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A representative soil profile of an Argic-Cryic Aridisol as classified by the Chinese Soil Taxonomy system.
Argic-Cryic Aridisols are the Aridisols that have and argic horizon and a cryic temperature regime. The argic horizon is an illuvial horizon formed by cultivation in upland soils.
Chinese Soil Taxonomy:
The development of soil classification in China has progressed in a rather complicated way; to a great extent, it has depended on the state policy. The former classifications had a zonal-factor trend: the first Chinese classification system was an analogue of the American classifications of the middle American period; in 1954–1984, the Soviet system was used, where names of the soils did not differ from those accepted in the USSR. In 1994, the Chinese Soil Taxonomy was created, which replicated the American classification in the structure, principles and terminology but emphasized some Chinese specificity. (M. I. Gerasimova).
For more information about Soil Txaonomy versions, visit;
link.springer.com/article/10.1134%2FS1064229310080120
For additional information about U.S Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
A soil profile of the well drained, very deep loamy Edneyville soils. (Soil Survey of Grayson County, Virginia; by Robert K. Conner, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Edneyville soils are on ridges, hills, and spurs on low mountains and foothills. Major uses include woodland, pasture, hayland, and occasionally fruit trees, burley tobacco, Christmas trees, and vegetables.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Solum Thickness: 51 to 140 cm (20 to 55 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 152 cm (60 inches) to weathered bedrock.
Depth Class: Very deep
Rock Fragment content: 0 to 35 percent, by volume, but typically less than 20 percent throughout the profile.
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to moderately acid in the A horizon, except where limed; very strongly acid or strongly acid in the B and C horizons
Content of Mica: 0 to 20 percent, by volume mica flakes throughout
USE AND VEGETATION:
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--white oak, black oak, scarlet oak, chestnut oak, hickory, eastern white pine, Virginia pine, and pitch pine. Yellow poplar and northern red oak occur in the north central mountains of MLRA 130B. Understory includes mountain laurel, flowering dogwood, sourwood, black locust, American chestnut sprouts, greenbrier, Christmas fern, and rhododendron. Where cleared--pasture, hay, and occasionally fruit trees, burley tobacco, Christmas trees, and vegetables.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130-B) of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Northern Piedmont (MLRA 148).
Extent: Large--more than 100,000 acres.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/VA077...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/EDNEYVILLE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Leptic Haplogypsids, sandy, gypsic, hyperthermic (Soil AD110) are very deep, sandy soils with gypsum occurring at or near the soil surface and high concentrations of gypsum in the subsoil. These soils occur on older sediments in deflation plains and at the higher margins of inland and coastal sabkhas throughout Abu Dhabi. They are well drained or somewhat excessively drained and permeability is rapid or moderately rapid. They are formed in old sand and gravel deposits.
Commonly these soils remain as a barren land but are sometimes used for low intensity grazing by camel, sheep or goats. They typically have less than 5% vegetation cover of Cyperus conglomeratus, Haloxylon salicornicum and Zygophyllum spp.
The soils have been recorded in both inland and coastal sabkha and deflation plains in the central and eastern parts of the Emirate. The soil forms a minor component of map units in these areas. A few scattered sites have also been recorded from the western end of the Liwa Crescent.
Plate 8: Typical soil profile and associated landscape for Leptic Haplogypsids, sandy, gypsic, hyperthermic (Soil AD110).
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class: Somewhat poorly drained
Permeability: Moderate
Surface Runoff: Slow
Parent Material: Loamy alluvial sediments
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, thermic Aeric Endoaquults
Where cultivated--corn, oats, soybeans, small grain, and pasture are dominant. Where wooded--white oak, red oak, post oak, loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, hickory, red maple, sweetgum, and elm; understory plants include American holly, flowering dogwood, sassafras, greenbrier, giant cane and inkberry (bitter gallberry) are common.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and possibly South Carolina. Extent is moderate.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/AUGUSTA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Profile of Cochina clay, 0 to 1 percent slopes, occasionally flooded. Cochina soils formed in calcareous clayey alluvium. These soils are clayey throughout and classified as Vertisols.
The landscape is a bedded area of Cochina clay, 0 to 1 percent slopes, occasionally flooded. Seed beds are prepared in case enough moisture is received to plant. This map unit is in Capability Class 3w. (Soil Survey of McMullen County, Texas; by Clark K. Harshbarger, Jon Wiedenfeld, and Gary Harris, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Setting
Major land resource area: MLRA 83B—Western Rio Grande Plain
Elevation: 140 to 405 feet
Mean annual precipitation: 22 to 26 inches
Mean annual air temperature: 70 to 72 degrees F
Frost-free period: 265 to 301 days
Composition
Major components:
Cochina frequently flooded and similar soils: 90 percent
Minor components: 10 percent
Soil Description
Cochina soils, frequently flooded
Landscape: River valleys
Landforms: Flood plains
Down-slope shape: Linear
Across-slope shape: Linear
Parent material: Calcareous clayey alluvium
Typical Profile
A—0 to 4 inches; moderately alkaline clay
Bnss—4 to 33 inches; moderately alkaline clay
Bnssz—33 to 80 inches; moderately alkaline clay
Properties and Qualities
Slope: 0 to 1 percent
Depth to first restrictive layer: No restrictive layer
Slowest soil permeability to 60 inches, above first cemented restrictive layer: 0.001 to
0.06 in/hr (very slow)
Salinity, representative within 40 inches: Saline
Salinity, maximum within 40 inches: Saline
Sodicity, representative within 40 inches: Sodic
Sodicity, maximum within 40 inches: Sodic
Representative total available water capacity to 60 inches: About 6.6 inches (moderate)
Natural drainage class: Moderately well drained
Runoff: Medium
Flooding frequency: Frequent
Interpretive Groups
Land capability nonirrigated: 4w
Land capability irrigated: 4w
Ecological site name: Clayey Bottomland 18-35" PZ
Ecological site number: R083BY414TX
Typical vegetation: Buffalograss, false Rhodes grass, other perennial grasses, pinhole bluestem, white tridens, other trees, alkali sacaton, other perennial forbs, pink pappusgrass, plains bristlegrass, sedge, southwestern bristlegrass, vine mesquite, Virginia wildrye, other shrubs.
Use and Management
Major land uses: The major land uses for this soil are livestock grazing, forage production, and wildlife habitat. Some areas are planted in food plots to supplement wildlife. Wildlife habitat: This soil is well suited to wildlife habitat. Deer, dove, javelina, and quail are common in areas of this soil.
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/C/COCHINA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Turf hummock microfeatures in a wet meadow in Oregon.
Microfeatures are discrete, individual, earth surface features that are readily identifiable on the ground but are too small or intricate to display or capture at conventional mapping scales. Examples are vernal pools and turf hummocks. Where present, these mini-landforms can have substantial impact on internal water flow, soil development, natural ecosystems, and land management.
The Ager series consist of deep, well drained soils that formed in lacustrine sediment. Ager soils are on terraces. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 12 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 48 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, smectitic, mesic Chromic Haploxererts
Depth to a paralithic contact of mudstone or siltstone lake deposits is 40 to 60 inches. Depth to secondary carbonates is less than 10 inches. The mean annual soil temperature is about 50 to 55 F. The soil between depths of 4 to 12 inches is usually dry all of the time from July 15 until October 15 and is moist in some or all parts all the rest of the year. The soil has cracks that open and close once each year, remain open during the period of July through October and remain closed the rest of the year. Few to many intersecting slickensides occur in the lower A horizon. Rock fragments range to 25 percent of the surface horizon and occur just on the surface and consist mostly of rounded basalt cobbles. The control section usually has 60 to 70 percent clay and ranges to 75 percent clay in some pedons.
USE AND VEGETATION: The steeper slopes are used as rangeland. The more gently sloping soils are used for dry land crops. Vegetation is scattered trees, shrubs and grass, mainly western juniper, big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, cheatgrass, medusahead and thistles. In some places there are small patches of bare granular soil.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern California and Idaho, and possibly southeastern Oregon and Nevada. The soils are inextensive.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/AGER.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Anthroportic Udorthents--Udorthents that have 50 cm or more of human-transported material.
The central concept of Entisols is that of soils that have little or no evidence of the development of pedogenic horizons. Most Entisols have no diagnostic horizons other than an ochric epipedon. Very few have an anthropic epipedon.
Human-transported material is parent material for soil that has been moved horizontally onto a pedon from a source area outside of that pedon by purposeful human activity, usually with the aid of machinery or hand tools. This pedon (originally a Cecil soil) has been covered with soil material from and adjacent storage area of cut and fill material.
This material often contains a lithologic discontinuity or a buried horizon just below an individual deposit. Note the buried Bt (argillic horizon) at the 80 centimeter depth.
Human-transported material may be composed of either organic or mineral soil material and may contain detached pieces of diagnostic horizons which are derived from excavated soils. It may also contain artifacts (e.g., asphalt) that are not used as agricultural amendments (e.g., biosolids) or are litter discarded by humans (e.g., aluminum cans).
Human-transported material has evidence that it did not originate from the same pedon which it overlies. In some soils, irregular distribution with depth or in proximity away from an anthropogenic landform, feature, or constructed object (e.g., a road or building) of modern products (e.g., radioactive fallout, deicers, or lead-based paint) may mark separate depositions of human-transported materials or mark the boundary within situ soil material below or beside the human-transported material. In other soils, a discontinuity exists between the human-transported material and the parent material (e.g., a 2C horizon) or root-limiting layer (e.g., a 2R layer) beneath it.
Multiple forms of evidence may be required to identify human-transported material where combinations of human actions and natural processes interact. Examples of these combinations include human-transported material deposited by dredging adjacent to active beaches, human- or water-deposited litter on flood plains and beneath water bodies, and deposits from natural geologic events (e.g., airfall volcanic ash) mantling anthropogenic landforms and microfeatures. Therefore, it is often the preponderance of evidence, including published or historical evidence and onsite observations, that allows identification of human-transported material.
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-...
A representative soil profile of the Backcanyon series. The shallow Backcanyon soil is in map unit 270--Locobill-Backcanyon-Sesame complex, 20 to 60 percent slopes. (Kern County, Northeastern Part, and Southeastern Part of Tulare County, California; by Kerry D. Arroues, Edd Russell, and James Regal, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Backcanyon series consists of shallow, well drained soils on hill slopes and mountain slopes. These soils formed in material weathered mainly from interbedded calcareous metamorphic and granitic rocks. Slopes are 15 to 60 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 380 millimeters (15 inches) and the average annual temperature is about 17 degrees C. (62 degrees F.).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Calcic Haploxerepts
Soil temperature - Average annual: 15 to 18 degrees C. (59 to 65 degrees F.). The soil temperature is greater than 5 degrees C. (41 degrees F.) from about February 1 to December 15 (300 to 330 days) and is greater than 8 degrees C. (47 degrees F.) from about March 1 to December 1 (250 to 290 days).
Soil moisture - The soils are dry from about June 10 to November 15 (140 to 160 days). The soil is moist in some or all parts for 90 or more days when the soil temperature is greater than 8 degrees C. (47 degrees F.).
Particle size control section:
Rock fragments: 0 to 5 percent boulders and stones, 0 to 7 percent cobbles and 10 to 35 percent gravel.
Depth to weathered rock (paralithic contact): 30 to 50 centimeters (12 to 20 inches).
Depth to hard rock: (lithic materials) 51 to 89 centimeters (15 to 30 inches).
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is mainly California junipers, red brome, goldenbush, Digger pine, yucca, and California buckwheat. Oaks occur in some areas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central Sierra Nevada Range in California. This series is not extensive. MLRA is 18.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA6...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BACKCANYON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Andover series (Calcaric Leptosols) in England. (Cranfield University 2021. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK.)
Soils classified and described by the World Reference Base for England and Wales:
www.landis.org.uk/services/soilsguide/wrb_list.cfm
The most common soils belong to Andover series, variably flinty and chalky fine silty brown rendzinas, over chalk. They are associated with Panholes and Coombe series, fine silty typical calcareous brown earths in rubbly chalk and chalky drift respectively on footslopes and valley floors. Upton soils, extremely calcareous loamy grey rendzinas, are restricted to the steeper slopes where cultivation and subsequent erosion have removed much of the original topsoil and incorporated some chalk into the plough layer. Fine silty typical argillic brown earths (Charity series) are developed locally in non-calcareous flinty drift on valley floors. In places striped patterns, shown by differences in soil colour or by differences in crop ripening, reflect the variable soil thickness over chalk.
Landscape:
The soils in this association are found on undulating chalkland dissected by narrow dry valleys in the Wolds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and on the Downs of southern England. All the soils are well drained (Wetness Class I) and rest on permeable chalk. Winter rain is readily absorbed and there is little run-off. The droughtiness of shallow chalk soils is difficult to estimate since crop performance suggests that plants extract more water than the amount available in the soil. Chalk itself holds water readily available to plants amounting to 15 to 35 per cent of its volume
For additional information about the soil association, visit:
Out of this world public domain images from NASA. All original images and many more can be found from the NASA Image Library
Higher resolutions with no attribution required can be downloaded: www.rawpixel.com/board/418580/nasa
This slide is an example of the importance for describing and commenting on images. It allows for an open discussion of features and possible classification discrepancies.
This image shows the parent material underlying many Coastal Plain soils such as the Dothan or Vaucluse series.
The underlying layer typically acts as an aquitard restricting water movement, facilitating the formation of plinthite (especially platy plinthite) in the overlying horizons or in the formation of fragic soil properties. In this pedon, the B horizon is underlain by a red, dense, compact, non-cemented layer that contains numerous tubes or channels of infilled grayish clayey material. These tubes or channels are thought to be formed by biological activity at a time when the sediments were being deposited. In the current environment, they commonly contain coarse roots within elongated macropores. The macropores may be completed filled with soil material or they be open (areas that once contained live roots but are currently void of roots due to decomposition), allowing for the transmission of air and water within the channel.
Because of the dark red color and dense characteristics, these layers are referred to by local soil scientists as the
The Babelthuap series consists of; very deep, well drained, that is shallow to an abrupt textural change. These soils are on erosional crests of hills on volcanic islands. Babelthuap soils formed in saprolite derived from basalt, andesite, dacite volcanic breccias, tuff, and bedded tuff. Slope is 2 to 75 percent. The mean annual rainfall is about 3685 millimeters (145 inches), and the mean annual temperature is about 27 C (81 F.)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, ferruginous, isohyperthermic Typic Kandiperox
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are in fern-land plant communities and are used only for watershed. A few areas are used as a source for mining bauxite. The vegetation is degraded anthropic savannah consisting of poor stands of Gleichenia linearis, Nepenthea mirabilis, Ectrosia lepornia and Paspalum orbiculare, scattered shrubs and pandanus.
This plant community is commonly dominant with Gleicheinia sp. Other associates that may be found scattered if the ferns are still short and young include Lycopodium cernuum. If the area has not been subjugated to fire for a considerable amount of time then there is often nothing but Gleichienia or at least a considerable lower diversity then areas exposed to occasional fire. It is common to come across small pockets of these areas deep in the hills of the upland forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 193 Volcanic Islands of Western Micronesia, Republic of Palau. These soils of these series are of small extent; about 9000 acres in size. They are mapped on the islands of island of Babeldaob and to a lesser extent on Koror and Arakabesan.
The surface layer becomes dry for short periods particularly during the months of February, March, and April, due to the high coarse fragment content. The soil does not meet the definition of an oxic horizon for the clay content increases by more than 8 percent within 15 centimeters (6 inches.) Gibbsite is aluminum hydroxide and it is the principal component of bauxite. It is the product of intense soil weathering and is very stable in the soil environment. Gibbsite does not contribute to the soluble aluminum in the soil because it is stable.
Some agricultural crops suffer from aluminum toxicity when the Al saturation is only 10%. Aluminum interferes with the photosynthetic cycle by complexing with phosphate, so with high soluble aluminum the plant is starved for phosphate. Al-toxicity also stunts root growth thereby limiting the amount of soil the plant can exploit for nutrients. Stunted roots can also limit water uptake and can cause plants to wilt with only a few days without water. Some plants (e.g. cassava) have high tolerance to high levels of soluble aluminum. On the Babelthuap series, ferns that are highly tolerant to aluminum can make up nearly 100% of the plant community in places. High soluble Al and acidity may adversely affect soil health by inhibiting beneficial organisms. When liming soils with high soluble aluminum the rule of thumb is to add 1.5 tons of CaCO3 per acre for every milliequivalents of soluble aluminum. The pH only needs to be raised to about 5.5 to eliminate the harmful effects of high soluble aluminum.
Apparent field textures vary for tropical soils; therefore, field textures and their mid-point values of texture classes were used rather than laboratory analysis for particle size. Particle size distribution is difficult to determine in tropical soils because of the strong cohesion of aggregates and their tendency to suspend particles. The poor dispersion reflects the water-stable aggregates of clay in silt and sand-sized "particles." Therefore, the soils may have a lot of clay but physically they behave as coarser textures.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BABELTHUAP.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A Leptic Haplogypsid from the interior of the UAE.
Leptic Haplogypsids are the Haplogypsids that 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 (CaSO4) 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.
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...
The Ander series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, soils that formed in residuum weathered from sandstone in the Goliad Formation. These nearly level to very gently sloping soils are on footslopes of low hills on an inland dissected coastal plain. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 21.1 degrees C (70 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 864 mm (34 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, hyperthermic Udic Paleustolls
Soil Moisture: An ustic soil moisture regime bordering on udic. The soil moisture control section remains dry for less than 120 cumulative days in normal years. Precipitation falls mostly during the months of April through June and October and November. The driest months are July through September and January through March.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Native grasses include little bluestem, feathery bluestem, Nash and hooded windmillgrass, and Texas and plains bristlegrass. Woody species consist of live oak, post oak, mesquite, huisache, spiny hackberry, and pricklypear. Coastal bermudagrass is the dominant improved pasture grass. (Ecological site name: Tight Sandy Loam 25-35" Pz; Ecological site number: R083AY412TX)
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Rio Grande Plain (MLRA 83A in LRR I) of south-central Texas; minor extent
REMARKS: These soils were formerly included with the Papalote series. The Papalote series has an ochric epipedon. The redoximorphic features are considered relict and do not reflect present day moisture conditions.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ANDER.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Little Wood series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in loess, alluvium, and residuum from mixed sources. Little Wood soils are on fan terraces, stream terraces, and dissected alluvial terraces. Slopes are 0 to 30 percent. 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
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
USE AND VEGETATION: 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.
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:
A soil profile and landscape of a Aquisalid from the United Arab Emirates.
Typic Aquisalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, lithic phase (Soil AD130) are deep sands with a surface salt crust. The soils usually occur in sabkha flats within the coastal plain. They are formed in alluvial sands. They are poorly drained or somewhat poorly drained soils and have a moderately slow to moderate permeability. Water table fluctuates between 40 and 90cm depth. The soil overlies a lithic contact below 50cm.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
www.biosaline.org/publications/united-arab-emirates-keys-...
These soils are most commonly formed on plains and slight depressions in coastal flats above the tidal zone. The high salt concentration and the shallow water table prevent the growth of vegetation and the soils remain unused and barren.
The soils are of limited extent and have only been recorded within the coastal plain and at Sabkha Matti.
Plate 28: Typical soil profile and associated landscape for Typic Aquisalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic lithic phase (Soil AD130).
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
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.
In both the FAO soil classification 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). 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. Histosols are known by various other names in other countries, such as peat or muck.
For more information on Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
A Leptic Haplogypsid, petrogypsic from the interior of the UAE.
Leptic Haplogypsids are the Haplogypsids that 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 (CaSO4) 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:
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For additional information about soil classification using Soil Taxonomy, visit:
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The UAE is historically known for its attachment to camels which are of social and economic value in the region. The animal is famously known as the ship of the desert because of its walk, which is much like the motion of a ship at sea. Patience is one of its most observable features and camels are generally useful animal.
Historically, camels in the UAE were a dependable source of not only transport but also food and milk. Arabs were proud of the number of camels they possessed. The camels were given as a bride's dowry among the Bedouin tribes. Not to mention its use as payment of Zakat — the annual portion of a Muslim's personal fortune that is given as charity to people in need — as which was at times paid in camels instead of money.
The population of camels in the UAE in 2003 was estimated at over 178,000, according to the Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage.
A Typic Torripsamment from the interior of the UAE.
Torripsamments are the cool to hot Psamments of arid climates. They have an aridic (or torric) moisture regime and a temperature regime warmer than cryic. Many of these soils are on stable surfaces, some are on dunes, some are stabilized, and some are moving. Torripsamments consist of quartz, mixed sands, volcanic glass, or even gypsum and may have any color. Generally, they are neutral or calcareous and are nearly level to steep. The vegetation consists mostly of xerophytic shrubs, grasses, and forbs.
Many of these soils support more vegetation than other soils with an aridic moisture regime, presumably because they lose less water as runoff. Some of the soils on dunes support a few ephemeral plants or have a partial cover of xerophytic and ephemeral plants. The shifting dunes may be devoid of plants in normal years. Most of the deposits are of late-Pleistocene or younger age. These soils are used mainly for grazing. They are extensive in the Western United States.
Psamments are the sandy Entisols. They are sandy in all layers within the particle-size control section. Some formed in poorly graded (well sorted) sands on shifting or stabilized sand dunes, in cover sands, or in sandy parent materials that were sorted in an earlier geologic cycle. Some formed in sands that were sorted by water and are on outwash plains, lake plains, natural levees, or beaches. A few Psamments formed in material weathered from sandstone or granitic bedrock. Psamments occur under any climate, but they cannot have permafrost within 100 cm of the soil surface. They can have any vegetation and are on surfaces of virtually any age from recent historic to Pliocene or older. The Psamments on old stable surfaces commonly consist of quartz sand. Ground water typically is deeper than 50 cm and commonly is much deeper.
Psamments have a relatively low water-holding capacity. Those that are bare and become dry are subject to soil blowing and drifting and cannot easily support wheeled vehicles. Because very gravelly sands do not have the two qualities just described, they are excluded from Psamments and are grouped with Orthents. Thus, not all Entisols that have a sandy texture are Psamments.
For more information about describing soils, visit:
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The Helena series... (soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HELENA.html)
consists of very deep, moderately well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in residuum weathered from a mixture of felsic, intermediate, or mafic igneous or high-grade metamorphic rocks, such as aplitic granite or granite gneiss that is cut by dykes of gabbro and diorite, or mixed with hornblende schist or hornblende gneiss. These soils are on broad ridges and toeslopes of the Piedmont uplands. Slope is dominantly between 2 to 10 percent but ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Near the type location, mean annual precipitation is 46 inches, and mean annual temperature is 61 degrees F.
Taxonomic class: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Mostly cultivated
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--tobacco, corn, soybean, small grain, and vegetables. Dominant forest vegetation includes a mix of hardwood and pine. Native species include loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, sweetgum, willow oak, red oak, white oak, yellow-poplar, and American elm. Understory species include sourwood, flowering dogwood, winged elm, eastern cedar, hophornbean, eastern redbud, and sassafrass.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Appling soils--are well drained and have a low shrink-swell potential
Cecil soils--are well drained, have a red subsoil, and have a low shrink-swell potential
Cullen soils--are well drained, have a red subsoil, and have a low shrink-swell potential
Durham soils--have less clay in the subsoil
Enon soils--are well-drained and have a higher base saturation
Hard Labor--soils have a moderate shrink-swell potential
Iredell soils--have a higher base saturation
Louisburg soils--are well drained and have less clay in the subsoil
Mecklenburg soils--are well drained, have a red subsoil, and have a higher base saturation
Pacolet soils--are well drained, have a red subsoil, and have a low shrink-swell potential
Rion soils--are well drained and have less clay in the subsoil
Santuc soils--have less clay in the subsoil
Sedgefield soils--have a higher base saturation
Vance soils--are well drained.
Wedowee soils--are well drained and have a low shrink-swell potential
Wilkes soils--are well drained, have a higher base saturation, and have a depth to paralithic contact of less than 20 inches
Worsham soils--are poorly drained
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Extent: Large: casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#helena
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.
In many countries where Vertisols are extensive, they are known by local names, such as cracking clays (Australia), Adobe (Philippines), Shachiang (China), Black Cotton soils (India), Smolnitza (Bulgaria, Rumania), Tirs (Morocco), Makande (Malawi), Vleigrond (South Africa), and Sonsosuite (Nicaragua). In addition, numerous coined terms have been used to identify the soils. Examples are Margalite soils (Indonesia), Densinegra soils (Angola), and Grumusols (United States).
These soils generally are sticky in the wet season and hard in the dry season, so they require special cultivation practices regardless of whether modern equipment or traditional implements, such as a hoe or bullock-drawn plow, are used. Because their unique properties restrict engineering uses, the soils are well known among engineers. The movement of these soils can tilt trees; throw fenceposts, telephone poles, and power poles out of line; and break pipelines, highway pavements, and the masonry foundations of buildings.
The shrink-swell phenomenon, which is responsible for the genesis and behavior of Vertisols, is a complex, dynamic, but incompletely understood set of processes. Expressions of this phenomenon are linear and normal gilgai, cyclic horizons, surface cracking upon desiccation, and the formation of slickensides. Of these properties, cracks when the soils are dry and slickensides are the unifying morphogenetic markers in all Vertisols. Although the process of shrinking and swelling is important in Vertisols, it does not preclude the formation of diagnostic horizons and features. For example, Vertisols can have calcic, gypsic, or salic horizons. Taxa have been developed to accommodate these diagnostic horizons and features.
Internal movement affects the thickness of soil horizons, which can vary widely within a pedon. A black A horizon, for example, may be only a few centimeters thick or even absent on microknolls but is more than 100 cm thick in microdepressions. The organic-matter content and the depth to carbonates or to a Bk horizon can be equally variable.
Intergrades to Vertisols are recognized in several of the other soil orders. There are basically two kinds of intergrades, although both are considered in the same subgroup. One consists of soils that show evidence of swelling and shrinking as a result of changes from a wet to a dry state but that do not meet the minimum requirements for Vertisols. The intergrades of the other kind show little or no evidence of actual soil movement, but they have potential for soil movement because of the relatively high COLE. These intergrades, however, do not become dry enough or moist enough for soil movement to occur, except in years with unusually low or abnormally high precipitation.
Vertisols generally have gentle slopes, although a few are strongly sloping. The natural vegetation is predominantly grass, savanna, open forest, or desert shrub. Most Vertisols are well suited to mechanized farming if there is plenty of rainfall or irrigation water and if suitable management practices are followed. Large areas of Vertisols in the world are not farmed, however, because their cultivation would require too much energy, especially where traditional, low-input methods are used. This constraint is a major limiting land-use characteristic of Vertisols.
SOIL TAXONOMY
For more information about the U.S. Soil Classification System and to view or download "Soil Taxonomy, 2nd Edition, 1999." click HERE.
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KEYS TO SOIL TAXONOMY
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Arkansas State Soil
The Stuttgart series consists of very deep, moderately well to somewhat poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in silty and clayey alluvium. These level to gently sloping soils are on Prairie terraces in the Lower Mississippi Valley, MLRA 131. Slopes are typically less than 3 percent, but range to 5 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Albaquultic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness is more than 60 to more than 80 inches. There is an abrupt texture change between the ochric epipedon and the underlying argillic horizon. Sodium saturation ranges from 5 to 15 percent in the upper 16 inches of the argillic. It generally increases with depth and may range over 20 percent in the lower part in some pedons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and used for the production of rice, soybeans, small grains and corn. The native vegetation was mainly tall grasses, with large areas of hardwood forests of oaks, gums and ash with scattered areas of shortleaf pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Prairie terraces in Arkansas and possibly Louisiana. The series is of large extent with over 150,000 acres mapped.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/AR001...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
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The Cecil series consists of very deep, well drained moderately permeable soils on ridges and side slopes of the Piedmont uplands. They are deep to saprolite and very deep to bedrock. They formed in residuum weathered from felsic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
USE AND VEGETATION: About half of the total acreage is in cultivation, with the remainder in pasture and forest. Common crops are small grains, corn, cotton, and tobacco.
Originally mapped in Cecil County, Maryland in 1899, more than 10 million acres (40,000 km²) of the Cecil soil series are now mapped in the Piedmont region of the southeastern United States. It extends from Virginia through North Carolina (where it is the state soil), South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, with the typic Cecil pedon actually located in Franklin County, NC.
The Cecil series developed over igneous rock such as granite, and metamorphic rock which is chemically similar to granite. Virgin Cecil soils support forests dominated by pine, oak and hickory, and have a topsoil of brown sandy loam. The subsoil is a red clay which is dominated by kaolinite and has considerable mica. Few Cecil soils are in their virgin state, for most have been cultivated at one time or another. Indifferent land management has allowed many areas of Cecil soils to lose their topsoils through soil erosion, exposing the red clay subsoil. This clay is amenable to cultivation, responds well to careful management, and supports healthy growth of pine where allowed to revert to forest. Like other well-drained Ultisols, it is ideal for urban development; however, in common with other kaolinite-dominated clays, it has little ability to recover from soil compaction.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CECIL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Chris Grose (Mapping Crew Leader) for Abu Dhabi Soil Survey. Chris is a soil scientist with over 30 years’ experience in soil mapping and land evaluation much of it in Tasmania. Originally from the UK, Chris arrived in Australia after spending several years investigating soils in Papua New Guinea. He has also worked in Kuwait, Israel, the Philippines and in the United Arab Emirates.
The Abu Dhabi Soil Survey started in 2006. It is a collaboration between the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture and GRM International, an Australian company, hired to do field work.
Most areas of Greenville soils are used for growing cotton, corn, tobacco and peanuts. Some areas are in pasture and woodland. Forest species include longleaf pine, shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, various oaks, hickory and dogwood.
The Greenville consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands. They formed in clayey marine sediments of the Coastal Plain. Slopes are dominantly less than 8 percent but range up to 18 percent. Near the type location, the average annual air temperature is about 65 degrees F. and the average annual precipitation is about 59 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Rhodic Kandiudults
Solum thickness exceeds 60 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout except for surface layers that have been limed. Few quartz pebbles are in some pedons. Content of ferro-manganese masses and concretions ranges from none to common throughout.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. This soil is extensive.
For more information about a representative soil survey, visit;
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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.
A loamy-skeletal Humic Dystrocryept and landscape in Idaho.
These soils are like Typic Dystrocryepts, but they have a thick surface layer and an umbric or mollic epipedon. Many of the soils are in areas of higher precipitation than the soils of the Typic subgroup. Humic Dystrocryepts are of moderate extent in the United States. They are mostly in the mountains of the Western States. The vegetation is mostly coniferous forest. The soils are used mainly for timber production and wildlife habitat.
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.
Cryepts are the cold Inceptisols of high mountains or high latitudes. They cannot have permafrost within 100 cm of the soil surface. TCryepts are moderately extensive in the United States. They occur in the high mountains of the West and in southern Alaska as well as in other mountainous areas of the world.
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. 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.
Skeletal soils have in the particle-size control section, 10 percent or more fine-earth and a total content of rock fragments of 35 percent or more (by volume).
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
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The "Kina" series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in partially decomposed organic material derived from sedges. Kina soils occupy depressional bench-like areas associated with drumlinoid hills and the toeslope, lower backslopes, and floors of valleys. Mean annual temperature is about 45 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is about 100 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 60 percent.
Left: A soil profile of the Kina soil series
For more information about the soil profile, see "Kina soil series"
Center: Typical landscape of Kina soil
Right: Closeup of Oi and Oe horizon
For more information about describing, sampling, classifying, and/or mapping soils, please refer to the following references: "Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils", "Keys to Soil Taxonomy", and the "Soil Survey Manual".
A representative soil profile of the Kilrush series in an area of improved grassland from Ireland. These soils formed in fine loamy drift with siliceous stones.
For detailed information about this soil, visit;
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/rep_profile_sheet.php?series_code=07...
For information about the soil series of Ireland, visit;
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In the Irish soil classification system these soils are Typical Surface-water Gleys (soils influenced by water).
For more information about describing and classifying soils using the Irish Soils Classification System, visit:
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Umberci very gravelly sandy loam in an area of Umberci-Rock outcrop association, 30 to 50 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Clark Mountain, Jean Lake, and Crescent Peak Grazing Allotments; by Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, Jeff Goats, Leon Lato, Heath McAllister, and Allison Tokunaga, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Umberci soils are on hills and mountains. Slopes are 30 to 75 percent. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium weathered from limestone and dolomite. Elevation is 840 to 1605 meters (2800 to 5250 feet).
The Umberci series consists of very shallow to bedrock, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium from limestone and dolomite. Umberci soils are on mountains and hills. Slopes range from 30 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 140 millimeters and the mean annual temperature is about 16.5 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, thermic Lithic Torriorthents
Soil moisture - Usually dry, moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July to September following summer convection storms; Typic-aridic moisture regime.
Soil temperature 15 to 22 degrees C (59 to 72 degrees F).
Depth to lithic contact 12 to 25 centimeters (5 to 10 inches).
Percent clay: 8 to 14 percent.
Rock fragments: Averages 35 to 55 percent, mainly gravel.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: averages 50 to 65 percent in the less than 2 millimeter fraction and 55 to 70 percent in the less than 20 millimeter fraction.
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is mainly Nevada jointfir, snakeweed, Utah mortonia, shadscale, and big galleta.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mojave Desert of southeastern California. The soils are of moderate extent. MLRA: 30.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/cla...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/U/UMBERCI.html
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A plinthic horizon contains a significant amount of plinthite. If the horizon constitutes a "continuous phase", zones that roots can enter are more than 10cm apart and plinthite makes up more than 90 percent of the 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 on Soil Taxonomy, visit:
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A representative soil profile of a Mollisol from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)
Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation (pastureland) occurring on upland side-slopes in Brazil.
Mollisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. Mollisols form in semi-arid to semi-humid areas, typically under a grassland cover. They are most commonly found in the mid-latitudes, namely in North America, mostly east of the Rocky Mountains, in South America in Argentina (Pampas) and Brazil, and in Asia in Mongolia and the Russian Steppes. Their parent material is typically base-rich and calcareous and include limestone, loess, or wind-blown sand. The main processes that lead to the formation of grassland Mollisols are melanisation, decomposition, humification and pedoturbation.
Mollisols have deep, high organic matter, nutrient-enriched surface soil (A horizon), typically more than 25 cm thick. This fertile surface horizon, known as a mollic epipedon, is the defining diagnostic feature of Mollisols. Mollic epipedons result from the long-term addition of organic materials derived from plant roots, and typically have soft, granular soil structure.
In the Brazil soil classification system, Chernossolos are soils with high clay activity that are very dark, well structured, rich in organic matter, high content of exchangeable cations. They are commonly not deep (<100cm) and are mostly found in the south and east parts of Brazil.
For additional information about these soils, visit:
sites.google.com/site/soil350brazilsoilsla/soil-formation...
and...
For additional information about U.S. soil classification, visit:
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A soil profile of a moderately well drained Argiudoll in the eastern part of the Great Plains. It has a mollic epipedon about 40 cm thick underlain by an argillic horizon, which extends to a depth of about 130 cm. The argillic horizon has prismatic structure with dark organic stains on prism faces. Pockets of white, soft calcium carbonate are below a depth of
about 130 centimeters. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Argiudolls have a relatively thin argillic (clay accumulation) subsoil horizon or one in which the percentage of clay decreases greatly with increasing depth. The mollic (rich in humus and bases) epipedon commonly is black to very dark brown, and the argillic horizon is mostly brownish. Many of these soils are noncalcareous to a considerable depth below the argillic horizon. Some Argiudolls have a zone of accumulation of calcium carbonate below the argillic horizon. Argiudolls formed mostly in late-Wisconsinan deposits or on surfaces of that age. Many or most of these soils supported boreal forests during the Pleistocene that were later replaced by tall grass prairies during the Holocene. Argiudolls are extensive in Iowa, Illinois, and adjacent States.
To download the latest version of Soil Taxonomy, 2nd Edition, 1999, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
For additional information about soil classification using Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 13th Edition, 2022, visit:
[www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/Keys-to-Soi...]
To download the latest version of Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 13th Edition, 2022, visit:
[www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...]
For an Illustrated Guide to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/Illustrated...
Pore linings are zones of accumulation that may be either coatings on a ped or pore surface or impregnations of the matrix adjacent to the pore or ped. See Vepraskas (1994) for a complete discussion.
In this example, iron has accumulated along pores walls lining the interior of the pore in a depleted matrix. Over time, these linings may become several millimeters thick. Also note the accumulation of silty material translocated from an overlying horizon along the pore wall.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Cecil soil.
Landscape: Hayland in an area of Cecil sandy clay loam, 6 to 10 percent slopes, severely eroded. Establishing and maintaining a vegetative cover helps to protect pastures from erosion. (Soil Survey of Monroe County, Georgia; by Dee C. Pederson and Sherry E. Carlson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-monroe-county-geo...
The Cecil series consists of very deep, well drained moderately permeable soils on ridges and side slopes of the Piedmont uplands. They are deep to saprolite and very deep to bedrock. They formed in residuum weathered from felsic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
USE AND VEGETATION: About half of the total acreage is in cultivation, with the remainder in pasture and forest. Common crops are small grains, corn, cotton, and tobacco.
Originally mapped in Cecil County, Maryland in 1899, more than 10 million acres (40,000 km²) of the Cecil soil series are now mapped in the Piedmont region of the southeastern United States. It extends from Virginia through North Carolina (where it is the state soil), South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, with the typic Cecil pedon actually located in Franklin County, NC.
The Cecil series developed over igneous rock such as granite, and metamorphic rock which is chemically similar to granite. Virgin Cecil soils support forests dominated by pine, oak and hickory, and have a topsoil of brown sandy loam. The subsoil is a red clay which is dominated by kaolinite and has considerable mica. Few Cecil soils are in their virgin state, for most have been cultivated at one time or another. Indifferent land management has allowed many areas of Cecil soils to lose their topsoils through soil erosion, exposing the red clay subsoil. This clay is amenable to cultivation, responds well to careful management, and supports healthy growth of pine where allowed to revert to forest. Like other well-drained Ultisols, it is ideal for urban development; however, in common with other kaolinite-dominated clays, it has little ability to recover from soil compaction.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CECIL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Gortaloughhane series in an area of cleared forestry from Ireland. These soils formed in sandy material over sandstone bedrock.
Fhttp://gis.teagasc.ie/soils/rep_profile_sheet.php?series_code=0860GGor detailed information about this soil, visit;
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/rep_profile_sheet.php?series_code=08...
For information about the soil series of Ireland, visit;
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/soilguide.php
In the Irish soil classification system these soils are HumoFerric Podzols. Podzols have a dark, humose or peaty surface horizon and an albic horizon (E) overlying a podzolic B horizon (Bs). If the topsoil is peaty it should be < 40 cm thick.
For more information about describing and classifying soils using the Irish Soils Classification System, visit:
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/downloads/SIS_Final_Technical_Report...
Profile of the Laguardia soil series showing artifacts in multiple deposits of human transported material. The buried building debris contains brick, concrete, wire, steel, and asphalt. (Photo by Richard Shaw)
Humans substantially modify or transform the physical, chemical, and biological properties and processes of the soil through anthropedogenesis (Richter and Yaalon, 2012). Because they can profoundly affect all five soil-forming factors (parent material, climate, organisms, time, and relief or topography), some authors (Dudal, 2005) have established a sixth factor, described as a “master variable capable of modifying or controlling the other five factors” (Amundson and Jenny, 1991). In particular, humans excavate deeply enough to remove most or all soil horizons, impart manufactured materials and debris (artifacts) that become included in soil parent materials, and transport and deposit extensive amounts of soil, rock, and sediment that become new parent materials.
Humans also level (cut and fill) large areas, destroying natural landforms and building anthropogenic landforms and microfeatures (e.g., drainage ditches) as described in chapter 2. Archaeological evidence shows that humans have been altering soils for at least 8,000 to 10,000 years. Soil alterations have been slight (surficial) and collateral to standard agricultural practices (e.g., erosion) or been intentional and profound (e.g., mountaintop mining and extensive landform alteration through terracing or oilfield activity). Extensively modified areas with integrated land management are called “anthroscapes” (Eswaran et al., 2005).
A shallow Salidic Petrogypsid from the interior of the UAE.
These shallow mineral soils that are less than 50 cm deep (from the soil surface) to a root-limiting layer (petrogypsic or petrocalcic horizon, or a paralithic contact) excluding soils that are in a Lithic subgroup.
Salidic Petrogypsids are the Petrogypsids that have an ECe of more than 8 to less than 30 dS m −1 in a layer 10 cm or more thick, within 100 cm of the soil surface (UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy). The "salidic" subgroup in Petrogypsids is not currently recognized in Soil Taxonomy.
Petrogypsids are the Gypsids that have a petrogypsic horizon that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. These soils occur in very arid areas of the world where the parent material is high in content of gypsum. When the petrogypsic horizon is close to the surface, crusting forms pseudohexagonal patterns on the soil surface. Petrogypsids occupy old surfaces. In Syria and Iraq, they are on the highest terraces along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These soils are not extensive in the United States but are extensive in other countries.
The petrogypsic horizon is a horizon in which visible secondary gypsum has accumulated or has been transformed. The horizon is cemented (i.e., extremely weakly cemented through indurated cementation classes), and the cementation is both laterally continuous and root limiting, even when the soil is moist. The horizon typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils (foreground).
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...
Dates anyone? They are absolutely deliceous! The actual date tree population in UAE is about 40 millions of which 8.5 in AL-AIN region. The gene pool is large and composes about 120 date varieties. New introductions from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Oman included Khallas, AbouMaan, Hallawi, Khissab, Khenezi, Nabut Saif, Jabiri, Hillali, Lulu, Chichi, Khadraoui, Sakii, Sultana and Barhi varieties.
The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olive is considered a major pest of the date palm in the Middle East where it causes severe damage.
A Typic Petrogypsid from the interior of the UAE.
Petrogypsids are the Gypsids that have a petrogypsic horizon that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. These soils occur in very arid areas of the world where the parent material is high in content of gypsum. When the petrogypsic horizon is close to the surface, crusting forms pseudohexagonal patterns on the soil surface. Petrogypsids occupy old surfaces. In Syria and Iraq, they are on the highest terraces along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These soils are not extensive in the United States but are extensive in other countries.
The petrogypsic horizon is a horizon in which visible secondary gypsum has accumulated or has been transformed. The horizon is cemented (i.e., extremely weakly cemented through indurated cementation classes), and the cementation is both laterally continuous and root limiting, even when the soil is moist. The horizon typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils (foreground).
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 the Knockroe series in an area of improved grassland from Ireland. These soils formed in coarse loamy drift with siliceous stones.
For detailed information about this soil, visit;
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/rep_profile_sheet.php?series_code=06...
For information about the soil series of Ireland, visit;
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/soilguide.php
In the Irish soil classification system these soils are Typical Groundwater (soils influenced by water).
For more information about describing and classifying soils using the Irish Soils Classification System, visit:
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/downloads/SIS_Final_Technical_Report...
The soils and miscellaneous areas (e.g., Rock outcrop) in a survey area are in an orderly pattern that is related to the geology, landforms, topography, climate, and natural vegetation. Each kind of soil and miscellaneous area is associated with a particular kind of landform or with a segment of the landform. Note soils in this photo range from deep (L) to shallow (R).
Soil scientists delineate these repeating patterns of landform segments, or natural bodies, on a map. By observing the soils and miscellaneous areas in the survey area and relating their position to specific segments of the landform, a soil scientist develops a concept, or model, of how they formed. Thus, during mapping, these models enable the soil scientist to predict with considerable accuracy the kind of soil or miscellaneous area on the landscape (Hudson, 1992).
The repetitive patterns imprinted in soils by the soil-forming factors can be observed at scales ranging from continental to microscopic. These patterns are the basis for soil identification and mapping at different scales. A system of terminology, definitions, and operations can be ascribed to the various scales. Hierarchical systems of classes and subclasses are established to produce groupings at the different scales.
Commonly, individual soils on the landscape merge into one another as their characteristics gradually change. To construct an accurate soil map, however, soil scientists must determine the boundaries between the soils. Some boundaries are sharp, where soils change over a few meters, while others are more gradual. Soil scientists can observe only a limited number of pedons. Nevertheless, these observations, supplemented by an understanding of the soil-vegetation-landscape relationship, are sufficient to verify predictions of the kinds of soil and to determine their boundaries.
Soil scientists record the characteristics of the pedons, associated plant communities, geology, landforms, and other features that they study. They describe the kind and arrangement of soil horizons and their color, texture, size and shape of soil aggregates, kind and amount of rock fragments, distribution of plant roots, reaction, and other features that enable them to classify and identify soils. They describe plant species present (their combinations, productivity, and condition) to classify plant communities, correlate them to the soils with which they are typically associated, and predict their response to management and change.
After the soil scientists identify and describe the properties of landscape components, or natural bodies of soils, the components are correlated to an appropriate taxonomic class, which is used for naming map units. Correlation, or comparison of individual soils with similar soils in the same taxonomic class in other areas, confirms data and helps the staff determine the need to assemble additional data. Taxonomic classes are concepts. Each taxonomic class has a set of soil characteristics with precisely defined limits. The classes are used as a basis for comparison to classify soils systematically. Soil Taxonomy, the system of taxonomic classification used in the United States, is based mainly on the kind and character of soil properties and the arrangement of horizons within the profile (Soil Survey Staff, 1999).
A soil scientist is a person who is qualified to evaluate and interpret soils and soil-related data for the purpose of understanding soil resources as they contribute to not only agricultural production, but as they affect environmental quality and as they are managed for protection of human health and the environment. The university degree should be in Soil Science, or closely related field (i.e., natural resources, environmental science, earth science, etc.) and include sufficient soils-related course work so the Soil Scientist has a measurable level of understanding of the soil environment, including soil morphology and soil forming factors, soil chemistry, soil physics, and soil biology, and the dynamic interaction of these areas.
For more information about Describing and Sampling soils, visit;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For more information about Soil Taxonomy, visit;
sites.google.com/site/dinpuithai/Home
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;
sites.google.com/site/dinpuithai/Home
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
The Apalona series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in loess and the underlying residuum from shale interbedded with sandstone and siltstone. They are moderately deep or shallow to a fragipan. These soils are on benches of hills. Slopes range from 0 to 12 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 109 cm (43 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C (54 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Fragiudalfs
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 152 to more than 203 cm (60 to more than 80 inches)
Depth to a paralithic contact: more than 183 cm (72 inches)
Depth to fragipan: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches), except severely eroded pedons range from 38 to 91 cm (15 to 24 inches)
Rock fragments are dominantly very strongly cemented to indurated sandstone and siltstone channers.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing corn and soybeans, hay and pasture. Some areas are in woodland and wildlife areas. Native vegetation is mixed, deciduous hardwood forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Indiana. The acreage is of small extent in MLRA 120B.