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Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class: Moderately well drained
Permeability: Moderate
Surface Runoff: Slow
Parent Material: Loamy fluvial sediments
Slope: 0 to 10 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 61 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 48 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
Solum Thickness: 30 to more than 60 inches
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 18 to 30 inches, December to April
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to moderately acid except where the surface has been limed
Gravel Content: 0 to 5 percent in the A and B horizons and 0 to 35 percent in the C horizon
Other Features: Flakes of mica range from none to common in the B and C horizons
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Mostly cultivated
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, cotton, small grain, soybeans, tobacco, peanuts, and truck crops. Where wooded--loblolly, sweetgum, red maple, yellow-poplar, white oak, southern red oak, water oak, American beech, and hickory. Common understory plants include flowering dogwood, blueberry, sassafras, eastern redbud, eastern redcedar, winged elm, greenbrier, sourwood, southern bayberry (waxmyrtle), inkberry (bitter gallberry), summersweet clethra, honeysuckle, and poison ivy
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and Virginia. Altavista soils were correlated in older surveys in Pennsylvania, but those survey areas are outside the MLRA range.
Extent: Large
Altavista soils are restricted to fluvial terraces. The 05/06 revision refined the textures of the C and Cg in the range of characteristics. The 03/06 revision dropped MLRA 153B.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ALTAVISTA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Scientists from PNNL present the fourth and final lesson in their after-school series at Sagebrush Montessori School in Richland, WA. In this lesson, students learned about mushrooms.
Terms of Use: Our images are freely and publicly available for use with the credit line, "Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory"; Please use provided caption information for use in appropriate context.
Soil profile: Andic Dystrudepts are the Inceptisols 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.
Landscape: These soils have some andic soil properties in a layer in the upper part that is 18 cm or more thick. Some of the soils contain a significant amount of volcanic ash. Some have an umbric epipedon. Thee soils are moderately extensive in the Northwestern United States. The native vegetation consists mostly of coniferous forest. Most of these soils support their native vegetation and are used as forest. A few of the less sloping soils have been cleared and are used as cropland or pasture.
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. They can have an anthropic, histic, mollic, ochric, plaggen, or umbric epipedon.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
Agricultural development in Liwa Oasis area of the UAE.
Most of the UAE's cultivated land is taken up by date palms, which in the early 1990s numbered about 4 million. They are cultivated in the arc of small oases that constitute the Al Liwa Oasis. Both federal and amirate governments provide incentives to farmers. For example, the government offers a 50 percent subsidy on fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. It also provides loans for machinery and technical assistance. The amirates have forty-one agricultural extension units as well as several experimental farms and agricultural research stations. The number of farmers rose from about 4,000 in the early 1970s to 18,265 in 1988.
Lack of arable land, intense heat, periodic locust swarms, and limited water supplies are the main obstacles to agriculture. The drive to increase the area under cultivation has resulted in the rapid depletion of underground aquifers, resulting in precipitous drops in water tables and serious increases in soil and water salinity in some areas.
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:
The newly updated Soil Survey Manual (issued March 2017), USDA Handbook No. 18, provides the major principles and practices needed for making and using soil surveys and for assembling and using related data. The Manual serves as a guiding document for activities of the National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS). Previously published in 1937, 1951, and 1993, the Soil Survey Manual is one of the defining documents for soil survey in the world.
The Soil Survey Manual, USDA Handbook No. 18, provides the major principles and practices needed for making and using soil surveys and for assembling and using related data. The term “soil survey” is used here to encompass the process of mapping, describing, classifying, and interpreting natural three-dimensional bodies of soil on the landscape. This work is performed by the National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) in the United States and by other similar organizations worldwide.
The Manual provides guidance, methodology, and terminology for conducting a soil survey but does not necessarily convey policies and protocols required to administer soil survey operations. The soil bodies contain a sequence of identifiable horizons and layers that occur in repeating patterns in the landscape as a result of the factors of soil formation as described by Dokuchaev (1883) and Jenny (1941).
For information about the major principles and practices needed for making soil surveys using the Soil Survey Manual, visit Soil Survey Manual. From this site the manual may be viewed, printed, or saved.
NOTE:
Original classification based on USDA-Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 10th Edition, 2006:
Typic Calcigypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, lithic phase
Updated classification based on UAE-Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 2014:
Salidic Calcigypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, lithic
AD108 are a phase of soil AD107 with which they often occur in association. They differ from the parent soil in that a lithic contact, typically calcareous sandstone, is encountered at some depth below 50cm but within 200cm and are moderately to strongly saline in a layer 10 cm or more thick, within 100 cm of the soil surface. In other properties this soil is essentially the same as the parent soil. The majority of sites recorded a soil drainage of moderately well to excessively drained reflecting the typically sandy nature of the soil materials. Soil Permeability is high above the lithic contact.
These soils predominantly remain as barren land support low intensity grazing by sheep, camels and goats. Occasional sites recorded greater than 5% vegetation cover. Dominant plant species recorded include Haloxylon salicornicum and Zygophyllum spp.
This minor soil occurs as a few scattered sites. The soils occur predominantly in the north-east of the Emirate but have also been described in western parts adjacent to Sabkhat Matti.
(No photo in published survey.)
This region represents the low lying coastal flats dominated by saline soils and slightly higher gypsic rises but including some areas of carbonatic sand sheets underlain by miliolite.
Salt flats are too harsh for most plants and animals to survive, yet are quite fragile. Delicate crystals are easily crushed and the relatively thin upper crust of salt can break through to the mud layer below, leaving tire tracks and even footprints.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
The Biltmore series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in recent alluvium on flood plains in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and mesic areas of the Southern Piedmont. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Typic Udipsamments
The sandy sediments range from 40 to 80 inches or more in thickness. In some pedons below a depth of 40 inches, there are strata of loamy material, or deposits of cobbles and gravel that are stratified with sandy or loamy material. Thin loamy layers are within the upper 40 inches in some pedons, but have a combined thickness of less than 6 inches. Coarse fragments range from 0 to 10 percent by volume in the upper 40 inches. Underlying beds of gravel and cobbles are in many pedons within a 40 to 80 inch depth. Flakes of mica range from few to many throughout. The soil ranges from strongly acid through slightly alkaline.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage of this soil is cleared of forest and used for pasture and crops. Important crops grown are corn for grain and silage, small grains, truck crops, burley tobacco, and pasture. Native forest species include white pine, yellow-poplar, northern red oak, black oak, white oak, black walnut, American Sycamore, red maple, river birch, American beech, white ash, black locust, hickory, basswood, and blackgum. Rhododendron and blueberry are common understory plants.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia; mesic areas of the Southern Piedmont in North Carolina and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BILTMORE.html
For geographic distribution, visit:
Soil color is one of the few things in nature that is arguably of equal interest to both natural resource scientists and children at play. Successful soil scientists and surveyors appreciate the tremendous quantity of information that is typically related to soil color variation in depth and space. While not always entirely quantitative, soil color supports a practical, qualitative scaffolding for our understanding of a landscape’s recent and long-term history, clues about dominant mineralogy, a striking picture of where organic matter has accumulated, and many other factors that affect our use and understanding of the soil resource.
Given the right context, soil color and its interpretation can be effectively used as a narrative for educating people about “what types of soils are where, and why?”. To communicate this part-art and part-science topic, Soil and Plant Science Division staff have recently created maps and images displaying soil colors in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions. Enjoy this unique opportunity to see how soils and geologic features are inextricably linked and vary across the landscape.
A representative soil profile of Arenisco fine sand, in an area of Lopeno-Potrero-Arenisco complex, 0 to 5 percent slopes. A krotovina, or animal burrow, is located at a depth of 150 centimeters. . (Soil Survey of Kenedy and Kleberg Counties, Texas; by Nathan I. Haile, and Dennis N. Brezina, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Arenisco series consists of very deep, excessively drained, rapidly permeable soils that formed in sandy eolian sediments of Holocene age. These soils are on nearly level to gently undulating, vegetated lag dunes on the south Texas coastal plain. Slope ranges from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 22 degrees C (72 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 686 mm (27 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, hyperthermic Typic Ustipsamments
Soil Moisture: An Ustic moisture regime. The Soil Moisture Control Section (SMCS) is dry in some or all parts for more than 90 days cumulative in normal years. The SMCS is also either moist in some or all parts for 180 cumulative days or more or moist for 90 or more consecutive days in normal years. June through September are the driest months.
A water table is present in most pedons at depths of 102 to 203 cm (40 to 80 in) in most years from October to May.
Depth to redox concentrations: 102 to 203 cm (40 to 80 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 1 to 5 percent
Sand content: 91 to 97 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Vegetation consists mostly of short to mid grasses such as sand bur, hairy grama, seacoast bluestem, gulfdune paspalum and threeawn. Forbs such as partridge pea, croton, ragweed, beebalm, false indigo, also many yellow and white flowered asteraceae of an unknown species at this time. The ecolocical site is Coastal Sand, PE 31-44 (150BY648TX).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Gulf Coast Saline Prairies (MLRA 150B in LRR T) of south Texas. The series is of moderate extent. This soil was formerly included in the Falfurrias series. The Arenisco series was separated based on the occurrence of a water table at 102 to 203 cm (40 to 80 inches).
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/kenedykl...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ARENISCO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Alcovy series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in old valley fill material and in the underlying residuum on uplands in the Piedmont province. Permeability is moderately rapid in the surface and subsurface layers, and slow in the lower part of the subsoil. Slopes are 2 to 10 percent. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 63 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is about 47 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, thermic Oxyaquic Kanhapludults
The Btx horizons with (30) 40 to 60 percent brittleness would key out as a member of the Fragic as well as the Oxyaquic subgroups of Kanhapludults. The low acreage (less than 1000 acres) does not warrant a dual subgroup proposal.
Thickness of the solum ranges from 40 to more than 60 inches. Depth to the horizons with brittle properties is 20 to 36 inches. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout except where the surface has been limed. Some pedons may contain few to common flakes of mica throughout the solum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Much of these soils have been cleared and used for growing cotton, small grain, corn, hay, and pasture. Most of the acreage has reverted to forests, chiefly loblolly pine. The original forest type is oak-pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont area of Georgia and possibly Alabama, South Carolina, and North Carolina. This series is of small extent; less than 2000 acres.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ALCOVY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Lloyd series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands in the Southern Piedmont. The soils formed in residuum derived from intermediate and mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Rhodic Kanhapludults
Most areas are cleared and used for cultivated crops or pasture. Principal crops are corn, small grain, hay and pasture grasses. Common trees in forested areas are loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, northern red oak, southern red oak, white oak, post oak, hickory, and red maple. Understory plants include dogwood, winged elm, eastern hophornbeam, eastern redbud, eastern red cedar, and sassafras.
These soils are of large extent in the Southern Piedmont in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and possibly Alabama, and Virginia.
These soils were combined with Hiwassee in 1969. Hiwassee series was originally established on high stream terraces. This revision separates the soils formed in residuum as Lloyd on the basis of parent material and depth of Rhodic colors. Terrace Hiwassee soils are dominantly value 3 or less throughout. A proposal to amend the 1996 Keys to Soil Taxonomy involves changing the thickness of the part of the kandic horizon with value of 3 or less to include more soils in the Rhodic subgroup.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LLOYD.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile and landscape of a Plinthosol from Tanzania. (Photos courtesy of Stefaan Dondeyne, revised.)
Plinthosols are soils with plinthite, petroplinthite or pisoliths. Plinthite is a Fe-rich (in some cases also Mn-rich), humus-poor mixture of kaolinitic clay (and other products of strong weathering such as gibbsite) with quartz and other constituents. It usually changes irreversibly to a layer with hard concretions or nodules or to a hardpan on exposure to repeated wetting and drying. Petroplinthite is a continuous or fractured sheet of connected, strongly cemented to indurated concretions or nodules or concentrations in platy, polygonal or reticulate patterns. Pisoliths are discrete, strongly cemented to indurated concretions or nodules. Both petroplinthite and pisoliths develop from plinthite by hardening. Traditional names are Groundwater Laterite Soils and Perched Water Laterite Soils. Many of these soils are known as Plintossolos (Brazil), Sols gris latéritiques (France), Petroferric Kandosols (Australia) and Plinthaquox, Plinthaqualfs, Plinthoxeralfs, Plinthustalfs, Plinthaquults, Plinthohumults, Plinthudults and Plinthustults (United States of America).
Acric (from Latin acer, sharp): having an argic horizon starting ≤ 100 cm from the soil surface and having a CEC (by 1 M NH4OAc, pH 7) of < 24 cmolc kg-1 clay in some part ≤ 50 cm below its upper limit; and having an effective base saturation [exchangeable(Ca + Mg + K + Na) / exchangeable(Ca + Mg + K + Na + Al); exchangeable bases by 1 M NH4OAc (pH 7), exchangeable Al by 1 M KCl (unbuffered)] of < 50% in half or more of the part between 50 and 100 cm from the mineral soil surface or in the lower half of the mineral soil above continuous rock, technic hard material or a cemented or indurated layer starting ≤ 100 cm from the mineral soil surface, whichever is shallower.
An argic horizon (from Latin argilla, white clay) is a subsurface horizon with distinctly higher clay content than the overlying horizon. The textural differentiation may be caused by:
• an illuvial accumulation of clay,
• predominant pedogenetic formation of clay in the subsoil,
• destruction of clay in the surface horizon,
• selective surface erosion of clay,
• upward movement of coarser particles due to swelling and shrinking,
• biological activity, or
• a combination of two or more of these different processes.
For more information about soil classification using the WRB system (World Reference Base for Soil Resources), visit WRB
A Typic Haplogypsid, petrogypsic from the interior of the UAE.
Typic Haplogypsids are the Haplogypsids that do not have have a gypsic horizon with its upper boundary within 18 cm of the soil surface. These soils do not have a lithic contact within 50 cm of the soil surface. In the United States they occur in Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The gypsic horizon is a horizon in which gypsum has accumulated or been transformed to a significant extent (secondary gypsum (CaSO 4) has accumulated through more than 150 mm of soil, so that this horizon contains at least 5% more gypsum than the underlying horizon). It typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils.
This pedon has a petrogypsic horizon at a depth of 100 to 200 cm and is identified as a "phase" in classification. In the UAE soil classification system, phases of soil taxa have been developed for those mineral soils that have soil properties or characteristics that occur at a deeper depth than currently identified for an established taxonomic subgroup or soil properties that effect interpretations not currently recognized at the subgroup level. The phases which have been identified in the UAE include: anhydritic, aquic, calcic, gypsic, lithic, petrocalcic, petrogypsic, salic, salidic, shelly, and sodic.
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. Th e horizon typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils.
Haplogypsids are the Gypsids that have no petrogypsic, natric, argillic, or calcic horizon that has an upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. Some Haplogypsids have a cambic horizon overlying the gypsic horizon. These soils are commonly very pale in color. They are not extensive in the United States. The largest concentrations in the United States are in New Mexico and Texas. The soils are more common in other parts of the world.
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.
For more information about describing soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For additional information about soil classification using Soil Taxonomy, visit:
sites.google.com/site/dinpuithai/Home
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
A representative soil profile of Kimberson gravelly loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, showing the dark gravelly surface horizon and indurated caliche layer below. (Soil Survey of Deaf Smith County, Texas; by Thomas C. Byrd, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Kimberson series consists of soils that are very shallow or shallow, well drained, and moderately permeable above a very slowly permeable petrocalcic horizon. These gravelly or cobbly soils formed in a thin mantle of calcareous, loamy eolian deposits from the Blackwater Draw Formation of Pleistocene age over indurated caliche of Pliocene age. These soils are on nearly level and very gently sloping plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 483 mmm (19 in), and the mean annual air temperature is about 16 degrees C (61 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Petrocalcic Calciustolls
Soil moisture: An ustic moisture regime bordering on aridic. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for more than 180 but less than 220 days, cumulative, in normal years. July through August and December through
February are the driest months. These soils are intermittently moist in September through November and March through June.
Mean annual soil temperature: 15 to 18 degrees C (59 to 64 degrees F).
Depth to petrocalcic horizon: 10 to 51 cm (4 to 20 in).
Solum thickness: 10 to 51 cm (4 to 20 in).
Particle-size control section (weighted average): 15 to 30 percent silicate clay
Coarse fragments: 5 to 35 percent
CEC/clay ratio: more than 0.60
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used nearly exclusively for livestock grazing. Climax vegetation includes sideoats grama, little bluestem, buffalograss, hairy grama, slim tridens, purple and wright threeawns, bushsunflower, gray goldaster, daleas, gayfeather, plains blackfoot, sundrops,
catclaw, ephedra, hackberry, and javelinabrush. This soil has been correlated to the Very Shallow (R077CY037TX) ecological site in MLRA-77C.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern High Plains, Southern Part (MLRA 77C in LRR H) of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. The series is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX117/0/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/K/KIMBERSON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
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 hay field in an area of Morley silt loam, 5 to 10 percent slopes, eroded, on a side slope.
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:
Aguilita soil profile in naturalized pastureland in an area of Aguilita silty clay loam, 5 to 20 percent slopes (Soil Survey of San Germán Area, Puerto Rico by Jorge L. Lugo-Camacho, Natural Resources Conservation Service).
Landscape: Hills and uplands
Landform: Ridges and hillslopes
Major uses: Hayland and pasture
Elevation: 80 to 1,312 feet
Composition
Aguilita and similar soils: 90 percent
Dissimilar soils: 10 percent
Typical Profile
Surface layer:
0 to 6 inches—brown silty clay loam
Subsoil:
6 to 18 inches—brown silty clay loam that has soft masses of calcium carbonate
18 to 23 inches—brown clay loam that has soft masses of calcium carbonate
Substratum:
23 to 32 inches—pale brown loam that has soft masses and concretions of calcium
carbonate
32 to 60 inches—pale brown loam that has soft masses and concretions of calcium
carbonate
Minor Components
Dissimilar:
• Duey and San Germán soils, which are shallow to fractured limestone bedrock
Similar:
• Pozo Blanco soils, which have a finer textured profile than the Aguilita soil
Soil Properties and Qualities
Depth class: Very deep
Depth to bedrock: More than 80 inches
Parent material: Colluvium and residuum that weathered from soft limestone bedrock
Surface runoff: Medium
Drainage class: Well drained
Permeability: Moderate
Available water capacity: Low or moderate
Flooding: None
Hazard of water erosion: Moderate
Rock fragments in the surface layer: Less than 25 percent, by volume
Shrink-swell potential: Moderate
Natural fertility: Moderate
Content of organic matter in the surface layer: Moderate
Reaction: Slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline
Land Use
Dominant uses: Naturalized pastureland
Other uses: Hayland; pasture
Agricultural Development
Cropland
Suitability: Poorly suited
Management concerns: Erosion; slope
Pasture and hayland
Suitability: Moderately suited
Commonly grown crops: Kleberg’s bluestem
Management concerns: Erosion; slope; available water capacity
Management measures and considerations:
• Erosion is a concern in unprotected areas.
• The moderately steep slopes increase the difficulty of management.
• The low available water capacity may result in lower yields.
• Including grasses and legumes in the cropping system helps to control further erosion.
• Returning crop residue to the soil helps the soil to retain moisture.
• Overgrazed pastures should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
Naturalized pastureland
Suitability: Moderately suited
Management concerns: Erosion; slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Erosion is a concern in unprotected areas.
• The moderately steep slopes increase the difficulty of management.
• Overgrazed areas should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/puerto_rico/PR...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/AGUILITA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: 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)
Landscape: Good quality hay will provide nutrition for livestock in the winter. This field is on an area of Weesatche sandy clay loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes. Weesatche soils are mainly used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat.
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:
SOIL TAXONOMY and Soil Orders
All of the keys in Soil Taxonomy are designed in such a way that the user can determine the correct classification of a soil by going through the keys systematically. The user must start at the beginning of the “Key to Soil Orders” and eliminate, one by one, all classes that include criteria that do not fit the soil in question. The soil belongs to the first class listed for which it meets all the required criteria. In classifying a specific soil, the user of soil taxonomy begins by checking through the "Key to Soil Orders" to determine the name of the first order that, according to the criteria listed, includes the soil in question.
The next step is to go to the page indicated to find the “Key to Suborders” of that particular order. Then the user systematically goes through the key to identify the suborder that includes the soil, i.e., the first in the list for which it meets all the required criteria. The same procedure is used to find the great group class of the soil in the “Key to Great Groups” of the identified suborder. Likewise, going through the “Key to Subgroups” of that great group, the user selects as the correct subgroup name the name of the first taxon for which the soil meets all of the required criteria.
The family level is determined, in a similar manner, after the subgroup has been determined. The family, however,
typically has more than one component, and therefore the entire chapter must be used. The keys to control sections for classes used as components of a family must be used to determine the control section before use of the keys to classes.
To view or download a pdf file of the first edition of "Soil Taxonomy", click Soil Taxonomy, 1st Edition, 1975.
To view or download historical versions of "Soil Taxonomy", the KEYS, or other realted files, click HERE
For more information about the U.S. Soil Classification System and to view or download "Soil Taxonomy, 2nd Edition, 1999." click HERE.
To download or order a hard copy of the latest version of "Soil Taxonomy, 2nd Edition, 1999", click HERE.
For more information about the history of soil taxonomic committees, click HERE.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Tuborcio series. (Soil Survey of Pinnacles National Monument, California; by Ken Oster, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Tuborcio series consists of deep to soft bedrock, well drained soils that formed in residuum weathered from granite. The Tuborcio soils are on backslopes of hills. Slopes range from 2 to 50 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: Fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Ultic Palexerolls
Depth to bedrock: more than 60 inches (150 centimeters).
Mean annual soil temperature: 60 to 63 degrees F (16 to 17 degrees C).
Soil moisture control section: dry in all parts from about June 15 to November 15 (150 days), and moist in all parts from about January 15 to May 1 (105 days).
Particle size control section: 45 to 55 percent clay, 5 to 35 percent rock fragments from granite. .
Base saturation by ammonium acetate: 90 to 100%
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for watershed, wildlife habitat and recreation. Vegetation is blue oak with an understory of grasses or chamise chaparral.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: San Benito and Monterey Counties, California in MLRA 15 -- Central California Coast Range. These soils are of small extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA7...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TUBORCIO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Al Ain series. These soils are very deep and formed in gravelly alluvial deposits. (NE003) UAE.
Taxonomic classification: Typic Torriorthents, sandy-skeletal, mixed, hyperthermic
Diagnostic subsurface horizon described in this profile is: Calcic horizon from 115 to 200 cm.
Typic Torriorthents are fixed on the driest Torriorthents. Typic Torriorthents are extensive soils in the intermountain States of the United States. Most of them have moderate or strong slopes and are used only for grazing. Others that have gentle slopes are irrigated. The gently sloping soils are mostly on fans or piedmont slopes where the sediments are recent and have little organic carbon.
Rock fragments in the particle-size control section are predominantly gravel, with less than 15% cobbles and stones. Exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) is less than 15% in layers above 100 cm. The particle-size control section has less than 30% particles that are very fine sand and finer. The pH (1:1) ranges from 7.0 to 8.6 throughout the profile. The EC (1:1) is generally less than 1.0 dS/m in all horizons, but may be higher in some areas that have been irrigated. A desert pavement of fine and medium gravel in many areas covers 5 to 65% of the soil surface. A few areas may have a thin eolian sand mantle up to about 25 cm thick. The size of the rock fragments on and in the soil is predominantly gravel, but may have a few cobbles and stones, especially in areas close to the mountains. The size of rock fragments generally decreases as distance from the mountains increases.
Profile of Altuda very cobbly silt loam, in an area of Altuda-Rock outcrop complex, 20 to 70 percent slopes. The parent material is coarsely fractured limestone bedrock. (Soil Survey of Big Bend National Park, Texas by James Gordon, Soil Scientist, James A. Douglass, Soil Scientist, and Dr. Lynn E. Loomis, Soil Scientist, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Altuda-Rock outcrop complex, 20 to 70 percent slopes
Map Unit Setting
Major land resource area (MLRA): MLRA 42—Southern Desertic Basins, Plains, and Mountains
Elevation: 4,645 to 5,835 feet
Mean annual precipitation: 14 to 20 inches
Mean annual air temperature: 59 to 61 degrees F
Frost-free period: 180 to 220 days
Map Unit Composition--
Altuda and similar soils: 60 percent
Rock outcrop: 30 percent
Dissimilar minor components: 10 percent
Minor components:
Cienega soils—5 percent; not hydric
Crossen soils—5 percent; not hydric
Description of Altuda soils
Soil taxonomic classification: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, thermic Lithic Calciustolls
Setting--
Landscape: Mountains
Landform: Mountain slopes, ridges
Landform position (two-dimensional): Summit, shoulder, backslope
Slope: 20 to 70 percent
Down-slope shape: Linear
Across-slope shape: Convex
Representative aspect: Southeast
Aspect range: All aspects
Soil temperature class: Thermic
Soil temperature regime: Thermic
Soil moisture class: Ustic
Properties and Qualities--
Runoff class: Very high
Parent material: Colluvium and residuum weathered from limestone bedrock
Depth to restrictive feature: 6 to 19 inches to lithic bedrock
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
Sodicity maximum: Not sodic
Calcium carbonate maximum: 55
Available water capacity: Very low (about 0.9 inches)
Gypsum maximum: None
Interpretive Groups--
Land capability subclass (nonirrigated): 7s
Hydric soil rating: No
Hydrologic soil group: D
Ecological site name and identification: Limestone Hill and Mountain, Mixed Prairie (R042XE278TX)
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/A/ALTUDA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Monogahela soil series was first identified in Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 1921, and was named for the Monongahela River. It was designated as the official soil of West Virginia in 1997 by the state legislature. The Governor at the time, Cecil Underwood, honored this designation by issuing a colorful painting which now hangs in the WV State Capitol with the other state symbols.
What makes Monongahela soil so important is its use and prevalence in the State? This soil is a highly productive crop and pasture soil in a State that has limited opportunities for crop production due to the rugged terrain. In areas where the soil is found with 3% or less slopes it is considered Prime Farmland. Prime farmland is a designation assigned by U.S. Department of Agriculture defining land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops and is also available for these land uses. As such, Monongahela soils are used extensively for cultivated crops, hay, pasture, and home site development.
For more information about this and other State Soils, visit the Soil Science Society of America "Around the World-State Soils" website.
MSU researcher Haddish Melakeberhan, along with assistant Zinthuz Maung (right) examines plant-nematode interaction in soil nutrient management, primarily in soybeans, vegetables and sugarbeets.
The central concept of Alfisols is that of soils that have an ochric epipedon, an argillic horizon, and moderate to high base saturation and in which water is held at less than 1500 kPa tension during at least 3 months each year when the soils are warm enough for plants to grow. Alfisols may also have a fragipan, a duripan, a kandic horizon, a natric horizon, a petrocalcic horizon, plinthite, or other features, and these features are used in defining the great groups within the order.
A very few Alfisols that are very wet during part of the year have an umbric epipedon. Alfisols that have a thermic or warmer soil temperature regime tend to form a belt between the Aridisols of arid regions and the Inceptisols, Ultisols, and Oxisols in areas of warm, humid climates. Where the soil temperature regime is mesic or cooler, the Alfisols in the United States tend to form a belt between the Mollisols of the grasslands and the Spodosols and Inceptisols in areas of very humid climates.
In regions of mesic and frigid soil temperature regimes, Alfisols are mostly on late-Pleistocene deposits or surfaces. In warmer regions, they are on late-Pleistocene or older surfaces if there are only infrequent years when the soils lose bases by leaching or if there is an external source of bases, such as calcareous dust from a desert.
Most Alfisols have a udic, ustic, or xeric moisture regime, and many have aquic conditions. Alfisols are not known to have a perudic moisture regime. Leaching of bases from the soils may occur almost every year or may be infrequent.
SOIL TAXONOMY
For more information about the U.S. Soil Classification System and to view or download "Soil Taxonomy, 2nd Edition, 1999." click HERE.
To download or order a hard copy of the latest version of "Soil Taxonomy, 2nd Edition, 1999", click HERE.
KEYS TO SOIL TAXONOMY
To view, print, or save a pdf copy of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 13th Edition, 2022, visit Keys to Soil Taxonomy
To download or order a hard copy of the latest version of Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 13th Edition, 2022, click HERE.
Soil profile: A representative profile of Dothan loamy sand. The Dothan series consists of very deep, well drained, loamy soils. (Soil Survey of Lee County, South Carolina; by Charles M. Ogg, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
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 Altaby series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in mixed alluvium with loess influence. Altaby soils are on fan remnants. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 406 mm and the mean annual air temperature is about 5 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Calcic Haploxerolls
USE AND VEGETATION: Major uses: irrigated areas are used primarily for small grains, seed potatoes, hay and pasture; nonirrigated areas are used for pasture and range. Range/ecological site: R013XY001ID. Dominant native vegetation: mountain big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, antelope bitterbrush, western wheatgrass, eriogonum.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Southeastern Idaho, MLRA 13
Extent: the series is not extensive
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ALTABY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A plinthic horizon contains a significant amount of plinthite. This is an example of continuous phase plinthite (interconnectivity).
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.
Plinthite (Gr. plinthos, brick) is an iron-rich, humus-poor mixture of clay with quartz and other highly weathered minerals. It commonly occurs as reddish redox concentrations in a layer that has a polygonal (irregular), platy (lenticular), or reticulate (blocky) pattern. Plinthite irreversibly hardens upon exposure to repeated wetting and drying, especially if exposed to heat from the sun.
Other morphologically similar iron-rich materials that do not progressively harden upon repeated wetting and drying are not considered plinthite. The horizon in which plinthite occurs commonly has 2.5 percent (by mass) or more citrate dithionite extractable iron in the fine-earth fraction and a ratio between acid oxalate extractable Fe and citrate-dithionite extractable Fe of less than 0.10.
For more information about a plinthic horizon, visit;
www.researchgate.net/publication/242649722_Rationale_for_...
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 more information about the Brazilian Soil Classification system, visit:
www.embrapa.br/en/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/10940...
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: Profile of Eufaula loamy fine sand. Lamellae begin to occur at a depth of about 90 centimeters. The Bt part (lamellae) of the E&Bt horizon is strong brown, yellowish red, or red. Texture is fine sand or fine sandy loam. The lamellae are thin, wavy, and generally horizontally continuous. (Soil Survey of Robertson County, Texas; by Harold W. Hyde, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Horses grazing on improved bermudagrass in an area of Eufaula loamy fine sand, 1 to 5 percent slopes. Eufaula soils are dominantly used for range. Considerable amounts of Eufaula soils with a the loamy fine sand surface on lesser slopes are cropped to sorghums, small grains, and peanuts; or used for tame pastures. Native vegetation is post oak and blackjack oak with an understory of mid and tall grasses.
SETTING:
Landform: Stream terrace
Landscape position: Broad, smooth areas
Slope: Very gently sloping or gently sloping; convex surfaces
Shape of areas: Elongated or irregular
Size of areas: 20 to 200 acres
Typical Profile
Surface layer:
0 to 7 inches—brown, moderately acid loamy fine sand
Subsurface layer:
7 to 15 inches—pale brown, moderately acid loamy fine sand
15 to 31 inches—very pale brown, moderately acid loamy fine sand
Subsoil:
31 to 80 inches—very pale brown, strongly acid loamy fine sand that has lamellae of strong brown fine sandy loam
Soil Properties
Depth: Very deep
Drainage class: Somewhat excessively drained
Water table: None within a depth of 6 feet
Flooding: None
Runoff: Negligible
Permeability of most restrictive layer within a depth of 60 inches: Rapid
Available water capacity: Low
Root zone: Very deep
Natural soil fertility: Low
Shrink-swell potential: Low
Hazard of water erosion: Moderate
Composition
Eufaula soil and similar inclusions: 80 to 90 percent
Contrasting inclusions: 10 to 20 percent
Use and Management
Major land use: Rangeland
Other land uses: Pastureland and cropland
Pasture
Major limitations:
• The low available water capacity limits the growth of improved grasses during periods of drought.
• Because of the rapid permeability of the soil, there is a high rate of leaching and a more costly fertilization program is required.
• Seepage is a problem for livestock ponds, and construction is not recommended.
Minor limitations:
• Water erosion is a moderate hazard during seedbed preparation for improved grasses.
Cropland
Major limitations:
• Because of the low available water capacity, this soil poorly is suited to most crops. The soil, however, is suited to the production of watermelons and peanuts.
Minor limitations:
• Water erosion is a moderate hazard when this soil is cultivated.
• When dry, the soil is loose and provides poor traction for farm machinery.
Rangeland
Major limitations:
• The low available water capacity limits the growth of native plants during periods of drought.
• The low natural fertility limits the yield potential of native plants.
• Seepage is a problem for livestock ponds, and construction is not recommended.
Interpretive Groups
Land capability classification (nonirrigated areas): 4s
Ecological site: Deep Sand
Pasture management group: Very Deep Sandy
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX395/0/...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/EUFAULA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A soil profile of the Ailey soil series from the upper coastal plain of South Carolina.
Depth Class: Moderately deep or deep to fragic soil properties and (where present) deep or very deep to densic materials
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained or somewhat excessively drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep or deep, common, thin
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible to very high
Slowest Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately low
Shrink-swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Middle and upper coastal plain, sandhills
Landform: Marine terraces, low hills
Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, backslopes
Parent Material: Fluviomarine deposits, marine deposits
Slope: 0 to 25 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Arenic Kanhapludults
Ailey series were formerly classified as Fragiudults. The pedogenic firmness and brittleness of the Btx horizon is not as extensive as in a fragipan. Depth to fragic soil properties is 26 to 60 inches. The dense and compact properties of the Cd horizon are root-restrictive but are not thought to be pedogenic. Reclassification to Hapludults was recommended by the Coastal Plains-Dense Soils Properties Study, February 23, 1982. Classification was changed to Kanhapludults as agreed to October 29, 1987 at the SNTC State Soil Scientist meeting. The volume of brittleness was revised (2005) from 10 to 40 percent to 30 to 60 percent to reflect the range common to the fragic subgroup.
The central concept of Ailey soils, are to have significant fragic soil properties as to affect water movement and root penetration but not as significant to classify as a fragipan. It is anticipated with the next revision to Soil Taxonomy the series Great group will be changed to Arenic "Fragic" Kanhapludults if or when this subgroup is recognized. The present range in soil properties allows for Ailey soils to have a perched seasonal water table from four to six feet or below six feet. Additional study is needed to determine if these soils are interpretatively similar and have the same basic soil properties.
Ultimately, it is anticipated Ailey soils will be split into two series; one with densic materials for the Sand Hills area and one without the Cd layer for the Coastal Plain area. The series is extensive, over 700,000 acres.
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Poorly drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very shallow, persistent
Flooding Frequency and Duration: Frequent or occasional for brief to very long periods
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible
Permeability: Slow
Landscape: Lower to upper coastal plain river valley
Landform: Flood plains
Geomorphic Component: Treads
Parent Material: Alluvium
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, acid, thermic Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 0 to 12 inches, November to May
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Where cultivated--pasture. Where wooded--tupelo and cypress are common in the ponded or frequently flooded areas, areas that are not ponded or frequently flooded are typically green ash, cottonwood, sweetgum, water oak, willow oak, and cherry-bark oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia
Extent: Large
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CHASTAIN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A soil profile of the Ailey soil series from the upper coastal plain of South Carolina.
Depth Class: Moderately deep or deep to fragic soil properties and (where present) deep or very deep to densic materials
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained or somewhat excessively drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep or deep, common, thin
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible to very high
Slowest Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately low
Shrink-swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Middle and upper coastal plain, sandhills
Landform: Marine terraces, low hills
Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, backslopes
Parent Material: Fluviomarine deposits, marine deposits
Slope: 0 to 25 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Arenic Kanhapludults
Ailey series were formerly classified as Fragiudults. The pedogenic firmness and brittleness of the Btx horizon is not as extensive as in a fragipan. Depth to fragic soil properties is 26 to 60 inches. The dense and compact properties of the Cd horizon are root-restrictive but are not thought to be pedogenic. Reclassification to Hapludults was recommended by the Coastal Plains-Dense Soils Properties Study, February 23, 1982. Classification was changed to Kanhapludults as agreed to October 29, 1987 at the SNTC State Soil Scientist meeting. The volume of brittleness was revised (2005) from 10 to 40 percent to 30 to 60 percent to reflect the range common to the fragic subgroup.
The central concept of Ailey soils, are to have significant fragic soil properties as to affect water movement and root penetration but not as significant to classify as a fragipan. It is anticipated with the next revision to Soil Taxonomy the series Great group will be changed to Arenic "Fragic" Kanhapludults if or when this subgroup is recognized. The present range in soil properties allows for Ailey soils to have a perched seasonal water table from four to six feet or below six feet. Additional study is needed to determine if these soils are interpretatively similar and have the same basic soil properties.
Ultimately, it is anticipated Ailey soils will be split into two series; one with densic materials for the Sand Hills area and one without the Cd layer for the Coastal Plain area. The series is extensive, over 700,000 acres.
The Florida Association of Professional Soil Classifiers and the Florida Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society worked together to commemorate the state’s unique soil legacy. It is very fitting that they adopted the Myakka soil series, a typical flatwoods soil, as the state soil to acknowledge the heritage that has made agriculture the state’s major industry. Myakka (pronounced My-yakah), an Indian word for Big Waters, is a native soil of Florida and does not occur in any other state. On May 22, 1989, Governor Bob Martinez signed Senate bill number 524 into law, making Myakka Florida’s Official State Soil
The Myakka soils are very important to the agriculture industry in Florida. The state is ranked number one in the nation in the sale of oranges, grapefruit, fresh tomatoes, watermelons, foliage (flowers and ferns), sugarcane, tropical fish, and aquatic plants. Florida is ranked nationally as the eighth leading state in overall agricultural sales. Responsible for this phenomenal production is an unusual combination of mild winter climate and well-managed soils. Florida’s soils also produce beef and dairy cattle, timber, fruits and nuts, poultry, swine, tobacco, vegetables, and other products. Buildings, highways, cities and countless other improvements are visual reminders of the long-enduring productivity of Florida’s soils. Forest products, agricultural crops and the livestock they nourished finances a sizable portion of these impressive urban improvements.
For more information about this and other State Soils, visit the Soil Science Society of America "Around the World-State Soils" website.
A representative soil profile and landscape of the Ashley 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 fine loamy over clayey soils with slowly permeable subsoils and slight seasonal waterlogging associated with similar but wetter soils. Some calcareous and non-calcareous slowly permeable clayey soils.
They are classified as Endostagnic Luvisols by the WRB soil classification system. (www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf)
For more information about this soil, visit:
www.biosaline.org/multimedia/now-open-emirates-soil-museu...
The Museum is a unique facility in the Gulf region offering an opportunity to visitors to learn about the soil story. What we see above the ground is only a fraction of that story: we see the buildings, but not the foundations, we see the beauty of the landscape with a diversity of plants, but not how the roots are distributed in the soil to support those plants by providing water and nutrients from the underground. The Museum has both external and internal exhibits that allow visitors to immerse themselves in the world of soil.
www.emiratessoilmuseum.org/about
The history of the museum goes back to 19 May 2010 when ICBA’s Senior Soil Scientist Dr. Shabbir Shahid as Chairman of the Recommendation Committee of the International Conference on Soil Classification and Reclamation of Degraded Lands in Arid Environments, held in Abu Dhabi, recommended the establishment of a soil museum, which was unanimously endorsed by the participants. The conference was jointly organized by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi and ICBA under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region Abu Dhabi, and Chairman of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi.
The Emirates Soil Museum was officially opened on 8 December 2016. Since its launch, the museum benefitted students, researchers, professionals, scientists, environmentalists, decision and policy makers, and land use planners in the common pursuit of sustainable national development.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
The Carteret series (a hydric soil) consists of very poorly drained sandy soils in the tidal marshes along the Atlantic Coast between the coastline and the mainland. They are saturated continuously with water and flooded twice daily by tides. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 63 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 53 inches. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent.
Hydric soils are formed under conditions of saturation, flooding, or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part (Federal Register, 1994). Most hydric soils exhibit characteristic morphologies that result from repeated periods of saturation or inundation that last more than a few days.
To download the latest version of "Field Indicators of Hydric Soils" and additional technical references, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/ref/?cid=s...
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, thermic Typic Psammaquents
Carteret soils are on nearly level tidal marshes bordering the outer banks along the Atlantic Coast, on islands in sounds between the outer banks and the mainland, and along some streams extending inland from the sounds. Elevation is about 1 foot below to 3 feet above mean sea level. These soils may be flooded by daily high tides or, in some areas, monthly by lunar high tides. The water table is at or near the surface most of the time. The soils formed in sandy marine or fluvial sediments and, in some places, contain an overburden of wind blown sands. The mean annual air temperature ranges from 58 to 70 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 45 to 60 inches. Near the type location, the freeze-free season is 260 days.
USE AND VEGETATION: Carteret soils are mostly used as a natural habitat for fish and shellfish production; a few areas are used for grazing and some areas have been diked and filled for use as water front homesites. Dominant vegetation is giant cordgrass and marshhay with needle rush in areas bordering higher adjacent soils.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The outer banks sound area of North Carolina and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
Hydric soils are formed under conditions of saturation, flooding, or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part (Federal Register, 1994). Most hydric soils exhibit characteristic morphologies that result from repeated periods of saturation or inundation that last more than a few days.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CARTERET.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of an Histosol.
When photographing soils, a soil scientist will commonly use a knife to pick the profile face to show natural soil structure (left side of profile). Or, they may use a knife or shovel to smooth the surface (right side of the profile) which helps show change in color or horizonation.
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.
Landscape: Histosols As Fuel, Scotland — Histosols are mined as fuel in many areas of the world where availability of wood is limited. These areas include northern Europe, Russia, Finland and Ireland. On a per-pound basis, Histosols may have an energy value of 8,300 BTUs, compared to 6,000 for wood and 9,500 for lignite coal. Organic matter content of this Histosol ranges from 89 percent to 96 percent. In early summer, soil is cut with a special peat-cutting shovel and tossed up on the side of the pit to dry. It is then picked up with a cart later in the fall. (Image courtesy of Dr. Cynthia Stiles, USDA-NRCS)
For additional information about USDA soil taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
For more information on the World Reference Base soil classification system, visit:
The Badin series consists of moderately deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in residuum weathered from fine-grained metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of the Carolina Slate Belt. These soils are on gently sloping to steep uplands in the Piedmont. Slopes range from 2 to 55 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
Solum thickness is 20 to 40 inches. Depth to weathered bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Depth to hard bedrock is 40 inches or more. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to extremely acid in all horizons except where the surface has been limed. Limed soils are typically moderately acid or slightly acid in the A horizon. Rock fragment content is commonly 5 to 35 percent by volume in the A, E, BE, BA, and Bt horizons, and 20 to 60 percent in the BC and C horizons. Some pedons have individual horizons that have 0 to 5 percent rock fragments by volume. Fragments are dominantly channers.
Used mainly for growing corn, small grain, soybeans, grain sorghum, mixed hay, and pasture. The remainder is in woodlands of oaks, hickory, loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, and yellow-poplar. Common understory species are American holly, flowering dogwood, sourwood, and American hornbeam.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont Plateau of North Carolina and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BADIN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Furlong series consists of moderately deep, somewhat excessively drained soils formed in sandy deposits underlain by limestone on ground moraines and outwash plains. Permeability is rapid. Slopes range from 0 to 6 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 32 inches, and mean annual temperature is about 43 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, frigid Typic Haplorthods
(Unless otherwise stated the depths mentioned in the following paragraph are measured from the mineral soil surface.) The depth to limestone bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Gravel content ranges from 0 to 10 percent and cobble content ranges from 0 to 5 percent throughout. Rock fragments are mainly limestone, but include some igneous and metamorphic fragments.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in second growth woodland. Quaking aspen, red maple, and sugar maple are the dominant tree species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The eastern and southeastern part of the Upper Peninsula and the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/F/FURLONG.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Most of the UAE's cultivated land is taken up by date palms, which in the early 1990s numbered about 4 million. They are cultivated in the arc of small oases that constitute the Al Liwa Oasis. Both federal and emirate governments provide incentives to farmers. For example, the government offers a 50 percent subsidy on fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. It also provides loans for machinery and technical assistance. The emirates have forty-one agricultural extension units as well as several experimental farms and agricultural research stations. The number of farmers rose from about 4,000 in the early 1970s to 18,265 in 1988.
For more soil related images, visit:
www.flickr.com/photos/soilscience/sets/72157622983226139/
Soil is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. The Earth's body of soil is the pedosphere, which has four important functions: it is a medium for plant growth; it is a means of water storage, supply and purification; it is a modifier of Earth's atmosphere; it is a habitat for organisms; all of which, in turn, modify the soil.
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 (2+). 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.
Plinthite irreversibly hardens upon exposure to repeated wetting and drying, especially if exposed to heat from the sun. Other morphologically similar iron-rich materials that do not progressively harden upon repeated wetting and drying are not considered plinthite. The horizon in which plinthite occurs commonly has 2.5 percent (by mass) or more citrate dithionite extractable iron in the fine-earth fraction and a ratio between acid oxalate extractable Fe and citrate-dithionite extractable Fe of less than 0.10.
Upper photo:
Although distinct, the reddish redox concentrations in this image are not considered plinthite. Unlike plinthite, they could not be removed as a discrete body, and did not exhibit progressive hardening in the surrounding exposed road cuts and stream banks.
Lower photo:
Conversely, the red redox concentrations in this image are considered plinthite. They had a very firm rupture resistance, could be removed as a discrete body, and exhibited progressive hardening in the surrounding exposed road cut.
www.flickr.com/photos/jakelley/53407832443/in/dateposted-...
From a genetic viewpoint, plinthite forms by the segregation, transport, and concentration of iron. In many places iron may have been transported vertically or horizontally from other horizons or from higher adjacent soils.
For more information about a plinthic horizon, visit;
www.researchgate.net/publication/242649722_Rationale_for_...
or;
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00167061220043...
A monolith, or vertical slice from topsoil down to subsoil, preserves a soil’s colors and layered horizons in position. Scientists make monoliths of the important soils in their region and use them in teaching. In the field, scientists dig a pit about 6 feet deep, keeping one face a flat vertical plane.
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_002455...
A representative soil profile of an Vertisol from the Hungarian Soil Classification System (HSCS) by Prof. Blaskó Lajos (2008).
For more information about these soils, visit:
regi.tankonyvtar.hu/hu/tartalom/tamop425/0032_talajtan/ch...
VERTISOLS: Seasonally cracking soil, rich in swelling clays (from the Latin, vertere, to turn). Vertisols are rich in swelling clay minerals and occur primarily in level landscapes under climates with pronounced dry and wet seasons. Vertisols shrink and swell upon drying and wetting. Deep wide cracks form when the soil dries out and swelling in the wet season and creates polished and grooved ped surfaces (slickensides) or wedge-shaped or parallel-sided aggregates in the subsurface vertic horizon. The landscapes of a Vertisol may have a complex micro-topography of micro-knolls and mircro-basins called “gilgai”. Vertisols are also known as black cotton soil (USA), regur (India), vlei soil (South Africa) and margalites (Indonesia). They cover 0.5 percent of Europe.
The current Hungarian Soil Classification System (HSCS) was developed in the 1960s, based on the genetic principles of Dokuchaev. The central unit is the soil type grouping soils that were believed to have developed under similar soil forming factors and processes. The major soil types are the highest category which groups soils based on climatic, geographical and genetic bases. Subtypes and varieties are distinguished according to the assumed dominance of soil forming processes and observable/measurable morphogenetic properties.
Grandview was originally a part of the West Virginia State Park system. In 1939, the state of West Virginia purchased 52 acres of land at Grandview to develop a day use park. The Civilian Conservation Corps built roads, shelters, and a picnic area, all still in use today. Construction began in 1960 on the 1200-seat Cliffside Amphitheater. The childrens playgrounds, recreation area, and additional walkways were built from 1961 to 1964. After more than 50 years as one of West Virginias most popular state parks, Grandview was transferred to the National Park Service in 1990.
On a clear day you can see directly into the heart of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, including seven miles of the New River and its watershed. From Main Overlook visitors can also get a glimpse of some of the gorge's unique cultural history. From here you see an active railway and the town of Quinnimont, where the first coal was shipped out of the gorge in 1873.
For more information about the soil survey area, visit:
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-new-river-gorge-n...
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil’s agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area. Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soyabeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand. Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soya, beans, maize and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
Soils of the cerrado are in the order of Oxisols. Oxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are classified as ferralsols in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources; some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.The main processes of soil formation of oxisols are weathering, humification and pedoturbation due to animals. These processes produce the characteristic soil profile. They are defined as soils containing at all depths no more than 10 percent weatherable minerals, and low cation exchange capacity. Oxisols are always a red or yellowish color, due to the high concentration of iron(III) and aluminium oxides and hydroxides. In addition they also contain quartz and kaolin, plus small amounts of other clay minerals and organic matter.
For more information on Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
Photo from a Geophysical Field Assistance (Calhoun Experimental Forest located in Union County, South Carolina) by Wes Tuttle, Soil Scientist (Geophysical), USDA-NRCS-NSSC, Wilkesboro, NC:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/alabama/tuttle...
This subsoil provides several challenges to soil scientists in field classification by Soil Taxonomy. The soil properties are reflective of several subgroups with multiple soil features. It was identified by local soil scientists as an inclusion of Cataula soil (fine, kaolinitic, thermic Oxyaquic Kanhapludults) within an area mapped originally as Appling soil (fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults).
Cataula soils are very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in material weathered from metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Piedmont. They contain a subsoil layer that is dense and partially brittle with a transitory perched water table at a depth of 60 to 120 cm in December to March.
From ph and parent materials it was assumed base status was low and kandic. However, clay distribution was uncertain (pale v. haplic). Possible great groups include Kandiudults and Kanhapludults. Based of field texture, the pedon was assumed to be most likely haplic-- a Kanhapludult.
Areas of consideration:
Aquic conditions--Color segregations started at a depth of about 80 cm with 2 chroma depletions at a depth within 100 cm indicating a seasonal water table. Based on depth to contemporary 2 chroma depletions greater than 75cm, but within 100 cm, an Oxyaquic designation is appropriate.
FSP (fragic soil properties). Cataula soils have a Btx horizon with brittle material occupying about 20 to 60 percent of the horizon. If root-limiting, this horizon meets the definition of fragic soil properties (have a firm or firmer rupture-resistance class and a brittle manner of failure when soil water is at or near field capacity and restrict the entry of roots into the matrix when soil water is at or near field capacity). The OSD indicates that roots are along the top of this horizon and only a few extend along vertical faces of peds for a depth of 2 or 3 inches. The Fragic subgroup has in 30 percent or more of the volume of a layer 15 cm or more thick that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the mineral soil surface. The Btx horizon in this pedon appears to meet the criteria for FSP and the fragic subgroup, but not to the extent of a fragipan horizon. This leads to the question of the type of structure associated with the fragipan horizon. Currently, platy structure is not identified as characteristic for a fragipan, even though the other required properties are present.
Presence of plinthite. When the red-gray lenticular color pattern is observed, plinthite is a consideration if the reddish material is firm and brittle and especially if cemented. Although parent material may be a key to plinthite formation, its identification is not limited to any particular parent material type. In the southeastern U.S., plinthite is generally associated with upper coastal plain deposits, however, this does not automatically exclude residual or old alluvial sediments if the soils exhibit plinthic properties.
The platy to lenticular red zones in the profile are described as dense and brittle and in the OSD as cemented. Although plinthite does not require cementation, dry or moist aggregates do not slake in water. However, they are required to irreversibly hardened upon exposure. One way to check for this is to observe the presence or absence of hardened aggregates on exposed surfaces as roadcuts. A simple water emersion of the aggregates will help determine if plinthite is a consideration.
Subgroup consideration for this Kanhapludult:
Oxyaquic--
In normal years are saturated with water in one or more layers within 100 cm of the mineral soil surface for either or both 20 or more consecutive days; or 30 or more cumulative days. The pedon is assumed to meet this criteria.
Plinthic--
Have 5 percent or more (by volume) plinthite in one or more horizons within 150 cm of the mineral soil surface. If the iron rich red platy material does not slake in water, is firm or very firm, and is brittle, it is most likely plinthite.
Fragic--
Have fragic soil properties in 30 percent or more of the volume of a layer 15 cm or more thick that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the mineral soil surface. The pedon is assumed to meet this criteria.
If the aforementioned subgroup criteria are met, based on the order of the KST, these soils classify as:
Oxyaquic Kanhapludult--
Cataula soil series (red subsoil) a fine, kaolinitic, thermic Oxyaquic Kanhapludult
or Hard Labor soil series (brown subsoil) a fine, kaolinitic, thermic Oxyaquic Kanhapludult.
Even though the plinthic or fragic subgroups properties may be present, the Key excludes them from being recognized at the family level for Kanhapludults by virtue of the order of the Key (i.e., Oxyaquic keys out before plinthic or fragic). They may however be used to separate soils at the series level.
Ironically, if the soil has pale clay distribution and is a Kandiudult, these soils classify as:
Plinthic Kandiudults, or if plinthite is not identified, as:
Oxyaquic Kandiudults.
A fragic subgroup does not currently exist in the Kandiudult great group. In addition, in Kandiudults, the Oxyaquic subgroup follows the Plinthic subgroup, but in Kanhapludults the Oxyxaquic subgroup precedes the Plinthic subgroup.
In other soil classification systems (such as the FAO-WRB system) the additional subgroups are recognized in classification (e.g., an Oxyaquic Plinthic Fragic Kanhapludult).
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CATAULA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#cataula
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;
The Ashe series consists of moderately deep, somewhat excessively drained soils on gently sloping to very steep ridges and side slopes of the Blue Ridge (MLRA 130). They formed in residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper part, and weathered from felsic or mafic igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks such as granite, hornblende gneiss, granodiorite, biotite gneiss, and high-grade metagraywacke.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 14 to 40 inches. Depth to lithic contact ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent by volume throughout. Reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid, unless limed. Content of flakes of mica is few or common throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Common trees are black locust, chestnut oak, scarlet oak, eastern white pine, northern red oak, Virginia pine, and pitch pine. The understory species includes mountain laurel, rhododendron, and sourwood. Some areas are in pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Blue Ridge (MLRA 130) of North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The series is extensive.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ASHE.html
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A representative soil profile of Zavco sandy clay loam, 1 to 5 percent slopes. At a depth of about 70 centimeters, calcium carbonate masses have accumulated so thick that it restricts air and water uptake by the plant roots. (Soil Survey of McMullen County, Texas; by Clark K. Harshbarger, Jon Wiedenfeld, and Gary Harris, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Zavco series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in calcareous loamy residuum from interbedded sandstone and siltstone of the Yegua Formation. These nearly level to gently sloping soils occur on summits, backslopes, and footslopes of interfluves. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 22.2 degrees C (72 degrees F) and mean annual precipitation is about 610 mm (24 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, hyperthermic Aridic 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: 22.2 to 23.9 degrees C (72 to 75 degrees F)
Depth to argillic: 18 to 55 cm (7 to 22 in)
Depth to secondary forms of calcium carbonate: 25 to 71 cm (10 to 28 in)
Particle size control section (weighted average): clay content: 38 to 55 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: The major use is wildlife habitat. A few acres are cultivated and the principal crops are grain sorghum, small grain, and introduced perennial grasses. Grasses which make up about 70 percent of the plant community under climax conditions are fourflower trichloris, twoflower trichloris, pinhole bluestem, plains bristlegrass, buffalograss, and pink pappusgrass. About 5 percent forbs such as bundleflower and orange zexmenia, and about 5 percent shrubs such as guajillo and guayacan also occur. With retrogression, plants such as pink pappusgrass and buffalograss increase initially. With continued retrogression, increasers and invaders such as curlymesquite, threeawn, Hall's panicum, red grama, mesquite, whitebrush, blackbrush, twisted acacia and Texas persimmon dominate the plant community. The ecological site is Clay Loam, PE 26-36 (R083CY446TX).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern and Central Rio Grande Plain of Texas. LRR I; MLRA 83A, 83C. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/mcmullen...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/Z/ZAVCO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit: