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:

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 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.

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.

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:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/STUTTGART.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#stuttgart

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#cecil

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;

archive.org/details/websterGA2011/page/n3/mode/2up

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GREENVILLE.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#greenville

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:

storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...

For additional information about soil classification, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...

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;

gis.teagasc.ie/soils/soilguide.php

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:

gis.teagasc.ie/soils/downloads/SIS_Final_Technical_Report...

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

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#umberci

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:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/

For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:

www.flickr.com/photos/soilscience/sets/72157622983226139/

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:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...

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:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#cecil

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...

Soil profile: Typical profile of a Lewhand soil. The ochric epipedon extends from the surface to a depth of 20 centimeters (A horizon). (Soil Survey of Clearwater Area, Idaho; by Glenn Hoffman, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Lewhand series consists of shallow to a fragipan, poorly drained soils formed in mixed alluvium with an admixture of volcanic ash. Permeability is very slow and slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 35 inches and the average annual temperature is about 42 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, frigid Vitrandic Fragiudalfs

Depth to fragipan - 13 to 19 inches

Average annual soil temperature - 39 to 45 degrees F. (Frigid temperature regime)

Soil moisture control section - not dry for 45 consecutive days following the summer solstice. Aquic conditions from November to June. Udic moisture regime.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for livestock grazing, watershed and some crop production. The main crops are hay and oats. Potential native vegetation is black hawthorn, scattered lodgepole pine, snowberry, sedges and rushes.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North central Idaho; Lewhand soils are not extensive.

For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:

storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/clearwat...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LEWHAND.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#lewhand

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).

Soil Survey Manual, Ag. Handbook 18, 2017, (p. 529).

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:

www.flickr.com/photos/soilscience/sets/72157622983226139/

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 (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.

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...

www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/7/708#:~:text=As%20established%....

Rice production in South Korea is important for the food supply in the country, with rice being a common part of the Korean diet. In 2009, South Korea produced 3,899,036 metric tonnes (4,297,951 tons) of rice. Camp Casey sits in between the South Korean capital of Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone.

In South Korea are areas adjacent to the DMZ referred to as the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ) where public access is restricted. Most of these areas are heavily farmed.

South Korean farmers see these area adjacent to the DMZ as valuable soil, frequently planting crops despite warnings to stay away, a typical example of how South Korea's population has encroached on once-rural training areas.

In 1996 and 1998, unexploded ordnance killed two Korean civilians who had entered the Story range to look for scrap metal. Unexploded munitions and live-fire exercises make the area very dangerous. Unexploded ordnance in that area presents a very real and significant danger to anyone walking in the area. This danger is greatly amplified if someone is planting or harvesting crops... or sampling soils!

The South Korean Army supervises farming. Farmers must have a pass to cross any of the three bridges, guarded by South Korean soldiers, leading to the CCZ. Normally, range control officials and Army explosive ordnance disposal teams would clear munitions from the area annually. But many of these areas are swampy, and teams can only look for duds on the surface.

Additionally, the entire area just south of the DMZ is rife with mines. Many are newer mines laid by the South Korean Army as part of the DMZ defense. But there are unmarked mine fields, and monsoon rains shift mines around. Korean contractors and 8th Army personnel have uncovered about 30 mines while putting in fence posts.

A representative soil profile of the Berryland series. (Photo provided by Jim Turenne, USDA-NRCS; New England Soil Profiles)

Depth Class: Very deep

Drainage Class (Agricultural): Very poorly drained

Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: High

Landscape: Coastal plain, upland or lowland

Parent Material: Sandy eolian deposits and /or fluviomarine sediments

Slope: 0 to 2 percent

Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 13 degrees C. (56 degrees F.)

Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1143 mm (45 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, siliceous, mesic Typic Alaquods

Solum Thickness: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)

Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 183 cm (72 inches)

Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: + 15 cm (6 inches) to 25 cm (10 inches), October to June. Unless drained, the water table is at depths of 30 to 61 cm (12 to 24 inches) in summer months.

Depth to the Spodic Horizon: 25 to 41 cm (10 to 16 inches)

Rock Fragments: less than 15 percent, by volume throughout the profile, mostly quartzose pebbles, commonly less than 5 percent. The Bh horizon contains firm nodules that range from non-cemented to strongly cemented and are hard to very hard when dry.

Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, throughout the profile, unless limed

Other Features: Iron content is low in most pedons and specimens from the Bh horizon do not normally turn red when heated unless the soils are limed.

USE AND VEGETATION:

Major uses--Mostly in woodland. Some of the soil has been cleared for growing high-bush blueberries and cranberries. Drained areas have been used for growing vegetables, corn, soybeans and small grain

Where wooded--predominantly pitch pine, widely spaced Atlantic white cedar, red maple, and black gum. The dense understory is commonly high-bush blueberry, sweet pepperbush, bay magnolia, leather leaf, gallberry, and greenbriar. In Maryland, loblolly pine, pond pine, red maple, sweetgum, black gum, willow oak, swamp chestnut oak, and American holly are important forest trees.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Distribution--Coastal Plain of New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, and possibly Long Island, New York

Extent--Moderate

For additional information about New England soils, visit:

nesoil.com/images/images.htm

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BERRYLAND.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#berryland

The Craggey series consists of shallow, somewhat excessively drained, loamy soils on ridges and side slopes at high elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. They formed in residuum that is affected by soil creep and weathered from felsic to mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, isotic, frigid Lithic Humudepts

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is in State or Federal ownership and is used for watershed protection, recreation, and wildlife habitat. In areas higher than about 5,400 feet, red spruce and fraser fir are the dominant trees. At the lower elevations, northern red oak, black oak, American beech, yellow birch, black cherry, sugar maple, eastern hemlock, and yellow buckeye are common trees. In many areas, the trees are stunted due to wind and ice damage and a "windswept" phase is recognized. The acreage covered by heath balds is vegetated with rhododendron, mountain laurel, blueberry, striped maple, bearberry, flame azalea, hawthorn, blue ridge goldenrod, and mountain ash.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: High elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CRAGGEY.html

Soil profile: A typical profile of Etowah gravelly silt loam. (Soil Survey of Cannon County, Tennessee; by Jerry L. Prater, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

Landscape: Hay harvested on Etowah loam, 2 to 5 percent slopes. This soil is well suited to cropland, hayland, and pasture. (Soil Survey of Overton County, Tennessee; by Carlie McCowan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Etowah series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on high stream terraces, alluvial fans and foot slopes. These soils formed in alluvium or colluvium that is commonly underlain by limestone residuum below 40 inches. The slopes range from 0 to 35 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Paleudults

The solum is more than 60 inches thick. Depth to bedrock, commonly limestone, ranges from 6 to 15 feet or more. Coarse fragments are commonly less than 5 percent, but range from 0 to 15 percent in each horizon, except the A horizon ranges to 20 percent. Some pedons contain some fine mica flakes. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid except the surface layer is less acid in recently limed areas.

USE AND VEGETATION: Practically all is cleared and used primarily for growing hay, pasture, corn, and small grain. Original vegetation was oaks, hickory, tulip poplar, elm, beech, and shortleaf, and Virginia pine.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Highland Rim, and Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys of Tennessee; northwestern Georgia, northern Alabama and Maryland. The series is of moderate extent.

For additional information about the survey areas, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/cann...

and...

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/TN13...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/ETOWAH.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#etowah

MSU professor of entomology George Bird.

Soil profile: A representative profile of the Clifftop series. Clifftop soils are moderately deep (50 to 100 cm) to bedrock. (Soil Survey of Gauley River National Recreation Area, West Virginia; by Aron Sattler and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-gauley-river-nati...

Landscape: Hayland in an area of Clifftop channery silt loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes. This map unit qualifies as prime farmland.

Landscapes: Plateau and mountains

Landforms: Ridge, hillslope, mountain slope

MLRA(s): 127 (Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains) and 125 (Cumberland Plateau and Mountains)

Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes, and nose slopes

Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, backslope

Parent Material: Residuum derived from of early Pennsylvania Period acid shale, siltstone, or fine-grained sandstone (members of the Pottsville Series or its analogue)

Depth Class: Moderately deep to soft bedrock

Slope: 3 to 70 percent

Elevation: 549 to 1067 m (1795 to 3500 feet)

Frost-free period: 140 to 180 days

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults

Depth to the top of the Argillic: 13 to 51 cm (5 to 20 inches)

Depth to the base of the Argillic: 30 to 91 cm (12 to 36 inches)

Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches); bedrock is dominantly very weakly to moderately cemented shale, siltstone, or fine-grained sandstone of early Pennsylvanian Period age (members of the Pottsville Group or its analogue)

Rock Fragment content (by volume): 0 to 25 percent in the upper solum, 15 to 65 percent in the BC and C horizon.

Soil Reaction: strongly acid to extremely acid throughout, except where limed or affected by forest fires.

USE AND VEGETATION:

Major Uses: Woodland, pasture, and hay land, and minor urban development

Dominant Vegetation: Oak-hickory or mixed mesophytic forests.

Where wooded--scarlet, black, white, red, or chestnut oak, red maple, pignut or mockernut hickory, yellow poplar, American Holly, beech, and Virginia or white pine are the dominate species.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Distribution: West Virginia, and possibly; Kentucky, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Extent: Moderate

The Clifftop series is limited to soils formed in materials weathered from early Pennsylvanian Period geologic parent materials (members of the Pottsville Group or its analogue).

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/west_virginia/...

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CLIFFTOP.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#clifftop

A soil profile of Barnwell loamy coarse sand. (Soil Survey of Lee County, South Carolina; by Charles M. Ogg, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

archive.org/details/LeeSC2007

MLRA(s): 133A-Southern Coastal Plain

Depth Class: Very deep

Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained

Internal Free Water Occurrence: Deep and transitory

Flooding Frequency and Duration: None

Ponding Frequency and Duration: None

Index Surface Runoff: Negligible to high

Permeability: Moderately slow to slow

Shrink-swell potential: Low

Landscape: Middle and upper coastal plain

Landform: Uplands

Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, backslopes

Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes

Parent Material: Marine deposits

Slope: 2 to 15 percent

Elevation (type location): Unknown

Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 62 degrees F.

Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 45 inches

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults

Thickness of the sandy surface and subsurface layers: 3 to 19 inches

Depth to top of the Argillic or Kandic horizon: 3 to 19 inches

Depth to the base of the Argillic horizon: 35 to 80

Depth to contrasting soil material (lithologic discontinuity): 35 to more than 80 inches

Depth to densic materials: 40 to more than 60 inches

Soil reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid throughout, except where limed

Mica content: 0 to 20 percent

Depth to bedrock: Greater than 80 inches

Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 40 to 60 inches, November to April

Rock Fragment content: 0 to 35 percent, by volume throughout

Content of mica: None to 20 percent

Other Feature: 40 to 60 inches to a densic BC horizon with firm or very firm moist consistence

USE AND VEGETATION:

Major Uses: Truck and row crops

Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--watermelon, canteloupe, wheat, soybean, cotton, and corn. Where wooded--mixed hardwoods and pines.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Distribution: Southern Coastal Plain in South Carolina, and possibly Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia

Extent: Moderate

For more detailed information, please visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BARNWELL.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#barnwell

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.

This soil is on flood plains and on terraces along wadis in mountain valleys. This soil is excessively drained. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity class for the surface

layer is very high.

This soil is mostly used for rangeland grazing for goats and camels. A few small mountain villages are also located on this soil. Due to the presence of water aquifers, some areas are used for growing date palms or other crops, although the soil in these areas has been replaced with less stony material. Commonly described vegetation species include Acacia tortilis, Tephrosia apollinea, Euphorbia larica, and Rhazya stricta. Vegetation cover is about 1 to 8%.

The main distinguishing feature of this soil is the high content of cobbles and stones. Because the soil is dominated by gravel, cobbles and stones it has very low water and nutrient holding capacity. It is nearly impossible to dig by hand, so even small excavations require power equipment. Soil strength is high due to the coarse nature of the soil and it can provide a good surface for building sites and roads, although the large size of the rock fragments can present difficulties for construction projects.

A representative soil profile of an Allbeluvisol from the Hungarian Soil Classification System (HSCS) by Prof. Blaskó Lajos (2008).

[epa.oszk.hu/02500/02541/00042/pdf/EPA02541_hungeobull_201...]

ALBELUVISOLS: Acid soil with a bleached horizon penetrating a clay accumulation horizon (from the Latin, albus, meaning white and eluere, meaning to wash out). Albeluvisols have an accumulation of clay in the subsoil with an irregular or broken upperboundary and deep penetrations or ‘tonguing’ of bleached soil material into the illuviation horizon. The typical “albeluvic tongues” are generally the result of freeze-thaw processes in periglacial conditions and often show a polygonal network in horizontal cuts. Albeluvisols occur mainly in the moist and cool temperate regions. Also known as Podzoluvisols. They cover 15 percent of Europe as the most common soil.

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.

Soil profile: A representative soil profile of an Oxisol from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)

Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation (pastureland) occurring on upland interfuve and side-slopes in Brazil.

Oxisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. Oxisols are weathered soils that are low in fertility. They are most common on the gentle slopes of geologically old surfaces in tropical and subtropical regions. Their profiles are distinctive because of a lack of obvious horizons. Their surface horizons are normally somewhat darker than the subsoil, but the transition of subsoil features is gradual. Some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.

Oxisol (Latossolos) and landscape BRAZIL--In the Brazil soil classification system, these Latossolos are highly weathered soils composed mostly of clay and weathering resistant sand particles. Clay silicates of low activity (kaolinite clays) or iron and aluminum oxide rich (haematite, goethite, gibbsite) are common. There are little noticeable horizonation differences. These are naturally very infertile soils, but, because of the ideal topography and physical conditions, some are being used for agricultural production. These soils do require fertilizers because of the ease of leaching of nutrients through the highly weathered soils.

For additional information about these soils, visit:

sites.google.com/site/soil350brazilsoilsla/soil-formation...

and...

For additional information about U.S. soil classification, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...

Landscape: Intermountain hills, low and intermediate mountains

Landform: Mountain slope, hillslopes, and ridges

Geomorphic Component: Mountain top, mountain flank, side slope, and interfluves

Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, and backslope

Parent Material Origin: Felsic to mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks, such as mica gneiss, hornblende gneiss, and amphibolite.

Parent Material Kind: Residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper solum.

Slope: Typically 15 to 50 percent, but range from 2 to 95 percent.

Elevation: 427 to 1341 meters; (1,400 to 4,400 feet)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, parasesquic, mesic Typic Hapludults

Solum Thickness: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)

Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 cm to weathered bedrock, (20 to 40 inches)

Depth Class: Moderately 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 horizons, 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:

Major Uses: Woodland, less often pasture, hayland, and rarely cultivated crops.

Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--chestnut oak, white oak, scarlet oak, black oak, hickory with some eastern white pine, Virginia pine, and shortleaf pine. Understory includes flowering dogwood, American chestnut sprouts, sourwood, mountain laurel, flame azalea, and buffalo nut.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Distribution: Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130-B) of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Extent: Large--more than 100,000 acres.

Cowee soils were previously mapped with Saluda and Evard soils. The Cowee Series recognizes soils that are moderately deep, 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches), to weathered bedrock. Saluda soils are shallow and Evard soils are very deep. The 1/98 revision places the Cowee series in a fine-loamy, parasesquic, mesic Typic Hapludults family. The series was formerly in a mixed mineralogy family. CEC activity class placement is based on sample pedon S85-NC-099-003 and on similar soils such as Brevard and Evard.

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/COWEE.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#cowee

STANLEY W. BUOL is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Soil Science at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, where he held William Neal Reynolds Distinguished and Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professorships before retirement. He earned B.S., M.S., and PhD. Degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to moving to North Carolina State University, he was a faculty member of the Agricultural Chemistry and Soils Department at the University of Arizona. He is a Fellow in both the Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy. He has received the International Soil Science Award and Distinguished Service Award from the Soil Society of America and the Achievement Award from the North Carolina Soil Science Society. In addition to several papers in scientific journals and book chapters, he has authored the book Soils, Land, and Life.

Soil scientists explore and seek to understand the earth’s land and water resources. Practitioners of soil science identify, interpret, and manage soils for agriculture, forestry, rangeland, ecosystems, urban uses, and mining and reclamation in an environmentally responsible way.

Soil survey or soil mapping, is the process of classifying soil types and other soil properties in a given area and geo-encoding such information. It applies the principles of soil science, and draws heavily from geomorphology, theories of soil formation, physical geography, and analysis of vegetation and land use patterns. Primary data for the soil survey are acquired by field sampling and by remote sensing.

In the past, a soil scientist would take hard-copies of aerial photography, topo-sheets, and mapping keys into the field with them. Today, a growing number of soil scientists bring a ruggedized tablet computer and GPS into the field with them.

The term soil survey may also be used as a noun to describe the published results. In the United States, these surveys were once published in book form for individual counties by the National Cooperative Soil Survey.

Today, soil surveys are no longer published in book form; they are published to the web and accessed on NRCS Web Soil Survey where a person can create a custom soil survey. This allows for rapid flow of the latest soil information to the user. In the past it could take years to publish a paper soil survey. The information in a soil survey can be used by farmers and ranchers to help determine whether a particular soil type is suited for crops or livestock and what type of soil management might be required.

An architect or engineer might use the engineering properties of a soil to determine whether it is suitable for a certain type of construction. A homeowner may even use the information for maintaining or constructing their garden, yard, or home. Soils are the basis of agriculture and play a critical role in agricultural production as they provide the medium upon which crops can grow. Yet, during the past few decades, focus on the importance of soils has diminished, coupled with harsh man-made and natural conditions that have resulted in soil erosion and soil nutrient mining.

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 these soils, visit;

www.sbcs.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/v42e0170190-1.pdf

For more information about soil classification using the WRB system, visit:

www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf

For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...

or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...

For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM

Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Vallers series. Vallers soils are poorly drainedand runoff is negligible to low. Permeability is moderately slow and an apparent seasonal high water table is at a depth of 0.5 to 1.5 feet at some time during the period of March through July.

Landscape: The Vallers soils are on level and nearly level slight rises, shallow depressions and drainageways of till plains, moraines and lake plains. They are on slightly concave to slightly convex slopes with gradient of 0 to 3 percent. These soils formed in fine-loamy, calcareous till of Late Wisconsinan Age. In some areas, these soils have a silty lacustrine mantle as much as 24 inches thick.

The Vallers series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils that formed in calcareous fine-loamy till on till plains, moraines and lake plains. These soils have moderately slow permeability. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 22 inches, and mean annual air temperature is about 43 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Calciaquolls

The mollic epipedon ranges from 7 to 25 inches in thickness. In some pedons the lower part of the mollic epipedon qualifies as part of the calcic horizon. The calcic horizon has a calcium carbonate equivalent of about 20 to 35 percent. The 10 to 40 inch particle-size control section typically has between 22 and 32 percent clay but ranges from 18 to 35 percent and 15 to 35 percent sand coarser than very fine sand. It typically contains 2 to 8 percent rock fragments of mixed lithology, but in some pedons the upper part lacks rock fragments. Typically, the soil is calcareous throughout, but a few pedons under native vegetation lack free carbonates in the upper 7 inches of the soil. The soil is typically slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline throughout, but is neutral in the surface layer where it lacks free carbonates. Firm subsoil, saline, stony, and depressional phases are recognized.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is cultivated. Corn, soybeans, small grains and legumes are the principal crops. Native vegetation is tall grass prairie.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Minnesota, northeastern South Dakota, and eastern North Dakota. The series is of large extent.

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/V/VALLERS.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#vallers

A representative soil profile of Darco loamy fine sand. (Soil Survey of Shelby County, Texas; by Kirby Griffith, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

The Darco series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in sandy and loamy residuum from Southern Coastal Plain marine deposits of the Carrizo Sand, Queen City Sand, and Sparta Sand Formations. These gently sloping to steep soils are on uplands. Slopes range from 1 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 1016 to 1270 mm (40 to 50 in) and the mean annual air temperature ranges from 17 to 20 degrees C (63 to 68 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Grossarenic Paleudults

Soil Moisture: Udic soil moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is moist in some or all parts for more than 275 days in normal years, July and August are the driest months, while November to May are the wettest months.

Mean annual soil temperature range: 18 to 21 degrees C (64 to 70 degrees F).

Solum thickness: Greater than 203 cm (80 in)

Particle-size control section (weighted average):

Clay content: 12 to 35 percent

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the soil is used for pasture or woodland. Pastures are mainly in coastal bermudagrass or weeping lovegrass. Native trees include loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, red oak, and hickory. Watermelons, peanuts, small grain for grazing, and vegetables are grown in some areas.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The series is extensive. These soils were formerly included in the Lakeland and Troup series. The series was updated in 2002 to allow value 6 in the Bt horizon and to allow clay loam texture below 60 inches deep. The series was updated in 2004 to allow 7.5YR hue in the E and EB horizons.

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX419/0/...

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DARCO.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#darco

Distinct, sharp breaks between landforms are evident over short lateral distances, as shown by the talus cone in this canyon along the Palouse River in Washington.

Some parts of the landscape and the soils on them are separated from their neighbors by distinct, sharp boundaries over a lateral distance of just meters. For example, a stream terrace may be sharply separated from adjacent cliffs and talus cones by an abrupt, easily observed scarp. Other parts of the landscape and the soils on them have lateral boundaries that are very gradual and indistinct, transitioning over tens of meters or kilometers. For example, a loess mantle thins gradually with increasing distance from the source of the loess.

Soil Survey Manual, Ag. Handbook 18, 2017, (p. 23).

A representative soil profile of an Anionic Acrustox from Brazil. (Photo and comments courtesy of Stan Buol, NCSU.)

This profile was photographed in the state of Goiás, Brazil. The soil is formed in clayey (71-80 percent clay) sediments on a 4 percent slope at the shoulder of a high plateau. Although the black color usually associated with organic carbon is not visible organic carbon contents are greater than 1 percent to a depth of 80 cm. Below 80 cm pH values in 1N KCl are higher than pH values in water. Thus the subsoil has a net positive charge and exchangeable cations and Al3+ are absent. The surface 15 cm contains slightly more than 2 percent organic, a pH value in water of 4.5, no exchangeable bases, and the 1.3 cmols Kg-1 of effective cation exchange capacity is 100 percent saturated with Al3+ ions.

Such soils often predominate on the highest plateaus and are vegetated almost entirely by grasses with only very sparse woody bushes. Not surprisingly the native grasses are so nutrient deficient, especially in calcium and phosphorus that mammals attempting to graze them soon loose bone strength and die. Native mammals are rare or absent and ranchers that have attempted to introduce cattle are said to declare these areas as a place to loose cattle, not graze cattle. During the 1970’s soil scientist researchers found that such soils could be very good sites for corn and grain production. A large amount of phosphorus was initially required but that could be considered a one-time capital investment that corrected the capacity of the oxides to fix phosphorus.

Since the cation exchange capacity was small in the surface and non-existent in the subsoil Ca2+ applied as lime and incorporated via cultivation rapidly moved down in the profile and allowed for deeper rooting of crop species. Although rainfall is abundant during the rainy season of about 6 months each year there are often a couple of weeks of rainless weather and deeper roots allow a crop to access necessary plant available water. Large areas of nearly level land facilitate the use of the largest farm machinery, The fact that the surface and the entire profile has over 70 percent clay the clay is aggregated into strong fine granular structure, bulk density is approximately 1 g cm-3 and the soil rapidly infiltrates and drains after a rain. During the 1990’s extensive areas of these soils have been cultivated for the first time and are proving highly productive.

____________________________________

Anionic Acrudox soils have a delta pH (KCl pH minus 1:1 water pH) with a 0 or net positive charge in a layer 18 cm or more thick within 125 cm of the mineral soil surface. They are of small extent and are known to occur only in Hawaii and Puerto Rico in the United States.

Acrudox are Udox that have very low CEC values in the subsoil. Frequent but small applications of fertilizer and lime are required. Because the CEC is low, the amount of exchangeable aluminum in the subsoil is low. This deficiency can be corrected by leaching basic cations from lime and fertilizer.

Udox are well drained Oxisols with a udic soil moisture regime. They are moist because of natural rainfall in normal years and are dry in some parts for less than 90 days, a period that is short enough for rain-fed crops to be grown continuously in normal years. There are fewer than 90 days during which crops are not planted. In local terms there are 1 to 3 months that considered “dry” in normal years. Udox are an extensive suborder, occurring mostly in South America and in parts of Africa and Asia.

For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:

[www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/field-book.pdf]

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, 2nd Edition, 1999, visit:

[www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/Soil%20Taxo...]

or Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 13th Edition, 2022:

[www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/Keys-to-Soi...]

A representative soil profile of the Knockaun series in an area of unimproved grassland from Ireland. These soils formed in fine loamy over calcareous gravels.

For detailed information about this soil, visit;

gis.teagasc.ie/soils/rep_profile_sheet.php?series_code=11...

For information about the soil series of Ireland, visit;

gis.teagasc.ie/soils/soilguide.php

In the Irish soil classification system these soils are Humic Calcareous Brown Earths (relatively young soils or soils with little profile development).

For more information about describing and classifying soils using the Irish Soils Classification System, visit:

gis.teagasc.ie/soils/downloads/SIS_Final_Technical_Report...

Photo provided by a contributor to SoilScience.info

The Al Dhaid series is a very deep soil formed in gravelly alluvial deposits. (NE014) UAE.

Typic Haplocalcids, sandy-skeletal, mixed, hyperthermic

Diagnostic subsurface horizon described in this profile is: Calcic horizon 25 to 90 cm.

The weighted average of the silt plus clay in the particle-size control section is less than 15%. The pH (1:1) ranges from 7.0 to 8.6 throughout the profile. The EC (1:1) is generally less than 1.0 in all horizons, but it may be as high as 6.0 in some areas that have been irrigated. In addition, in pedons where EC (1:1) values are elevated, ESP and SAR values may also range to about 20 and 15 respectively. A desert pavement of gravel in many areas covers 15 to 60% of the soil surface. The size of the rock fragments on and in the soil is predominantly gravel, but may include cobbles and a few stones, especially in areas close to the mountains. The size of rock fragments generally decreases as distance from the mountains increases.

The A horizon is generally about 20 cm thick, but ranges from 10 to 20 cm. Hue is 7.5YR or 10YR, value is 5 to 7, and chroma is 3 or 4. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, or sandy loam, including as gravelly or very gravelly texture modifiers.

The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is very gravelly or extremely gravelly coarse sand, sand, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand. Texture in the upper 10 to 20 cm of the B horizon may be sand, fine sand, loamy sand including gravelly texture modifiers. Accumulations of calcium carbonate are evident in the form of masses or concretions.

The B horizon may be extremely weakly to moderately cemented with carbonates, particularly in pedons where it extends below 100 cm. Where cemented, roots appear to be able to penetrate with a spacing of less than 10 cm. In some pedons the B horizon extends to more than 200 cm.

The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is very gravelly or extremely gravelly coarse sand, sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.

The Wallkill series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils formed in alluvium overlying organic soil material. They are nearly level soils that occur on flood plains or around margins of organic soils adjacent to uplands. Saturated hydraulic conducticity of the mineral portion is moderately high to high, and the organic portion is high to very high. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. The mean annual temperature is about 9 degrees Celsius, and the mean annual precipitation is about 1041 millimeters.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, mesic Fluvaquentic Humaquepts

USE AND VEGETATION: Where drained, Wallkill soils are used for growing potatoes, lettuce, celery and other vegetable crops. A significant area is used for sod-production for lawns. Corn is produced locally. Partially drained areas are used for hay and pasture. Wooded areas have elm, red maple and other water-tolerant species.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Orange County, New York, 1913.

For more information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/new_york/NY071...

For a detailed description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WALLKILL.html

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#wallkill

Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/

Gypsum has many interesting properties, including its very unique crystal habits. Many Gypsum crystals are found perfectly intact without distortions or parts broken off. Such crystals are found in a clay beds as floater crystals, where they fully form without being attached to a matrix. Gypsum crystals are known for their flexibility, and slim crystals can be slightly bent.

Gypsum has the same chemical composition as the mineral Anhydrite, but contains water in its structure, which Anhydrite lacks. Many Anhydrite specimens absorb water, transforming into the more common Gypsum. Some Gypsum specimens show evidence of this, containing growths of crumpling layers that testify to their expansion from the addition of water.

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-...