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Soil profile: Dekalb very channery loam. This Dekalb soil, which formed under forests, has dark organic horizons at a depth of 0 to 10 centimeters. Dekalb soils have bedrock at a depth of 50 to 100 centimeters. In this photo, bedrock occurs at a depth of approximately 70 centimeters. (Soil Survey of New River Gorge National River, West Virginia; by Wendy Noll and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of a Layland-Dekalb-Rock outcrop complex, 55 to 80 percent slopes, extremely stony. The extremely stony Layland soil is in the foreground, and the Dekalb soils and Rock outcrop are in the background.
Layland-Dekalb-Rock outcrop complex, 55 to 80 percent slopes, extremely stony
Map Unit Setting
Major land resource area (MLRA): 127—Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains
Landscape: Mountains
Elevation: 250 to 874 meters
Mean annual precipitation: 1,034 to 1,289 millimeters
Mean annual air temperature: 5 to 17 degrees C
Frost-free period: 141 to 190 days
Map Unit Composition
Layland and similar soils: 45 percent
Dekalb and similar soils: 30 percent
Rock outcrop: 10 percent
Dissimilar minor components: 15 percent
Description of the Dekalb Soil
Soil Classification: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Setting
Landform: Convex mountain slopes
Landform position (two-dimensional): Shoulder and backslope
Landform position (three-dimensional): Mountain flank and nose slope
Down-slope shape: Convex
Across-slope shape: Convex
Aspect (representative): Southwest
Aspect range: All aspects
Slope range: 55 to 80 percent
Parent material: Acid loamy residuum weathered from sandstone
Properties and Qualities
Depth to restrictive feature: 51 to 102 centimeters to lithic bedrock
Shrink-swell potential: Low (about 2.1 LEP)
Salinity maximum based on representative value: Nonsaline
Sodicity maximum: Not sodic
Calcium carbonate equivalent percent: No carbonates
Hydrologic Properties
Slowest capacity to transmit water (Ksat ): High
Natural drainage class: Well drained
Flooding frequency: None
Ponding frequency: None
Seasonal water table: None within a depth of 160 centimeters
Available water capacity (entire profile): Moderate (about 8.0 centimeters)
Interpretive Groups
Land capability subclass (nonirrigated areas): 7s
West Virginia grassland suitability group (WVGSG): Not Suited (NS)
Dominant vegetation map class(es):
Oak - Hickory Forest
Oak / Ericad Forest
Eastern Hemlock - Chestnut Oak / Catawba Rhododendron Forest
Hydric soil status: No
Hydrologic soil group: A
Representative Profile
A—very channery highly organic sandy loam
Bw—very channery loam
BC—extremely channery loam
R—bedrock
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/D/DEKALB.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Harvesting wheat in an area of Estacado clay loam, 0 to 1 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Deaf Smith County, Texas by Thomas C. Byrd, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Map Unit Setting
General location: Southern High Plains of western Texas and eastern New Mexico
Major land resource area: 77C
Geomorphic setting: These soils are on nearly level plains and occur mainly around or adjacent to playa basins.
Map Unit Composition
Estacado and similar soils: 85 percent
Contrasting soils: 15 percent
Based on transect data and other field observations of the map unit during the survey, the best estimate is that the Estacado soil and similar soils make up 90 percent of the map unit, and contrasting soils make up 10 percent.
The soils similar to Estacado are small areas of Olton, Pantex, and Pullman soils that occur on similar landscape positions. Also included are small areas of Estacado soils that have a surface layer of loam or have slopes of 1 to 3 percent.
Soil Description
Estacado
Landscape: Plateaus or tablelands
Landform: Plain
Parent material: Calcareous, loamy eolian sediments from the Blackwater Draw
Formation of Pleistocene age.
Typical Profile
Ap—0 to 6 inches; dark grayish brown, moderately alkaline clay loam; strongly effervescent
Bt1—6 to 19 inches; brown, moderately alkaline clay loam; about 1 percent masses of calcium carbonate; strongly effervescent
Bt2—19 to 38 inches; brown, moderately alkaline clay loam; about 2 percent nodules of calcium carbonate; strongly effervescent
Btk1—38 to 50 inches; pink, moderately alkaline clay loam; about 40 percent films and masses of calcium carbonate; violently effervescent
Btk2—50 to 80 inches; pinkish white, moderately alkaline clay loam; about 35 percent masses and nodules of calcium carbonate; violently effervescent
Slope: 0 to 1 percent
Surface features: None specified
Percent of area covered by surface fragments: None specified
Depth to restrictive feature: None
Slowest permeability class in the soil profile: Moderate
Salinity: Not saline within 40 inches
Sodicity: Not sodic within 40 inches
Available water capacity: About 9.2 inches (High)
Natural drainage class: Well drained
Runoff: Negligible
Annual flooding: None
Annual ponding: Not ponded
Depth to seasonal high water table: Not present within 80 inches
Interpretive Groups
Land capability nonirrigated: 3e
Land capability irrigated: 2e
Ecological site name: Deep Hardland PE 25-36
Ecological site number: R077CY022TX
Typical vegetation: The potential natural plant community for this site is shortgrass dominant with a few midgrasses and forbs. Very few shrubs or woody plants occur on this shortgrass prairie. The most prevalent grasses are blue grama and buffalograss with blue grama being dominant.
Use and Management
Major land uses: These soils are primarily used for cropland. A few areas are used as improved pasture or rangeland.
Cropland management: This soil is well suited to cropland. The most common crops grown are wheat, grain sorghum, corn, and cotton. Other crops include soybeans and forage sorghum. The hazard of wind erosion is severe. The main concerns in management are conserving soil moisture and controlling soil erosion. Fertilizer applications, reduced tillage, high-residue cover crops, and crop residue
management can help reduce the soil temperature, conserve moisture, and improve or maintain soil tilth and productivity. Terraces, contour farming, grassed waterways, and diversion terraces, where needed, can help control runoff and water erosion. Improved varieties of bermudagrass and bluestems are the major pasture grasses grown on these soils. Fertilizer applications, weed control, brush management, proper stocking rates, and controlled grazing can help conserve soil moisture and improve or maintain productivity.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX117/0/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/E/ESTACADO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Georgia’s “Little Grand Canyon” is a testament to the power of man’s influence on the land. Massive gullies as deep as 150 feet were caused simply by poor farming practices during the 1800s, yet today they make some of the prettiest photographs within the state. The rare Plumleaf Azalea grows only in this region and blooms during July and August when most azaleas have lost their color. The canyon soil’s pink, orange, red and purple hues make a beautiful natural painting at this quiet park.
The deep red clayey severely eroded and gullied soils are in the Nankin soil series.
The Toecane series consists of very deep, well drained soils with moderately rapid permeability. They formed in colluvium derived from materials weathered primarily from felsic high-grade metamorphic and igneous rocks such as metagraywacke, gneiss, schist, and granite. They are along drainageways, on benches and fans, and in coves in the Blue Ridge (MLRA 130). Slope ranges from 2 to 95 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 59 inches and mean annual temperature is about 51 degrees F. near the type location.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Humic Hapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 30 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Content of mica flakes is few or common in the upper 40 inches of the profile and few to many below 40 inches. Rock fragments range from 15 to 60 percent in the A and B horizons, and from 15 to 80 percent in the C horizon. Average content of rock fragments is 35 to 80 percent by volume in the particle-size control section. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid, except where surface layers have been limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Toecane soils are used for woodland. Native species include yellow-poplar, eastern hemlock, yellow birch, sweet birch, northern red oak, black cherry, red maple, Fraser magnolia and cucumbertree. At elevations above 4,000 feet yellow birch replaces yellow-poplar as a common tree. Common understory plants include rhododendron, striped maple, serviceberry, Carolina silverbell, trillium, hay scented fern, Solomon's seal, yellow mandarin, woodfern, and New York fern. Some of the less stony or bouldery areas are used for pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Blue Ridge (MLRA 130) of North Carolina and possibly Tennessee and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
Toecane soils are associated with residual soils that are on relatively stable landscapes. These soils were formerly included with the Cullasaja or Greenlee series. Cullasaja soils have an umbric epipedon and Greenlee have an ochric epipedon and lack the umbric intergrade property. Particle-size analysis of the fine-earth fraction of three pedons of Toecane indicate the clay content of the Bt horizons commonly range from about 15 to 25 percent. Most pedons have clay content that doubles from the eluvial horizon (AE) to the illuvial horizon (Bt). Weighted average clay content from a depth of 10 to 40 inches ranges from about 12 to 18 percent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TOECANE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile and landscape of the Conway soil series from England. (Photos and information provided by LandIS, Land Information System: Cranfield University 2022. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK. Last accessed 14/01/2022). (Photos revised.)
These and associated soils are deep stoneless fine silty and clayey soils variably affected by groundwater. Flat land. Risk of flooding.
They are classified as Fluvic Eutric Gleysols by the WRB soil classification system. (www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf)
For more information about this soil, visit:
A lamella is an illuvial horizon less than 7.5 cm thick. Each lamella contains an accumulation of oriented silicate clay on or bridging sand and silt grains (and rock fragments if any are present). A lamella has more silicate clay than the overlying eluvial horizon.
The significance of lamellae to soil classification is not in the single lamella but in the multiple number of lamellae, each with an overlying eluvial horizon in a single pedon. A single lamella may occur in a pedon, but more commonly there are several lamellae separated by eluvial horizons.
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The Alpin series consists of very deep, excessively drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils on uplands and river terraces of the Coastal Plain. They formed in thick beds of sandy eolian or marine deposits. Near the type location, the mean annual precipitation is about 55 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 68 70 degrees F. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Thermic, coated Lamellic Quartzipsamments
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of sand is 80 inches or more. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid throughout. Depth to lamellae ranges from 40 to 78 inches but most commonly is 50 to 70 inches. Cumulative thickness of lamellae ranges from 1 cm to 15 cm. Content of silt plus clay in the 10 to 40-inch control section ranges from 5 to 10 percent.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; rapidly permeable in the E horizons and moderately rapidly permeable in E&BT horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are planted to pine. Some small areas have been cleared and are used for tobacco, peanuts, watermelons, and tame pasture. The native vegetation consists of scattered slash pine and longleaf pine, turkey oak, post oak, blackjack oak, and bluejack oak. The understory is dominated by bluestem, low panicums, fringeleaf paspalum, and native annual forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain including Texas. The series is of large extent.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ALPIN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of the Saunook soil series. (Original photo provided by Matthew C. Ricker, NC State University)
The Saunook series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on benches, fans, and toe slopes in coves in the Blue Ridge (MLRA 130). They formed in colluvium derived from materials weathered from felsic to mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. Slope ranges from 2 to 60 percent. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 53 degrees F.
and mean annual precipitation is 55 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Humic Hapludults
Solum thickness is 40 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Content of mica flakes is few or common. Rock fragment content is less than 35 percent in the A and Bt horizons, and ranges to 60 percent in the BC and C horizon, where present. The fragments range in size from gravel to stones. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid in the A horizon, unless the soil has been limed. It is very strongly acid to slightly acid the Bt and C horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Much of this soil has been cleared and is used for orchards, corn, burley tobacco, small grain, truck crops, ornamentals, and pasture, as well as urban development. Common trees are yellow poplar, northern red oak, white oak, yellow buckeye, black cherry, black birch, white ash, cucumbertree, and black locust. Understory plants include mountain-laurel, black locust, rhododendron, greenbrier, flowering dogwood, red maple, poison-ivy, grape,
honeysuckle, sourwood, switchcane, and Christmas fern.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Carolina, Tennessee, and possibly Georgia, Virginia, and South Carolina. The series is of large extent.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Macon County, North Carolina, 1990. The name is from the Saunook community, near the type location in Haywood County, North Carolina.
REMARKS: The Saunook series was formerly included with the Tate and Tusquitee series. However, Tate soils have an ochric epipedon that has higher color value, and Tusquitee soils have a cambic horizon.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SAUNOOK.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Situated close to the peak (~1067 m. elev.) on the plateau next to the road. It has a very deep organic layer of peat (on solifluction deposits) - the consistently cold and wet anaerobic soil conditions of this perched area does not favour organic breakdown.
The story:
Ichnuun soil:
www.flickr.com/photos/jakelley/50767516822/in/album-72157...
Describing and photographing hydric soil field indicators in the Anchorage area of Alaska for the publication "Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in the United States". (I would periodically pause my activity to look around to determine if wildlife--bear or moose--were nearby. Based on the amount of scat on the ground, they clearly frequented the area.)
Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in the United States is a guide to help identify and delineate hydric soils in the field. Field indicators (indicators) are not intended to replace or modify the requirements contained in the definition of a hydric soil. Proper use of the indicators requires a basic knowledge of soil-landscape relationships and soil survey procedures.
Hydric soils are formed under conditions of saturation, flooding, or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part (Federal Register, 1994). Most hydric soils exhibit characteristic morphologies that result from repeated periods of saturation or inundation that last more than a few days. Saturation or inundation, when combined with microbial activity in the soil, causes the depletion of oxygen. Prolonged anaerobic conditions promote certain biogeochemical processes, such as the accumulation of organic matter and the reduction, translocation, or accumulation of iron and other reducible elements.
These processes result in distinctive characteristics that persist in the soil during both wet and dry periods, making them particularly useful for identifying hydric soils in the field. The indicators are used to identify the hydric soil component of wetlands; however, there are some hydric soils that lack any of the currently listed indicators. Therefore, the lack of any listed indicator does not prevent classification of the soil as hydric.
Such soils should be studied and their characteristic morphologies identified for inclusion in this guide. The indicators are designed to be regionally specific.
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
A representative soil profile and landscape of the Batch soil series from England. (Photos and information provided by LandIS, Land Information System: Cranfield University 2022. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK. Last accessed 14/01/2022). (Photos revised.)
These and associated soils are well drained loamy soils over rock. Sometimes reddish. Shallow locally. Steep slopes common.
They are classified as Skeletic Endoleptic Entic Podzols by the WRB soil classification system. (www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf)
For more information about this soil, visit:
Soil profile: A soil profile of Blanton sand. (Soil Survey of Decatur County, Georgia; by Scott Moore, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Controlled burning, which enhances wildlife habitat, in an area of Blanton loamy sand, 0 to 5 percent slopes.
The Blanton series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained to moderately well drained, moderately to slowly permeable soils on uplands and stream terraces in the Coastal Plain. They formed in sandy and loamy marine or eolian deposits. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 67 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 55 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 45 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Grossarenic Paleudults
Solum thickness ranges from 60 to more than 80 inches. Content of gravel-sized fragments, dominantly quartz and ironstone pebbles, is less than 10 percent, by volume, in all horizons except the A and E horizons which may have as much as 35 percent, by volume. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout except where the surface has been limed. Depth to the Bt horizon is commonly 50 to 70 inches but ranges from 40 to 80 inches. Redoximorphic features that indicate wetness occur at depths of between 30 and 72 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for cropland, truck crops, improved pasture, and hayland. Natural vegetation consists of slash and longleaf pine, red, bluejack, and live oak with an understory of chinkapin, highland fern, huckleberry, and pineland threeawn, bluestem, panicum, and tickclover.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/georgia/GA087/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BLANTON.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Port soil series; the State Soil of Oklahoma.
Landscape: These soils formed in calcareous, loamy alluvium and under native grasses. A high volume of organic matter recycled in a grass ecosystem has resulted in good soil structure and tilth. Most areas of the soils are used as cropland. The main cultivated crops are alfalfa, wheat, grain sorghum, and cotton. Some areas are used as pasture or rangeland. (Soil Survey of Canadian County, Oklahoma; Original fieldwork by Carl F. Fisher and Bill Swafford, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Update of information by Chuck Sample, Natural Resources Conservation Service).
The Port series consists of very deep, well-drained, moderately permeable, nearly level and very gently sloping soils on flood plains that are subject to frequent, occasional, or rare flooding. Depth to secondary calcium carbonates ranges from 20 to 60 inches. Thickness of the mollic epipedon ranges from 20 to 40 inches.
These soils are in western and central Oklahoma. They are in 33 of the 77 counties and make up about 1 million acres. The Port series was established in 1942 and is named after the small community of Port, Washita County, Oklahoma. The series was added to the list of official State symbols by the Oklahoma Legislature in 1987.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, thermic Cumulic Haplustolls
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern part of the Central Rolling Red Plains (MLRA-78C) and the Central Rolling Red Prairies (MLRA-80A) of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. The series is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/oklahoma/OK017...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PORT.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Lakeland series consists of very deep, excessively drained, rapid to very rapidly permeable soils on uplands. They formed in thick beds of eolian or marine and/or fluvio-marine sands in the Southern Coastal Plain MLRA (133A), the Carolina and Georgia Sandhills (MLRA 137), the Eastern Gulf Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 152A) and the Atlantic Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 153A).Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 67 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 52 inches. Slopes are dominantly from 0 to 12 percent but can range to 85 percent in dissected areas.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Thermic, coated Typic Quartzipsamments
Thickness of the sand exceeds 80 inches. Silt plus clay in the 10 to 40-inch control section ranges from 5 to 10 percent. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout except where the surface has been limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for peanuts, watermelons, peaches, corn, tobacco, and improved pasture. The natural vegetation consists of blackjack oak, turkey oak, post oak; scattered long leaf pine with an understory of creeping bluestem, sandy bluestem, lopsided indiangrass, hairy panicum, fringeleaf paspalum, and native annual forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain and sand hills of the thermic belt from Mississippi to Virginia. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/florida/washin...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LAKELAND.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
An Albic Podzol developed from granite by Cezary Kabala, Institute of Soil Science, University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland; (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)
Podzol is one of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Podzols form under forested landscapes on coarse parent material that is high in quartz. They have a characteristic subsurface layer known as the spodic horizon made up of accumulated humus and metal oxides, usually iron and aluminum. Above the spodic horizon there is often a bleached-out layer from which clay and iron oxides have been leached, leaving a layer of coarse-textured material containing primary minerals and little organic matter. Podzols usually defy cultivation because of their acidity and climatic environment. Occupying almost 4 percent of the total continental land area on Earth, they range from Scandinavia to Russia and Canada in the Northern Hemisphere, to The Guianas near the Equator, to Australia and Indonesia in the Southern Hemisphere. Podzols are closely similar to the Spodosol order of the U.S. Soil Taxonomy. Albeluvisols are a related FAO soil group also exhibiting a bleached-out layer.
Albic Podzols have a layer of albic material ≥ 1 cm thick, and starting ≤ 100 cm from the mineral soil surface, that does not consist of tephric material, does not contain carbonates, and does not contain gypsum; and that overlies a diagnostic horizon or forms part of a layer with stagnic properties.
For more information on the World Reference Base soil classification system, visit:
A representative soil profile of a Retisol from Luxembourg. (Photo courtesy of Stefaan Dondeyne, revised.)
Retisols have a clay illuviation horizon with an interfingering of bleached coarser textured soil material into the illuviation horizon forming a net-like pattern. The interfingering bleached coarser-textured material is characterized by a partial removal of clay and free iron oxides. There may be also bleached coarser-textured material falling from the overlying horizon into cracks in the illuvial horizon. Many Retisols correlate with the Podzoluvisols of the Soil Map of the World (FAO–UNESCO, 1971–1981). In other systems they are called Soddy-podzolic or Sodzolic soils (Russia),
Fahlerden (Germany), and Glossaqualfs, Glossocryalfs and Glossudalfs (United States of America). Albeluvisols of the former editions of WRB are included in the concept of Retisols.
Fragic (from Latin fragilis, fragile): having a fragic horizon starting ≤ 100 cm from the soil surface). A fragic horizon (from Latin fragilis, fragile) is a natural non-cemented subsurface horizon with a structure and a porosity pattern such that roots and percolating water penetrate the soil only along interped faces and streaks. The natural character excludes plough pans and surface traffic pans.
Glossic (from Greek glossa, tongue): having albeluvic glossae starting ≤ 100 cm from the soil surface.
Soil feature:
The term albeluvic glossae (from Latin albus, white, and eluere, to wash out, and Greek glossa, tongue) is connotative of penetrations of clay- and Fe-depleted material into an argic horizon. Albeluvic glossae occur along soil aggregate surfaces forming vertically continuous tongues. In horizontal sections they exhibit a polygonal pattern. (WRB)
For more information about soil classification using the WRB system, visit:
The Lloyd series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands in the Southern Piedmont. The soils formed in residuum derived from intermediate and mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Rhodic Kanhapludults
Most areas are cleared and used for cultivated crops or pasture. Principal crops are corn, small grain, hay and pasture grasses. Common trees in forested areas are loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, northern red oak, southern red oak, white oak, post oak, hickory, and red maple. Understory plants include dogwood, winged elm, eastern hophornbeam, eastern redbud, eastern red cedar, and sassafras.
These soils are of large extent in the Southern Piedmont in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and possibly Alabama, and Virginia.
These soils were combined with Hiwassee in 1969. Hiwassee series was originally established on high stream terraces. This revision separates the soils formed in residuum as Lloyd on the basis of parent material and depth of Rhodic colors. Terrace Hiwassee soils are dominantly value 3 or less throughout. A proposal to amend the 1996 Keys to Soil Taxonomy involves changing the thickness of the part of the kandic horizon with value of 3 or less to include more soils in the Rhodic subgroup.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LLOYD.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Aggregates are checked for degree of cementation to determine plinthite versus ironstone. Ironstone concretions are strongly or more cemented. Plinthite nodules are less than strongly cemented.
Concretions are cemented bodies (Very Weakly Cemented or greater) that don’t slake and are similar to nodules, except for the presence of visible concentric layers of material around a point, line, or plane. The terms “nodule” and “concretion” are not interchangeable.
Nodules are cemented (Very Weakly Cemented or greater) bodies of various shapes (commonly spherical or tubular) that can be removed as discrete units from soil and don’t slake. Crystal structure is not discernible with a 10X hand lens.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
For additional information about soil classification using Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
A soil profile of a very deep, loamy Argialboll in Kansas. This soil has a thick, dark, mollic epipedon to a depth of about 90 centimeters. Within this layer is a gray albic horizon about 10 to 15 centimeters thick from which clay has been leached. An argillic horizon begins in the lower part of the mollic epipedon and extends beyond the base of the photo. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Argialbolls have an argillic (clay accumulation) subsoil horizon. Most of the soils have very dark gray to black coatings of humus and clay on the peds in the upper part of the argillic horizon. In the United States, these soils are most extensive in the loess-covered areas of the Midwestern States where the temperature regime is mesic. A very few of the soils have a frigid or thermic temperature regime. A distinct moisture deficiency in summer and a moisture surplus in winter and spring seem to be essential to the genesis of these soils. Argialbolls are associated on the landscape with all other suborders of Mollisols, except possibly Rendolls. Because they have gentle slopes, most of the Argialbolls in the United States are cultivated.
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:
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The Belmore series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in loamy and gravelly outwash and are underlain by gravelly, sandy, and loamy outwash deposits. They are on terraces, outwash plains, and glacial drainage channels. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. (Delaware County, Indiana; by Gary R. Struben, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 56 to 140 cm (22 to 55 inches) and commonly is the same as depth to carbonates
Special features: tongues of the B horizon in some pedons extend into the underlying outwash material to depths greater than 140 cm (55 inches)
Rock fragments: typically glacial pebbles of mixed lithology
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Belmore soils are cultivated. Corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, and hay are principal crops. Some areas are used for fruit, early truck crops, and sugar beets.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern and west-central Ohio and northern Indiana; mainly in MLRAs 99 and 111B, and of lesser extent in 111A and 111E. The type location is in MLRA 111B. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
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For a detailed soil description, visit:
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A representative soil profile of the Exray fine sandy loam. The subsoil is reddish brown to red and has subangular blocky structure. (Soil Survey of Jack County, Texas; by Wilfred E. Crenwelge, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Exray series consists of well drained, moderately slowly permeable, shallow soils over sandstone bedrock that formed in residuum of weathered sandstone interbedded with claystone. These soils are on plains and ridges and have slopes ranging from 1 to 20 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, mixed, active, thermic, shallow Typic Haplustalfs
USE AND VEGETATION: Used almost exclusively as rangeland. Native vegetation is mainly bluestem, indiangrass, sideoats grama, sand lovegrass, ragweed, blackjack, and post oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mainly in the savannah areas of north-central Texas. The series is of moderate extent. Exray soils were previously mapped as shallow phases of the Bonti series. Exray soils were changed to a shallow family of Typic Haplustalfs from Lithic Rhodustalfs on 12/3/2002, because they were redescribed with a 5YR Hue in the Bt horizon and moderately cemented and less cemented sandstone bedrock was recognized as the dominant substrata.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX237/0/...
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A representative soil profile of Carbengle sandy clay loam, 3 to 5 percent slopes. Sandstone occurs at a depth of about 80 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Colorado County, Texas; by Samuel E. Brown, Jr., Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Carbengle series consists of moderately deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils formed in residuum weathered from calcareous sandstone in Fleming and Oakville formations of Miocene age. These gently to strongly sloping soils occur on summits of interfluves and backslopes of side slopes of ridges on inland dissected coastal plain. Slopes range from 1 to 12 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1016 mm (40 in) and the mean annual temperature is about 20 degrees C (68 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, carbonatic, thermic Udic Calciustolls
Depth of solum: 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 in)
Soil moisture: Udic ustic soil moisture regime. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for four-tenths or less of the consecutive days per year when the soil temperature at a depth of 50 cm below the soil surface is higher than 5 degrees C and moist in some part either for more than 180 cumulative days per year or for 90 or more consecutive days in normal years.
Depth to paralithic contact: 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 in)
Depth to secondary calcium carbonate: 18 to 46 cm (7 to 18 in)
Depth to calcic horizon: 18 to 46 cm (7 to 18 in)
Thickness of the mollic epipedon: 18 to 46 cm (7 to 18 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 40 to 75 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: The major uses are livestock grazing and hay production. A few areas are used for crop production. Improved bermudagrass and corn are the principal crops. Native vegetation consists of a tall grass prairie of little bluestem, indiangrass, and big bluestem with a few large post oak, elm, and hackberry trees along the draws and in occasional motts. Numerous other grasses and a variety of forbs occur in the native plant community.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South Central Texas; Land Resource Region J; MLRA 86B. The series is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
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Dothan series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slowly to slowly permeable soils on broad uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A) and to a much lesser extent in the Eastern Gulf Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 152A) Major Land Resource Areas. They formed in thick beds of unconsolidated, medium to fine-textured marine sediments. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Plinthic Kandiudults
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Dothan soils have been cleared and are used for the production of corn, cotton, peanuts, vegetable crops, hay, and pasture. Forested areas are in longleaf pine, loblolly pine, sweetgum, southern red oak, and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is of large extent.
For a detailed description of the soil, visit:
Soil profile: A soil profile of Vanella cobbly fine sandy loam. The lower part of the argillic horizon starting at approximately 80 centimeters is red, cobbly clay loam. These soils formed in old colluvium derived from sandstone, shale, siltstone, limestone, dolomitic limestone, quartzite, metasandstone, and phyllite. (Soil Survey of Rockbridge County, Virginia; by Mary Ellen Cook, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A view looking north at Big House and Little House Mountains. The cleared areas are dominantly Carbo, Opequon, Groseclose, Tumbling, and Vanella soils.
Landscape: Hills and mountains
Landform: Debris flows, hillslopes and mountain slopes
MLRA(s): 130A, 147
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, backslopes and footslopes
Geomorphic Component: Interfluve, crest, nose slope, side slope, base slope and mountainflank
Parent Material: Old colluvium derived from sandstone, shale, limestone, quartzite, metasandstone and phyllite.
Slope: 3 to 35 percent.
Elevation: 1,000 to 3,000 feet
Frost-free period: 130 to 205 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 53 to 56 degrees F
Mean Annual Precipitation: 38 to 42 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, mesic Typic Paleudults
Thickness of the Ochric epipedon: 0 to 60 cm (0 to 24 inches) (A, E and BE horizons)
Depth of the Argillic horizon: 60 to 165 cm (24 to 65 inches) (Bt horizons). The weighted average of clay is 18 to 35 percent in the particle-size control section.
Solum thickness: Greater than 150 cm (60 inches)
Depth to bedrock: Greater than 150 cm (60 inches)
Depth Class: Very Deep
Rock fragment content: 0 to 35 percent in the upper horizons and particle-size control section. Rock fragments can range from 0 to 60 percent below the control section. They consist of a mixture of subrounded and subangular fragments of sandstone, shale, quartzite, metasandstone and phyllite.
Soil Reaction: Very strongly acid or strongly acid except where limed.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Most areas are in forest. Some areas are used for pasture and cultivated crops.
Dominant Vegetation: Chestnut oak, scarlet oak, post oak, Virginia pine, eastern white pine, and pitch pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: The Northern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys (MLRA 147) and the metasedimentary areas along the western flank of the Northern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130A).
Extent: Moderate
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
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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.
A representative soil profile of the Township series. (Soil Survey of Clearwater Area, Idaho; by Glenn Hoffman, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Township series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in residuum and colluvium from schist and gneiss that are high in mica, with a thick mantle of volcanic ash. They are located on mountain slopes. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high and slopes range from 10 to 75 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 40 inches and the average annual temperature is about 42 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy over loamy-skeletal, amorphic over micaceous, frigid Typic Udivitrands
NOTE: The mineralogy class was changed from paramicaceous to micaceous in 07/2010 by the National Soil Survey Center on request of the responsible MLRA regional office. The change was necessary based on the eleventh edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 2010.
Average annual soil temperature - 39 to 46 degrees F. (Frigid soil temperature regime)
Soil moisture regime - usually moist year round and not dry for 30 consecutive days during June to October. (Udic soil moisture regime)
Thickness of volcanic ash mantle - 14 to 23 inches.
Volcanic glass - 15 to 50 percent
Acid-oxalate extractable Al+1/2 Fe - 1.3 to 2.7 percent
Phosphorous retention - 55 to 95 percent
15 bar water retention - 8.0 to 12.0 percent on air-dried samples
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for timber production, recreation, watershed, and wildlife habitat. Potential natural vegetation is western redcedar, grand fir, Douglas-fir, western white pine, western larch, and Rocky mountain maple with an understory of queencup beadlily, goldthread, bunchberry dogwood, oneleaf foamflower, northern twinflower, darkwoods violet, common prince's pine, common beargrass, myrtle pachystima, rustyleaf menziesia, western thimbleberry, and common snowberry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Central Idaho. Township soils are moderately extensive. MLRA 43A. This soil is named after a nearby mountain.
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The Heintooga series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils on toe slopes, fans and benches in coves at high elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. They formed in colluvium weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rocks. Slope ranges from 2 to 95 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, frigid Typic Humudepts
Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Reaction ranges from ultra acid to strongly acid throughout. Content of mica flakes is none or few throughout. Rock fragment content ranges from 35 to 80 percent channers and flagstones throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all of this soil is in forest. Common trees are northern red oak, black birch, American beech, yellow birch, black cherry, sugar maple, eastern hemlock, yellow buckeye, red spruce, and fraser fir. In many areas the trees are stunted due to wind and ice damage and a "windswept" phase is recognized. The understory species are serviceberry, striped maple, American chestnut sprouts, pin cherry, rhododendron, mountain-laurel, silverbell, blueberry, and flame azalea. Common forbs are hay-scented fern, wood fern, New York fern, Solomon's seal, yellow mandarin, and trillium.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Higher elevations of the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B of North Carolina, Tennessee, and possibly Virginia. This series is of small extent.
The Heintooga series was formerly included with the Balsam series. However, Balsam soils formed in colluvium from high-grade metamorphic and igneous rocks. Although Heintooga soils may exhibit some of the characteristics of andic soil properties, they lack the volcanic glass found in soils of similar taxa in the Western United States.
For a detailed description, visit:
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Profile of Lufkin loam. Texture and color change between the surface layer and the clay subsoil. (Soil Survey of Robertson County, Texas; By Harold W. Hyde, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Lufkin series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, very slowly permeable soils on high terraces or remnants of terraces associated with uplands. The soil formed in slightly acid to alkaline clayey sediments. Slopes are dominantly less than 1 percent but range to 3 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Oxyaquic Vertic Paleustalfs
Solum thickness ranges from 60 to more than 80 inches. Base saturation ranges from 80 to 100 percent by sum of cations throughout the argillic horizon. Clay content of the 10- to 40- inch particle size control section ranges from 35 to 45 percent. When dry, cracks at least 1/4 inch wide extend from the top of the argillic horizon through a thickness of 12 inches or more within the upper 50 inches of the soil. Slickensides and/or wedge-shaped aggregates and pressure faces range from few to common throughout the argillic horizon. Linear extensibility is greater than 2.5 inches (6.0 cm) in the upper 40 inches (100 cm) of the soil. COLE ranges from 0.07 to 0.10 in the upper 50 inches of the argillic horizon. Siliceous pebbles range from none to 10 percent of some subhorizons. Most pedons contain secondary carbonates, barite masses, or gypsum crystals beginning at a depth of 40 to 70 inches. Redox features are both relict and contemporary. The soil does not have aquic soil conditions in most years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly cultivated in the past but now most areas are in unimproved pastures. Some areas are farmed to grain sorghums, hay crops or small grains for grazing. Other areas are in mixed bermudagrass, dallisgrass, or bahiagrass pastures. Native vegetation is bluestems, gramas, paspalums and threeawn grasses with sedges, post oak, water oak, willow oak, and elm trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mainly in the Texas Claypan region of Texas (MLRA 87A, 87B, and to a lesser extent, on terraces of 86A).
Classification change from Udertic Paleustalfs to Oxyaquic Vertic Paleustalfs based on knowledge that these soils are saturated for 2 to 4 weeks in most years. This period of time is within the definition of saturation for one month or more if rules of rounding are applied, i.e., 2 to 6 weeks saturation is considered inclusive. The soil would classify in the Epioxyaquic subgroup if provided for by SOIL TAXONOMY.
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Histosols are organic soils have organic matter as the primary parent material. They occur when conditions allow organic matter to accumulate at a faster rate than it can be decomposed. This is usually under wet conditions such as a wetland.
Fibrists are the wet Histosols in which the organic materials are only slightly decomposed. More than two-fifths or more than three-fourths of the soil consists of fibers that remain after rubbing between the thumb and fingers.
Cryofibrists are cold Fibrists. The fibers may be derived from any plant, woody or herbaceous. These soils may freeze during the winter, or they may have a climate in which the soils do not freeze during winter in normal years but are cold in summer. In either situation, the low temperatures limit the use of the soils. Most of these soils support native vegetation.
Hydric Cryofibrists have a layer of water within the control section, below the surface tier. These soils are of small extent, mostly in the State of Alaska in the United States.
Hydric soils are formed under conditions of saturation, flooding, or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part (Federal Register, 1994). Most hydric soils exhibit characteristic morphologies that result from repeated periods of saturation or inundation that last more than a few days.
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
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or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
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A representative soil profile of the Sharondale soil series in Kentucky.
Sharondale series consists of very deep, well drained soils with moderately rapid permeability. They formed in loamy colluvium weathered from sandstone, siltstone, and shale. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Kentucky; by John A. Kelley, Soil Conservation Service)
Landscape: These moderately steep to very steep soils are in coves or on mountain sides on north and east facing slopes. Slope ranges from 15 to 100 percent but is dominantly 45 to 90 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 43 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 58 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludolls
Thickness of the solum ranges from 40 to 80 inches and depth to hard bedrock is more than 5 feet. Flat rock fragments, mostly 2mm to 15 inches in length, range from 10 to 85 percent in individual horizons, but average 35 percent or more in the particle-size control section. Clay content ranges from 8 to 27 percent, but is commonly between 12 and 27 percent. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral throughout.
Most areas are in second growth forests with mixed stands of yellow poplar, American basswood, white ash, cucumber tree, northern red oak, black walnut, hickory, black locust, yellow buckeye, Ohio buckeye, and umbrella magnolia.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Sharondale soils are in the Cumberland-Allegheny Plateau of eastern Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and eastern Tennessee. The area is estimated to be of moderate extent, about 50,000 acres. (30,000 acres in Pike County). The Sharondale soils were mostly mapped as Cutshin soils in the past.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/kentucky/KY195...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
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Soil profile: Chokecherry very gravelly sandy loam. (Soil Survey of Teton Area, Idaho and Wyoming; by Carla B. Rebernak, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typical range vegetation on detailed map unit Chokecherry-Tubbs Hollow-Sheep Creek, dry complex, 3 to 60 percent slopes. Idaho range site: R013XY114ID; SHALLOW STONY 12-20 ARAR8/PSSPS. (Soil Survey of Bear Lake County Area, Idaho; by Francis R. Kukachka, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Chokecherry series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in alluvium and residuum derived from red sandstone, red siltstone, yellow sandstone or siltstone, gray siltstone or loess influenced quartzite or rhyolite. Chokecherry soils are on mountain slopes, hillslopes, and ridges. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Lithic Haplocryolls
USE AND VEGETATION: Chokecherry soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly mountain big sage, low sage, bluebunch wheatgrass, antelope bitterbrush, serviceberry, snowberry, rabbitbrush, lupine, and few mountain mahogany.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Chokecherry soils are of small extent in southeastern and south-central Idaho; MLRA 43B and 13.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/wyoming/TetonI...
and...
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/bearlake...
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
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Landscape: hills and mountains in Cumberland Plateau and Mountains
Landform: hillslope, mountain side,
Geomorphic Component: benches, side slope, base slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: back slope, footslope and toeslopes
Parent Material Origin: sandstone and siltstone
Parent Material Kind: Colluvium
Slope: 8 to 90 percent
Elevation: 183 to 1219 meters, 600 to 4000 feet
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Forestry
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--Less sloping areas are used for pasture and as sites for houses or gardens. Where wooded--are in secondary growth hardwood forest with mixed stands of white oak, American beech, mockernut hickory, pignut hickory, black oak, sugar maple, sassafras, red maple, chestnut oak, Virginia pine, and flowering dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Allegheny-Cumberland Plateau of eastern Kentucky with possible similar areas in West Virginia, Virginia, and eastern Tennessee
Extent: Large, approximately 200,000 acres.
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The Berks series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils formed in residuum weathered from shale, siltstone and fine grained sandstone on rounded and dissected uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 80 percent. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid. Mean annual precipitation is 42 inches. Mean annual temperature is 52 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 12 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Depth to the top of the cambic horizon range from 3 to 12 inches. Rock fragments range from 10 to 50 percent in the Ap and A horizons, from 15 to 75 percent in individual horizons of the B, and from 35 to 90 percent in the C horizon. The average volume of rock fragments in the particle-size control section is more than 35 percent. In unlimed soils reaction ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid throughout. The dominant clay minerals are illite, vermiculite and interstratified vermiculite chlorite. Small amounts of kaolinite are present.
USE AND VEGETATION: Approximately 60 percent of Berks soils are in cropland and pasture, the remainder are in woodland or other uses. Principal crops are corn, wheat, oats, barley, Christmas trees and hay. Native vegetation is mixed, deciduous hardwood forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, and Southern Illinois. MLRA's 115, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 130, 139, 147 and 148. The series is of large extent. The Ashby, Kistler and Trexler soils, which were moderately shallow in some Pennsylvania published surveys are now included in the Berks Series.
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The Gritney series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in fine-textured sediments on Coastal Plain uplands. Permeability is slow. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
USE AND VEGETATION: Gritney soils are used for crops, pasture and forest land. Principal crops grown are corn, soybeans, small grain, cotton, peanuts and hay and pasture. Wooded areas are mixed hardwood and pine. Tree species include white oak, post oak, southern red oak, red maple, sweetgum, hickory, elm, ash, American sycamore, beech, and loblolly pine. Common understory plants are American holly, dogwood, sassafras, sourwood, and waxmyrtle. Threeawn is a common native grass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia, and possibly South Carolina.
Tifton Series--Georgia State Soil:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/ga-state-soi...
The Tifton series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in loamy marine sediments. Tifton soils are on interfluves. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 18 degrees C (64 degrees F), and the mean annual precipitation is about 1360 millimeters (53 inches).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Plinthic Kandiudults
Depth to horizons with 5 percent or more plinthite is dominantly 76 to 127 centimeters (30 to 50 inches), but in some pedons it is 63 centimeters (25 inches). Silt content is less than 20 percent. Depth to Redox features i predominantly greater than 102 centimeters (40 inches), but some pedons have iron depletions below a depth of 76 centimeters (30 inches).
USE AND VEGETATION:
Most areas of Tifton soils are under cultivation with cotton, corn, peanuts, vegetable crops, and small grains. Some areas are in pasture and forestland. The forested areas consist largely of longleaf pine, loblolly pine, slash pine with some scattered hardwoods on cutover areas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): The series occurs primarily in the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A), but it also occurs to a lesser extent in the Atlantic Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 153A).
Extent: large extent
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Soil color does not affect the behavior and use of soil; however, it can indicate the composition of the soil and give clues to the conditions that the soil is subjected to. Soil can exhibit a wide range of color; grey, black, white, reds, browns, yellows and greens. Varying horizontal bands of colour in the soil often identify a specific soil horizon. The development and distribution of color in soil results from chemical and biological weathering, especially redox reactions. As the primary minerals in soil parent material weather, the elements combine into new and colorful compounds. Soil conditions produce uniform or gradual color changes, while reducing environments result in disrupted color flow with complex, mottled patterns and points of color concentration.
Soil survey of the Northern Emirates. The soil survey of the Northern Emirates, United Arab Emirates (UAE) was conducted during 2010 – 2012. The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) implemented the Soil Survey through GRM International. The project was funded by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and its objective was to develop a digital soil information repository to aid in broad land-use planning and agricultural expansion in the Northern Emirates.
The survey used Geographic Information Systems, satellite image processing, and field mapping to produce a Soil Information System. Scientific and technical standards, including the soil classification system and nomenclature, were based on those of the USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service. These standards have been used in other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, State of Kuwait, State of Qatar, and more recently in the Abu Dhabi soil survey project in the UAE. The project was completed at scale of 1:50,000.
A number of thematic maps, including suitability for irrigated agriculture, salinity, and current land use, were generated as part of the project. The Abu Dhabi Soils Information System (ADSIS) was expanded and enhanced and renamed to United Arab Emirates Soils Information System (UAESIS), to assist in the storage, processing, retrieval, and management of the national soil-related information.
Information from the soil survey is expected to be used by various groups, including the agricultural farming community, decision makers, land-use planners, officials, engineers, and environmental impact assessors. Conservationists and specialists in recreation, wildlife management, waste disposal, and pollution control will also use the soil information to help understand, protect and enhance the environment.
The report and maps provide a detailed assessment and account of soil in the Northern Emirates and are a fitting accompaniment to the Soil Survey of the Abu Dhabi Emirate. Finally, the project produced a national soil map of the United Arab Emirates, by compiling results from this survey, the soil survey of Abu Dhabi completed in 2010, and the soil map of Dubai developed in 2003.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
The Hard Labor series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in material weathered from felsic igneous and metamorphic rock, primarily granite and granite gneiss. The Hard Labor soils are on summits and side slopes of the Piedmont uplands.
Typically, the Bt horizon is yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay with moderate coarse subangular blocky structure parting to moderate thick platy structure. It is firm, slightly sticky and moderately plastic and has common fine and very fine roots; common prominent light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/3) clay films on faces of peds, in pores, and in former root channels; few fine flakes of mica; few fine red (2.5YR 4/8) masses of oxidized iron on faces of peds and is moderately acid.
This layer acts as an aquitard, perching water in late winter and early spring.
Slake tests are performed to identify the possible presence of coherent/cemented materials. Only air-dry soil fragments or aggregates should be tested by the slaking procedure. Large intact samples are separated into fist size aggregates <75-mm in size. Care should be taken not to destroy naturally cemented aggregates (e.g., potential plinthite nodules) as the material is separated. Submersion is for a minimum of one hour, but overnight (about 8 hours) is preferred.
For a complete discussion, visit:
Soil Survey Field and Laboratory Methods Manual
Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 51, Version 2
Issued 2014
3.7 Soil Stability, Dispersion, and Slaking (pp.148-162)
3.7.5 Slaking (Disaggregation) for Identification and Semiquantification of Cemented Materials
John Kelley and Michael A. Wilson, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Survey Staff
Citation: Soil Survey Staff. 2014. Soil Survey Field and Laboratory Methods Manual. Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 51, Version 2.0. R. Burt and Soil Survey Staff (ed.). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Typical profile of a Zylstra soil. This soil is similar to the Elwha soil except that the Zylstra soil is somewhat poorly drained and thus the redoximorphic features (red and orange stains) are at a shallower depth. The compacted dense horizon is at a depth of about 95 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Island County, Washington; by Bruce Lindsay, Erik Dahlke, and Toby Rodgers, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Zylstra series consists of moderately deep to densic contact, somewhat poorly drained soils formed in compacted glacial drift underlain by dense glaciomarine deposits. Zylstra soils are on hillslopes and outwash plains at elevations from 40 to 90 meters. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 813 mm. The mean annual temperature is about 9 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, mesic Aquic Humixerepts
Mean annual soil temperature - 10 to 11 degrees C
Depth to redoximorphic features - 23 to 46 cm
Umbric epipedon thickness - 25 to 38 cm
Depth to densic contact - 50 to 100 cm
Reaction - strongly acid to neutral
Particle size control section:
Clay content - 5 to 18 percent
Rock fragments - 0 to 25 percent gravel and 0 to 10 percent cobbles
USE AND VEGETATION: Zylstra soils are used for home sites, timber production, crop production, and livestock grazing. Potential natural vegetation is western redcedar, Douglas-fir, grand fir, lodgepole pine, red alder, common snowberry, trailing blackberry, salmonberry, stinging nettle, salal, swordfern, and bracken fern.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Washington; MLRA 2. Series is of small extent. Most of the area mapped as Zylstra was previously mapped as Swantown in the 1950 Island County soil survey. Swantown soils are loamy-skeletal and have a Bsm, or cemented horizon.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/washington/isl...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/Z/ZYLSTRA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
One of the more motherly lecturers at University, Jean Ingram, who taught soil science, judging the annual cake competition. I made a "meta-cake" in the form of a tea-table sporting a cake.
Mid-1980s.
Slide scan.
Taken with Minolta MD Auto-Bellows I, Minolta MD Macro-Rokkor 50mm f3.5 and Slide Copier on Panasonic GH2.
Let’s sample here... type location for Lithic Aquisalid.
John A. Kelley is a soil scientist previously with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), United States Department of Agriculture and Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, UAE. John is a soil survey quality assurance expert and a specialist in soil mapping, soil classification, and correlation of soil survey projects. He has extensive experience in soil survey procedures and documentation including digital soil photography. The most recent publication is "United Arab Emirates Keys to Soil Taxonomy".
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.
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 soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
A representative soil profile of an Umbrisol from the Hungarian Soil Classification System (HSCS) by Prof. Blaskó Lajos (2008).
For more information about these soils, visit:
regi.tankonyvtar.hu/hu/tartalom/tamop425/0032_talajtan/ch...
UMBRISOLS: Soil with dark, acid, surface horizon rich in organic matter (from the Latin, umbra, meaning shade). Umbrisols generally develop in cool and humid climates, where precipitation considerably exceeds evapotranspiration. They are usually associated with acid parent materials. In other mapping systems, these soils are classified as Umbrepts and Humitropepts (Soil Taxonomy), Humic Cambisols and Umbric Regosols (FAO), Sombric Brunisols and Humic Regosols (France).
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.
A representative soil profile of a fine-loamy, mixed, active, isohyperthermic Udic Paleustalf from India (Photo and initial observations courtesy of Stan Buol, NCSU.)
For more soil images by Stan Buol, visit:
www.flickr.com/photos/soilscience/albums/7215762485031052...
This profile was photographed on the ICRASAT research center near Hyderabad, India. The soil is formed in medium textured sediments on a nearly level slope. The upper boundary of an argillic horizon is present below an Ap horizon at 18 cm. The clay content in the argillic does not decrease by more than 20% of its’ maximum within 150 cm of the surface thus taxonomic placement in a ‘Pale’ Great Group of Ustalfs.
Although white CaCO3 nodules are present below 50 cm (and greatly exposed by digging tools) the carbonate content is insufficient to qualify as a calcic horizon within 60 cm of the surface. However, soil moisture data indicate that the control section is dry in some or all parts less than 120 consecutive days in normal years and thus the placement in a Udic Subgroup of Paleustalfs. These soils have been cultivated for food crops for several centuries.
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Udic Paleustalfs are like Typic Paleustalfs, but they are moist for longer periods. They are intergrades between Paleudalfs and Paleustalfs. They are extensive in parts of the United States. Their slopes are gentle, and most of the soils are used as cropland.
Paleustalfs are the reddish or red Ustalfs that are on old surfaces. Many of them have some plinthite in their lower horizons. Paleustalfs occur in relatively stable landscape positions, their slopes are mostly gentle, and their genesis began before the late Pleistocene. In the United States, they typically have a Bk or calcic horizon in or below the argillic horizon as a result of additions of atmospheric carbonates. Commonly, secondary lime coats the surfaces of peds that have noncalcareous interiors and the soils may be noncalcareous at a depth of less than 200 cm.
A few of these soils, near the boundary where they join Aridisols, have received enough calcareous dust to have a petrocalcic horizon. A few others, near the boundary where they join Udults or Udalfs, do not have a Bk horizon. Before cultivation, the vegetation on the Paleustalfs in the United States included a mixture of grasses and woody plants. These soils are moderately extensive in the southern part of the Great Plains in the United States, and they probably are extensive in Africa and southern Asia.
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:
Spent the day learning all about soil and romping around the Rodale Institute research farmlands, I was in a state of bliss! :) It was an incredible reminder of the fine details of my passions that I've let slip over the months as well as be re-inspired by their passionate vision for the future and the vastness of the larger picture.
A Carbonatic-Perudic Cambosol and landscape. These soils mainly distribute in carbonate rock mountains with an altitude of over 1000m in Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan Provinces as well as Chongqing City. They cover concave slopes on the middle of mountains or depressions in peak clusters on top of mountains. Parent materials include weathered materials derived from various carbonate rocks like dolomitic limestone, dolomite, micritic dolomitic limestone, and marlstone. The vegetation is evergreen broad-leaved forest, or deciduous forest mixed with evergreen broadleaved trees or grass and shrubs. Some are used for dry crops. With varied solum thickness, they have the lithological characteristics of carbonate rocks. (Photos and notes courtesy of China Soils Museum, Guangdong Institute of World Soil Resources; with revision.)
In Chinese Soil Taxonomy, Cambosols have low-grade soil development with formation of horizon of alteration or weak expression of other diagnostic horizons. In Soil Taxonomy these soils are commonly Inceptisols, Mollisols, or Gelisols.
For additional information about this soil and the Soils Museum, visit:
www.giwsr.com/en/article/index/244
For additional information about Soil Taxonomy, visit:
A Typic Haplogypsid, petrogypsic from the interior of the UAE.
Typic Haplogypsids are the Haplogypsids that do not have have a gypsic horizon with its upper boundary within 18 cm of the soil surface. These soils do not have a lithic contact within 50 cm of the soil surface. In the United States they occur in Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The gypsic horizon is a horizon in which gypsum has accumulated or been transformed to a significant extent (secondary gypsum (CaSO 4) has accumulated through more than 150 mm of soil, so that this horizon contains at least 5% more gypsum than the underlying horizon). It typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils.
This pedon has a petrogypsic horizon at a depth of 100 to 200 cm and is identified as a "phase" in classification. In the UAE soil classification system, phases of soil taxa have been developed for those mineral soils that have soil properties or characteristics that occur at a deeper depth than currently identified for an established taxonomic subgroup or soil properties that effect interpretations not currently recognized at the subgroup level. The phases which have been identified in the UAE include: anhydritic, aquic, calcic, gypsic, lithic, petrocalcic, petrogypsic, salic, salidic, shelly, and sodic.
The petrogypsic horizon is a horizon in which visible secondary gypsum has accumulated or has been transformed. The horizon is cemented (i.e., extremely weakly through indurated cementation classes), and the cementation is both laterally continuous and root limiting, even when the soil is moist. Th e horizon typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils.
Haplogypsids are the Gypsids that have no petrogypsic, natric, argillic, or calcic horizon that has an upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. Some Haplogypsids have a cambic horizon overlying the gypsic horizon. These soils are commonly very pale in color. They are not extensive in the United States. The largest concentrations in the United States are in New Mexico and Texas. The soils are more common in other parts of the world.
Gypsids are the Aridisols that have a gypsic or petrogypsic horizon within 100 cm of the soil surface. Accumulation of gypsum takes place initially as crystal aggregates in the voids of the soils. These aggregates grow by accretion, displacing the enclosing soil material. When the gypsic horizon occurs as a cemented impermeable layer, it is recognized as the petrogypsic horizon. Each of these forms of gypsum accumulation implies processes in the soils, and each presents a constraint to soil use. One of the largest constraints is dissolution of the gypsum, which plays havoc with structures, roads, and irrigation delivery systems. The presence of one or more of these horizons, with or without other diagnostic horizons, defines the great groups of the Gypsids. Gypsids occur in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, West Asia, and some of the most arid areas of the western part of the United States. Gypsids are on many segments of the landscape. Some of them have calcic or related horizons that overlie the gypsic horizon.
For more information about describing soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For additional information about soil classification using Soil Taxonomy, visit:
sites.google.com/site/dinpuithai/Home
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
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.
Salidic Leptic Haplogypsids have an ECe of more ha 8 to less than 30 dS/m in a layer 10 cm or more thick within 100 cm of the soil surface and 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.
A soil profile of a Aquiturbel in Alaska. The permafrost begins at a depth of about 50 cm. Active freezing and thawing cycles take place above the permafrost. This profile exhibits evidence of cryoturbation (mixing by frost action), such as thin ice lenses and pockets of darker colored organic matter mixed into the lighter colored surrounding soil material. Frost heaving results in a hummocky surface. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Aquiturbels are saturated with water close to the surface. Saturation commonly occurs in spring, when water perches on the permafrost and temperatures are warm enough for oxygen depletion and iron reduction. These soils can have mollic (rich in humus and bases), umbric (humus-rich with low base saturation), or ochric (typically thin and/or light-colored) epipedons. They occur in depressional areas in Alaska, Canada, and Eurasia.
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...
A representative soil profile of the Arches series. (Soil Survey of Arches National Park, Utah; by Catherine E. Scott, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Arches series consists of very shallow and shallow, well to excessively drained, rapidly permeable soils that formed in sandy eolian deposits and residuum derived from sandstone. These soils are on plateaus, benches, sand sheets on structural benches, cuestas, mesas, and hills with slopes of 2 to 60 percent. Average annual precipitation is 11 inches and mean annual air temperature is about 50 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Lithic Torripsamments
Soil moisture: The soil is dry during May and June. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime
Mean annual soil temperature: 47 to 59 degrees F.
Depth to bedrock: 4 to 20 inches
Rock fragment content: 0 to 5 percent
Control section texture: sand, fine sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand. The sands are dominantly fine or very fine with a small percentage of medium or coarse sand
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Native vegetation is Indian ricegrass, galleta, blackbrush, Mormon-tea and Utah juniper.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwest New Mexico and western Colorado. The soils of this series are extensive. MLRAs are 35 and 36. This series is not to be correlated outside MLRA 35 and 36. Named after Arches National Park.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/utah/archesUT2...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ARCHES.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The Bayamón soil series was first designated as Puerto Rico’s representative soil under Law 115 of May 12, 1999 by the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly. It is found only in Puerto Rico and was first described in 1936 in Manati Municipio (municipality). It was named after Bahamón, a chief of the indigenous Tainos peoples whom Christopher Columbus met when he first came to the island of Puerto Rico on his second voyage in 1493. Bayamón is also the name of one of the main cities in Puerto Rico and the name of one of its rivers.
Bayamón soils are classified as prime farmland. Slopes range from 2 to 12 percent on uplands, coastal plains and in valleys intermingled among limestone hills (haystacks) and sinkholes in the karst region of the northern part of the island. These soils were historically used for sugar cane production, and more recently for pineapple, which grows better on acid soils. For many decades, the Espanola Roja pineapple was used for lotus juice. Now, other pineapple varieties are grown as fresh fruit for consumption on the island. Currently, the pineapple production has declined, and these soils are being used for food crops, pasture and hay for livestock. Some producers have even planted coffee. The soil supports native grasslands of Guinea grass, Zarcilla and Tulipan Africano.
For more information about this and other State Soils, visit the Soil Science Society of America "Around the World-State Soils" website.
MSU researcher Haddish Melakeberhan, along with assistant Zinthuz Maung (right) examines plant-nematode interaction in soil nutrient management, primarily in soybeans, vegetables and sugarbeets.
A representative soil profile of Venus loam, rarely flooded. (Soil Survey of Hamilton County, Texas; by John E. Allison, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Venus series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy calcareous alluvial sediments. These nearly level to moderately sloping soils occur mainly on stream terraces and footslopes of hills and ridges. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 19 degrees C (66 degrees F), and the mean annual precipitation is about 864 mm (34 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Udic Calciustolls
Soil moisture: Udic ustic moisture regime.
Solum thickness: 150 to 200 cm (60 to 80 in)
Mollic epipedon: 25 to 50 cm (10 to 20 in)
Coarse fragments: 0 to 10 percent by volume, siliceous gravel
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Total clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Silicate clay content: 18 to 30 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 40 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly cultivated, mainly to small grains. Original vegetation was tall and mid grass and widely spaced live oak and other hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Areas are in Texas and possibly in Oklahoma. LRR-I and J. Mostly in the MLRA 85-Grand Prairie and MLRA 81C-Edwards Plateau, Eastern part. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX193/0/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/V/VENUS.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit: