads, masses or concretions of calcium carbonate ranges from 12 to 28 inches. Average clay content of the control section ranges from 35 to 50 percent. The boundary between the A and Bt horizon is abrupt or clear with an abrupt textural change.
USE AND VEGETATION: About one-half of these soils are cultivated. Small grains are the main crops. Present vegetation consists of buffalograss, gramas, tridens, and mesquite trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Rolling Red Prairie (80A) and North Central Prairie (80B) of Texas, and possibly southwestern Oklahoma. The series is of moderate extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/K/KAMAY.html
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Soil profile: The Little Wood series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in loess, alluvium, and residuum from mixed sources. Permeability is moderate in the upper part and very rapid below. The average annual precipitation is about 14 inches and the average annual air temperature is about 43 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Ultic Argixerolls
Landscape: Little Wood soils are on fan terraces, stream terraces, and dissected alluvial terraces. Slopes are 0 to 30 percent. They are used for dry cropland, irrigated cropland, rangeland, and housing sites. Alfalfa hay, pasture, and small grains are the principle crops. Vegetation is bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, Sandberg bluegrass, needlegrasses, mountain big sagebrush, and basin big sagebrush.
Average annual soil temperature - 42 to 47 degrees F.
Average summer soil temperature - 60 to 65 degrees F.
Mollic epipedon thickness - 10 to 19 inches
Depth to sandy-skeletal layer and base of the argillic - 21 to 34 inches
Reaction - moderately acid to neutral
Base saturation - 50 to 75 percent
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Little Wood soils are moderately extensive in south-central Idaho.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LITTLE_WOOD.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#little%20wood
A soil profile of a soil in the Deepwood series. (Soil Survey of Harper County, Oklahoma; by Troy Collier and Steve Alspach, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Deepwood series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in unconsolidated material and local alluvial-colluvial valley fill that weathered from sandstone of Permian age. These soils occur on very gently sloping to steep side slopes and base slopes of the Central Rolling Red Plains (MLRA 78). Slope ranges from 1 to 30 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 16.1 degrees C (61 degrees F), and the mean annual precipitation is 635 mm (25 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Haplustepts
Soil Moisture: Typic ustic soil moisture regime.
Solum thickness: 76 to 152 cm (30 to 60 in)
Depth to densic bedrock: Typically greater than 203 cm, but some pedons have noncemented sandstone below 165 cm (65 in)
Thickness of the ochric epipedon: 10 to 46 cm (4 to 18 in)
Depth to identifiable secondary carbonate: 0 to 91 cm (0 to 36 in)
Effervescence: Typically the soil is calcareous throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses: mostly livestock grazing but a considerable acreage on lesser slopes is used for crop production
Native vegetation: mainly little bluestem and grama grasses
Ecological sites assigned to phases and components of this series are listed below. Current ecological site assignments are in Web Soil Survey. Components of this series include the following ecological sites: Loamy Upland
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
General area: Western Oklahoma, a few counties in southern Kansas, and northwestern Texas
Land Resource Region: H - Central Great Plains Winter Wheat and Range Region
MLRA 78B & 78C - Central Rolling Red Plains, Western and Eastern Parts
Extent: Large
These soils were formerly included with the Woodward series.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/oklahoma/OK059...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DEEPWOOD.html
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Plinthudults are the Udults that have one or more horizons within 150 cm of the mineral soil surface in which plinthite either forms a continuous phase or constitutes one-half or more of the volume. They are mainly in intertropical regions and in some areas are extensive. They are not known to occur in the United States. The great group is provided for use in other parts of the world.
Udults are the more or less freely drained, humus-poor Ultisols that have a udic moisture regime. They are in humid climates, and most receive well distributed rainfall. Udults developed in sediments and on surfaces that range from late Pleistocene to Pliocene or possibly older. Many are cultivated, either with the use of soil amendments or in a system in which they are cropped for a very few years and then are returned to forest to allow the trees to regather in their tissues the small supply of nutrients.
"Laterite" is an antiquated term referring to hardened soil that contains large amounts of plinthite.
Laterite is considered both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminum and most commonly formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolonged weathering of the underlying parent rock, usually when there are conditions of high temperatures and heavy rainfall with alternate wet and dry periods. Tropical weathering (laterization) is a prolonged process of chemical weathering which produces a wide variety in the thickness, grade, chemistry and ore mineralogy of the resulting soils. The majority of the land area containing laterites is between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
With laterite being referred to as a soil type as well as being a rock type with variation in the modes of conception--there has been calls for the term to be abandoned altogether. Material that looks highly similar to the Indian laterite occurs abundantly worldwide.
Historically, laterite was cut into brick-like shapes and used in monument-building. After 1000 CE, construction at Angkor Wat and other southeast Asian sites changed to rectangular temple enclosures made of laterite, brick, and stone. Similar materials in the US have not sufficiently hardened to be mined as building blocks. This material has been referred to as "soft" plinthite.
Laterites are a source of aluminum ore; the ore exists largely in clay minerals and the hydroxides, gibbsite, boehmite, and diaspore, which resembles the composition of bauxite. In Northern Ireland they once provided a major source of iron and aluminum ores.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
Soil profile: A soil profile of Lazarus loam, 1 to 8 percent slopes. This soil has a thick loam mollic epipedon and a clay loam argillic horizon. The parent material is alluvium from the surrounding hills and mountains. (Soil Survey of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas; by Alan L. Stahnke, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Blue grama, finestem needlegrass, wolftail, cholla, and agarito growing on an area of Lazarus loam, 2 to 9 percent slopes map unit. The Lazarus soil is in the Loamy ecological site, MLRA 70C—Central New Mexico Highlands.
The Lazarus series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvium derived from sandstone, limestone, and shale. Lazarus soils are on drainageways of hillslopes and fan peidmonts. Slopes are 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 13 inches and mean annual temperature is about 50 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Pachic Argiustolls
Soil moisture - The soil moisture control section (SMCS) is intermittently moist in some part from July to October and December to March. The soils are driest in May and June. The soil moisture regime is ustic aridic.
Soil temperature - 52 to 54 degrees F.
Depth to base of mollic epipedon - greater than 20 inches
Depth to base of argillic horizon - greater than 40 inches
Particle-size control section weighted averages:
Silicate clay content: 27 to 35 percent
Sand content: 7 to 24 percent
Fine sand or coarser content: 3 to 5 percent
Rock fragment content: less than 1 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Lazarus soils are used for livestock grazing and farming. Present vegetation is blue grama, galleta, and alkali sacaton.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Lazarus soils are of small extent in the north-western part of the Estancia Basin in the Mexican Highland section of the Basin and Range physiographic province in northcentral New Mexico, MLRA 70C.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/guadalup...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LAZARUS.html
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The Hamerly series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained soils that formed in calcareous loamy till. Permeability is moderate in the upper horizons and moderate or moderately slow in the lower horizons. These soils are on flats on lake plains and on convex slopes surrounding shallow depressions and on slight rises on till plains. They have slopes ranging from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual air temperature is 42 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 19 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Aeric Calciaquolls
The mollic epipedon ranges from 7 to 18 inches in thickness. The top of the calcic horizon is at depths of less than 16 inches, and in some pedons the lower part of the mollic epipedon qualifies as part of the calcic horizon. The soil contains 1 to 10 percent by volume of rock fragments. The 10- to 40-inch particle-size control section has visible gypsum in some pedons. It has 18 to 35 percent noncarbonate clay. Saline and stony phases are recognized.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cultivated areas are used for growing small grains, flax, hay and pasture. Native vegetation is green needlegrass, little bluestem, big bluestem and western wheatgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and eastern North Dakota, northeastern South Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. The soils are extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_dakota/N...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HAMERLY.html
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