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Soil profile: Typical profile of Grayco sandy loam, 0 to 2 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Costilla County Area, Colorado; by Alan J. Stuebe, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Typical landscape of Grayco sandy loam, 0 to 2 percent slopes, sown with oats. Ute Mountain is in the background.
The Grayco series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in outwash derived from granite, gneiss, and mica schist. Grayco soils are on outwash plains and terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 6 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 10 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 41 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Ustic Haplargids
Soil moisture: aridic bordering on ustic.
Mean annual soil temperature: 41 to 46 degrees F (5.0 to 7.8 degrees C)
Mean summer soil temperature: 63 to 66 degrees F (17.2 to 18.9 degrees C)
Thickness of argillic horizon: 5 to 20 inches (13 centimeters to 51 centimeters)
Depth to argillic horizon: 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 centimeters)
Depth to secondary carbonates: 10 to 20 inches (25 to 51 centimeters)
Depth to lithologic discontinuity: 10 to 40 inches (25 to 102 centimeters)
Depth to strongly contrasting particle size class: 10 to 60 inches (25 to 152 centimeters)
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 18 to 27 percent
Sand content: 35 to 60 percent
Silt content: 13 to 47 percent
Rock fragment content: 15 to 60 percent gravel and cobbles
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for livestock grazing and irrigated cropland. Native plants commonly are Wyoming big sage, blue grama, ring muhly, rubber rabbitbrush, and sand dropseed
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: San Luis Valley Area of south-central Colorado; LRR E; MLRA 51. This series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/colorado/costi...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GRAYCO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
"Our goal is to educate the residents of Ohio County about current conservation issues & address them."
In 1940, the Kentucky General Assembly passed enabling legislation, KRS Chapter 292, which allowed local farmers to petition and establish Conservation Districts. In 1941, the first Kentucky Conservation District was organized in South Logan County. North Logan soon followed, making Logan county the only Kentucky county with two Conservation Districts.
The remaining 119 Conservation Districts were formed on a county line basis, giving the state a total of 121 Conservation Districts. Henderson County was the final district to be organized. Thus, in 1954 Conservation Districts completely covered the state.
The purpose of a Conservation District is to conserve and develop all renewable natural resources within the district. In so doing, the district in authorized to undertake, sponsor, or participate in projects, activities and programs which promote the conservation, development, maintenance, management and wise use of the land, water, trees and other related, natural resources of the district.
Kentucky's Kentucky Soil and Water Conservation Districts (KY-SWCD) are a subdivision of state government and have been organized for the special purpose to assist landowners and land users.
Soil and Water Conservation Offices are government agencies that provide information on conservation and management for soil, water, and related natural resources. Their mission is to protect and improve soil and water resources as well as conserve land, water, forests, and wildlife. In addition, Soil and Water Conservation District Associations and the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) provide conservation support on the local level.
Each county in Kentucky is represented by a local conservation district, consisting of elected supervisors. These conservation districts assist the landowners in each county with creating and implementing practices to protect the soil and water quality. The conservation districts help conserve Kentucky's resources by helping local people match their needs with technical and financial resources.
For more information about the Soil Survey of Ohio County, Kentucky ===> [CLICK HERE]
A representative soil profile and landscape of the Southhampton 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 black, dark brown or ochreous humus and iron-enriched subsoils formed as a result of acid weathering conditions. Under natural or semi-natural vegetation, they have an unincorporated acid organic layer at the surface.
They are well drained, with a bleached subsurface horizon and no thin ironpan. They formed in sandy gravelly very hard siliceous stones.
They are classified as Episkeletic Ruptic Umbric Albic Podzols by the WRB soil classification system. (www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf)
For more information about this soil, visit:
The Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) has completed a $6.5 million (USD) contract with an Australian firm (GRM International) for a soil survey, which involves satellite images, soil analyses and land mapping.
The soil survey project was undertaken in two phases and involved the mapping and classification of the various types of soils in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in two different scales. In the first phase the entire emirate was surveyed at a scale of 1:100,000, and in the second phase 400,000 hectares of land, evaluated as suitable for irrigated agriculture was surveyed at a scale of 1:25,000.
The project was approved by the Executive Committee of Abu Dhabi last year. The survey, according to the agency, will assist decision-makers in future land use planning on scientific grounds. "It will also provide an on-the-ground, scientific inventory of soil resources, help in developing a soil database using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), prepare a soil survey report and soil and land use maps and build the capacity of UAE nationals," Al Mansouri said after signing the agreement.
Unplanned expansion and developmental activities have caused the deterioration of soil resources. Under the project, the soil, mainly in the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi, will be mapped and classified using the latest satellite images, and norms and standards of the United States Department of Agriculture.
"Planners, engineers and developers will be able to use the soil survey maps and data to evaluate soil for engineering purposes, select sites for residence, agriculture, industry, construction, routes for highways," said Majid Al Mansouri, EAD Secretary-General.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Vaucluse series in an area of Vaucluse loamy sand, 10 to 15 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Chesterfield County, South Carolina; by Ronald Morton, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Soil scientist John Kelley preparing soil profile for photographing, describing, and sampling. The budge in the subsoil is from a compact, dense, and brittle layer that when exposed, exhibits a very high excavation difficulty (excavation by pick with over-the-head swing is moderately to markedly difficult; Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, p.2-69)
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.
A university degree should be in Soil Science, or closely related field (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.
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: High, very high
Permeability: Moderately slow, slow (Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high, moderately low
Shrink-swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Middle or upper coastal plain
Landform: Marine terraces, uplands
Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, back slopes
Parent Material: Fluviomarine deposits, marine deposits
Slope: 2 to 25 percent, mostly 6 to 15 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Fragic Kanhapludults
NOTE: Vaucluse soils have a Bt horizon more than 6 inches thick that is compact, dense, and brittle in 30 to 60 percent of the mass. The brittleness is thought to be due to masses of oxidized iron. This horizon commonly has weak or moderate, medium or coarse subangular blocky structure but in some pedons it appears to be massive. It contains fine roots but medium and coarse roots are not usually present in the brittle part. Since establishment, the series has been classified as: Typic Hapludults, Fragic Paleudults, Typic Fragiudults, Typic Kanhapludults, and (2005) Fragic Kanhapludults. Further study of the soil is needed to accurately determine the dominant diagnostic characteristics.
Thickness of the sandy surface and subsurface layers: 4 to 19 inches
Depth to top of the Argillic horizon: 4 to 19 inches
Depth to the base of the Argillic horizon: 40 to 75 inches
Depth to top of the Kandic horizon: 4 to 19 inches
Depth to fragic soil properties: 15 to 35 inches
Fragic soil properties content: 30 to 60 percent, by volume in the Btx horizon
Depth to densic materials: More than 40 inches
Depth to lithologic discontinuity (contrasting sand sizes or abrupt textural change): 40 inches or more
Soil reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid throughout, unless limed
Depth to bedrock: Greater than 80 inches
Depth to seasonal high water table: Greater than 72 inches
Rock fragment content: 0 to 60 percent in the A and E horizons and 0 to 15 percent in the B and C horizons; mostly quartz or ironstone pebbles
Other features--0 to 10 percent, by volume, fine to coarse pockets or irregularly shaped masses of white or light gray kaolin clay
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Forest, cropland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, cotton, small grain, soybeans, or pasture. Where wooded--loblolly and longleaf pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina
Extent: Large
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/south_carolina...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/V/VAUCLUSE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Note the accumulation of iron (redox feature) and areas of reduction (gray color). Redoximorphic features (RMFs) consist of color patterns in a soil that are caused by loss (depletion) or gain (concentration) of pigment compared to the matrix color, formed by oxidation/reduction of iron and/or manganese coupled with their removal, translocation, or accrual.
The soil is a floodplain Aquent from a rice paddy in South Korea.
For more soil related images, visit:
www.flickr.com/photos/soilscience/sets/72157622983226139/
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-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
A representative soil profile of the Lakehurst series. (Soil Survey of Cumberland County, New Jersey; by Lenore Matula Vasilas, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class: Moderately well drained
Permeability: Rapid in the subsoil and to slow in the substratum
Surface Runoff: Slow
Parent Material: Sandy coastal plain sediments
Slope: 0 to 5 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 56 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 44 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mesic, coated Aquodic Quartzipsamments
Solum Thickness: 30 to 50 inches
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 18 to 42 inches, January to April
Depth to the Bh Horizon: 10 to 30 inches
Rock Fragments: 0 to 20 percent, by volume mostly rounded quartzose pebbles. Individual gravelly layers are generally less than 1 foot thick.
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, throughout the profile, unless limed
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly woodland. Acres once farmed have now been abandoned. Wooded areas are dominantly pitch pine, shortleaf pine, black, and white oak, with an understory of lowbush blueberries and scrub oak. Where wildfires have been severe, pitch pine and black jack oak are dominant.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Coastal Plain of New Jersey and Virginia, Extent: Large
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/new_jersey/NJ0...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LAKEHURST.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A Salidic Haplogypsids, petrogypsic in the UAE.
Salidic Haplogypsids, petrogypsic are the Haplogypsids that have 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 and a petrogypsic horizon at a depth of more than 100 to 200 cm.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
library.wur.nl/isric/fulltext/isricu_i34214_001.pdf
Haplogypsids are the Gypsids with 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 soils are more common in other parts of the world.
Gypsids are the Aridisols that have a gypsic 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.
Aridisols, as their name implies, are soils in which water is not available to mesophytic plants for long periods. During most of the time when the soils are warm enough for plants to grow, soil water is held at potentials less than the permanent wilting point or has a content of soluble salts great enough to limit the growth of plants other than halophytes, or both. There is no period of 90 consecutive days when moisture is continuously available for plant growth. Because of an extreme imbalance between evapotranspiration and precipitation, many Aridisols contain salts. The dominant process is one of accumulation and concentration of weathering products. The accumulation of salts is the second most important constraint to land use.
For more information about soil classification in the UAE, visit:
vdocument.in/united-arab-emirates-keys-to-soil-taxonomy.h...
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
A description of the soils is essential in any soil survey. Standard technical terms and their definitions for soil properties and features are necessary for accurate soil descriptions. For some soils, standard terms are not adequate and must be supplemented by a narrative. Some soil properties change through time. Many properties must be observed over time and summarized if one is to fully understand the soil being described and its response to short-term environmental changes. Examples are the length of time that cracks remain open, the patterns of soil temperature and moisture, and the variations in size, shape, and hardness of clods in the surface layer of tilled soils.
Banister soils were previously mapped as Dogue soils. The April 1997 relocation of the mesic/thermic line necessitated the establishment of the mesic counterpart. In April 2008, due to insufficent data, the classification was changed back to Ultisols. When data collection is complete across the MLRA region, a decision will be made as to whether an Alfisols series is needed.
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
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 a detailed description of the soil, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/sde/?series=banister#osd
For additional information about the Soil Survey area, visit:
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-iredell-county-no...
Agricultural activities have long been recognised as being a shaper of the rural landscape and environment which exist in Ireland today. Historically, farmers have engaged in protection of the land out of necessity to maintain their production capacity through generations. Our knowledge and appreciation of soils is continually growing however. The role of soils and the key functions they provide is increasingly being recognised and there is a new impetus from all soil users for enchanced protection of a key natural resource.
Critical to the successful management of our soil resource is knowledge on the location of our soils, and their associated properties. The Irish Soil Information System project has gathered together existing information and data from previous soil survey work in Ireland and augmented it with a new field campaign, leading to the production of a new national soil map at a scale of 1:250,000, as well as a collection of tools to access and interact with the data.
An extensive range of soil types (or series) have been identified in Ireland, each of them different in properties, with different environmental and agronomic responses. For each, the properties have been recorded in a database that can now be used to satisfy the information required both for soils management and effective policy implementation. Importantly the database can also be used to provide the public with the means to enquire and learn about the precious soil resources of Ireland. The following website provides a series of tools and descriptive information seeking to help all users engage with the soils information resource now available to us. (Provided by the Irish Soil Information System.)
For more information about the Soils of Ireland, visit;
gis.teagasc.ie/soils/index.php
and the sponsors...
An Oxisol landscape on farmland operated by the UNESP... the Sao Paulo State University System. São Paulo State University is one of the six public universities of the Brazilian state of São Paulo.
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. Although compaction and reduction in permeability can be caused by cultivation, the soils are extremely resistant to compaction and are so free draining that cultivation can take place soon after rain without puddling.
Many Oxisols are extremely infertile, but some have small but adequate supplies of nutrients and are immediately productive when cultivated. The reserves of plant nutrients even in the most fertile Oxisols are not great, and, to sustain high yields, fertilizer and lime are needed after only a few years of cultivation. In most of the Oxisols, fertilizers are needed for the first crop unless the soils are fertile enough for one or two crops because of the ash derived from burning the natural vegetation.
Phosphorus generally is the most restricted plant nutrient, mainly because of the tendency of the clay- and oxide-rich surface horizon to fix large amounts of fertilizer phosphorus in an unavailable form. Once this tendency to fix the phosphate has been overcome by an initial application, however, there is no further fixation problem and annual fertilizer rates are no higher than those for other soils. Because of the initial expense of fertilization, Oxisols are cultivated extensively only where modern agronomic techniques are sustainable by an infrastructure of agribusiness. Under primitive, shifting cultivation, the soils are used only if they naturally support a large biomass, which can yield a large volume of ash upon burning.
The most extensive areas of Oxisols are on the interior plateaus of South America, the lower portion of the Amazon basin, significant portions of the central African basin, and important areas in Asia, Australia, and several tropical and subtropical islands. Oxisols are of small extent in the United States, and many of the taxa are not known to occur in the country. Because many of the taxa occur only outside the United States, less is known about the vegetation, extent, and use of these taxa. The descriptions of many of the subgroups in this chapter are necessarily brief.
Jaboticabal is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 75,820 in an area of 707 km². The town takes its name from the jabuticaba tree. Jaboticabal is home to the UNESP university campus, and is also the city that produces the most peanuts in Brazil. Around the city are extensive sugar cane plantations and industries making Jaboticabal one of the most important cities in agrobusiness around its region.
acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2136/sh2013-54...
For additional information about soil classification using Soil Taxonomy, visit:
sites.google.com/site/dinpuithai/Home
For more information about describing soils using the USDA-Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For more information about describing soils using the USDA-Soil Survey Manual, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/ref/?cid=n...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of Chungcheon soil in Korea. These soils are poorly drained with moderate permeability and slow to medium runoff.
Landscape: The Chuncheon soils are on narrow local valleys derived from alluvial and colluvial materials. The dominant slope is 2 to 7 percent and ranges from 2 to 15 percent.
The Chuncheon series are members of the coarse-loamy, mixed, mesic family of Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts [Fluvic Gleyic Hydragric Anthrosols (Eutric) classified by WRB].
These soils have ochric epipedons and cambic horizons. Solum thickness commonly ranges 50 to 100 cm. The depth to hard rock is more than 3 meters. Reaction is strongly to slightly acid. Base saturation is more than 60 percent. These soils have dark grayish brown with yellowish brown mottled sandy loam Ap horizons, and very dark gray, dark gray, or dark olive gray gravelly sandy loam Bg horizons. C horizons are black gravelly loamy sand.
Chuncheon soils are used for paddy rice if cultivated or remain in native vegetation. The Chuncheon soils are of small extent distributed on local valleys in coarse textured areas throughout the country.
For more information about soils in Korea, visit:
In the fall of 2007, an effort was initiated by the National Technical Committee for Hydric Soils (NTHCS) to photograph hydric soil features for the republication of the Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in the United States. This publication is a joint project between the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service and the US-Army Corps of Engineers. It is a guide specifically designed to aid in the identification and delineation of hydric soils and wetlands.
The guide was developed by soil scientists of NRCS in cooperation with the USA-COE, the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and many regional, state, and local agencies. The hydric soil indicators listed in the publication are those approved by the NTCHS for use in identifying, delineating, and verifying hydric soils in the field.
One way to ensure the guide is being used to its greatest potential is to have accurate and detailed photographs of the many and varied types of soil features associated with hydric soil conditions. Many of the indicators are strongly expressed and readily observable; however, others are more subtle and require close observation. The new images will help users of the guide to have a better understanding of both typical and atypical features or conditions reflected by differences in soil color.
John Kelley, regional soil scientist, USDA-NRCS was selected to photograph and describe hydric soil profiles and individual soil features. With the support of the NTCHS and the sponsoring agencies, John travelled to several locations in the southeastern US, upper Midwest, and Alaska to photograph the commonplace as well as unique indicators. Many individuals contributed significantly to the process. Site leaders and participants in the photo project included:
John Gagnon, Resource Soil Scientist, Edenton, NC
Greg Hammer, Resource Soil Scientist, Smithfield, VA
Charlie Ogg, MLRA Soil Survey Office Leader, Bishopville, SC
Caleb Gulley, Soil Scientist, Bishopville, SC
Jackie Reed, Soil Scientist, Bishopville, SC
Alan Walters, Resource Soil Scientist, Salisbury, NC
Wade Hurt, Soil Scientist (ret.), Gainesville, FL
Joe Moore, MLRA Team Leader/State Soil Scientist, Palmer, AK
Joe White, COE, Anchorage, AK
Mike Holley, COE, Anchorage, AK,
Dave D’Amore, USFS, Juneau, AK
Nick Bonzey, USFS, Juneau, AK
Steve Sieler, State Soil Liaison, Bismarck, ND
Fred Aziz, Area Resource Soil Scientist, Jamestown, ND
Alan Gulsvig, Area Resource Soil Scientist, Devils Lake, ND
Kyle Thomson, Soil Scientist, Devils Lake, ND
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in the U.S.
Soil Profile: Bissett very gravelly loam in an area of Bissett-Rock outcrop complex, 20 to 70 percent slopes. Bissett soils contain more than 35 percent coarse fragments, and are shallow soils over limestone.
Landscape: An area of Bissett-Rock outcrop complex, 20 to 70 percent slopes. Vegetation includes sideoats grama, slim tridens, lechuguilla, pricklypear, Gregg's coldenia, and whitethorn acacia. Bissett soils are in the Limestone Hill and Mountain ecological site, Desert Grassland vegetative zone of MLRA 42—Southern Desertic Basins, Plains, and Mountains. (Soil Survey of Big Bend National Park, Texas; by James Gordon, Soil Scientist, James A. Douglass, Soil Scientist, and Dr. Lynn E. Loomis, Soil Scientist, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Map Unit Setting
Major land resource area (MLRA): MLRA 42—Southern Desertic Basins, Plains, and
Mountains
Elevation: 2,815 to 5,815 feet
Mean annual precipitation: 12 to 15 inches
Mean annual air temperature: 62 to 67 degrees F
Frost-free period: 210 to 250 days
Map Unit Composition
Bissett and similar soils: 55 percent
Rock outcrop: 30 percent
Dissimilar minor components: 15 percent
Minor components:
Soil taxonomic classification: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, thermic Lithic Ustic Haplocalcids
Setting
Landscape: Hills and mountains
Landform: Ridges
Landform position (two-dimensional): Summit, shoulder, backslope
Slope: 20 to 60 percent
Down-slope shape: Linear
Across-slope shape: Convex
Representative aspect: Southeast
Aspect range: All aspects
Soil temperature class: Thermic
Soil temperature regime: Thermic
Soil moisture class: Aridic (torric)
Properties and Qualities
Runoff class: Very high
Parent material: Colluvium and residuum weathered from limestone
Depth to restrictive feature: 7 to 20 inches to lithic bedrock
Frequency of flooding: None
Frequency of ponding: None
Depth to water table: More than 72 inches
Drainage class: Well drained
Shrink-swell potential: Low (about 1.5 LEP)
Salinity maximum: Not saline (about 1.0 dS/m)
Sodicity maximum: Not sodic
Calcium carbonate maximum: 80
Available water capacity: Very low (about 1.7 inches)
Gypsum maximum: None
Land capability subclass (nonirrigated): 7s
Hydric soil rating: No
Hydrologic soil group: D
Vegetation
Ecological site name and identification: Limestone Hill and Mountain, Desert Grassland (R042XC249TX)
Existing plants: Cane bluestem, Chino grama, sideoats grama, black grama, hairy grama, Arizona cottontop, tanglehead, range ratany, green sprangletop, slim tridens, lechuguilla, pricklypear, Gregg’s coldenia, whitethorn acacia, perennial forbs, perennial grasses, plains bristlegrass, other shrubs, skeletonleaf goldeneye
Typical Profile
A—0 to 3 inches; very gravelly loam
Bk—3 to 17 inches; very gravelly clay loam
R—17 to 27 inches; limestone bedrock
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/bigbendT...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BISSETT.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
I was there as a soil quality assurance specialist reviewing the soil survey of Abu Dhabi Emirate.
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.
Bill Porter (Project Manager) for the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey, is a soil scientist and land management specialist. He was formerly the Program Manager, Agricultural Systems Research, in the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia.
John 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.
Soil survey legend development and documentation (classification/correlation) are those activities conducted in the field that organize, gather, describe, and delineate data needed to provide current and accurate soil maps and interpretations. The purpose of soil survey legend and documentation procedures is to ensure the collection of meaningful and essential field data in the course of field activities. These data ensure that the objectives of the soil survey are met.
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
For more information about describing soils using the USDA-Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Typic Dystrocryept in Idaho.
Landscape: These soils are mostly in the mountains of the Western States and in Alaska. The vegetation is mostly coniferous forest. The soils are used mainly for timber production and wildlife habitat. A few areas are used for limited livestock grazing.
The central concept or the Typic subgroup of Dystrocryepts is fixed on deep, more or less freely drained soils that have an ochric epipedon. Typic Dystrocryepts are of large extent in the United States. Natural vegetation is mainly western hemlock, western redcedar, western larch, and western white pine with understory of big blueberry, common beargrass, myrtle pachystima and northern twinflower.
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Wisconsin State Soil: the Antigo series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in 50 to 100 centimeters of loess or silty alluvium and in loamy alluvium and in the underlying stratified sandy outwash. (Soil Survey of Langlade County, Wisconsin; Michael J. Mitchell, Soil Conservation Service)
Antigo soils are on outwash plains, stream terraces, eskers, kames, glacial lake plains, and moraines. Slope ranges from 0 to 30 percent. Antigo soils are among the most extensive soils in Wisconsin. They occur on about 300,000 acres in the northern part of the State. They are very productive soils for corn, small grain, and hay. In some areas potatoes or snap beans are important crops. In 1983, the Wisconsin Legislature designated the Antigo series as the official State soil. The series was named after the city of Antigo, Wisconsin. Antigo soils are well-drained and formed in loess and loamy sediments over stratified sandy outwash. The average annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 33 inches, and the average annual air temperature ranges from 39 to 45 degrees F.
Most areas are cultivated. The principal crops are corn, small grains, and hay. In some places, potatoes and snap beans are important crops and some areas are pastured. Some areas are forested. The native vegetation is American basswood, sugar maple, yellow birch, white ash, big tooth aspen, quaking aspen, and black cherry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Physiographic divisions--Interior Plains and Laurentian Upland
Physiographic Provinces--Central Lowland and Superior Upland
Physiographic section--Western Lake section
MLRAs--Wisconsin and Minnesota Thin Loess and Till, Northern Part (90A), Wisconsin and Minnesota Thin Loess and Till, Southern Part (90B), Central Minnesota Sandy Outwash (91A), Wisconsin and Minnesota Sandy Outwash (91B), and Superior Stony and Rocky Loamy Plains and Hills, Eastern Part (93B)
LRR K; northern Wisconsin and east-central Minnesota
Extent--large (over 250,000 acres)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Haplic Glossudalfs
Antigo soils have a glossic horizon (E/B or B/E horizons, or both). Horizonation has a wide range depending on the thickness of the silty mantle and the degree to which eluviation has occurred. Therefore, there can be E/B, B/E, 2E/B, or 2B/E horizons, singly or in combination, with or without Bt or 2Bt horizons.
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Peanutrock series. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Peanutrock-Tiak complex, 8 to 15 percent slopes. This map unit is moderately suited to pasture and to ponds.
The Peanutrock series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy and gravelly marine sediments of Cretaceous age. These soils are on nearly level to steep marine terraces and uplands in the Cretaceous Western Gulf Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area, MLRA 135B. Slopes are 1 to 35 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
Solum thickness is more than 80 inches. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to strongly acid in the A horizon; slightly acid to very strongly acid in the E and BE horizons; medium acid to very strongly acid in the Bt horizons; and strongly acid to extremely acid in the BC or C horizons.
Coarse fragments range from 15 to 60 percent by volume in the A, E, and BE horizons; 35 to 60 percent in the upper Bt horizon(s); and 35 to 80 percent in the lower Bt horizons; and 60 to 80 percent in the BC or C horizons. In some pedons, the lower Bt, BC and C horizons consist of gravels and cobbles of sandstone and/or chert and novaculite that are weakly to strongly cemented by iron, gypsum, calcite, dried clay binder, or a tuffaceous material.
Typically, the cementation is a yellowish color in the tuffaceous material and red or brown in the other materials. This cementation can occur in layers of varying thicknesses and, in some pedons, there is horizon stratification with strongly contrasting particle and fragment sizes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for native pasture and woodland. The vegetation is primarily southern red oak, sweetgum, American sycamore, white oak, and loblolly pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cretaceous Western Gulf Coastal Plain of southwest Arkansas and possibly southeast Oklahoma. The series is expected to be extensive. These soils were formerly included in the Saffell series. Saffell soils formed over Tertiary-aged sediments and are less stratified.
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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 (115 cm in this pedon) 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.
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Soil profile: These Dystrudepts have some andic soil properties in a layer in the upper part that is 18 cm or more thick. Some of the soils contain a significant amount of volcanic ash. Some have an umbric epipedon. Andic and Vitrandic Dystrudepts are moderately extensive in the Northwestern United States.
Landscape: The native vegetation consists mostly of coniferous forest. Most of these soils support their native vegetation and are used as forest. A few of the less sloping soils have been cleared and are used as cropland or pasture.
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Soil profile: A typical profile of Taney soil. The Taney series consists of moderately deep to fragipan, moderately well drained soils that formed mainly in loess or reworked loess with an influence of volcanic ash in the upper part. The vitrandic feature in this profile extends from the surface to a depth of about 45 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Clearwater Area, Idaho; by Glenn Hoffman, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Pasture in an area of Cavendish-Taney complex, 8 to 20 percent slopes.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, frigid Vitrandic Argixerolls
Soil moisture - Usually dry for 45 to 60 consecutive days mid-July to mid-September, moist mid-September to mid-July (xeric moisture regime)
Average annual soil temperature - 5.0 to 8.3 degrees C
Average summer soil temperature - 10.6 to 12.8 degrees C with an O horizon (frigid temperature regime)
Thickness of mollic epipedon - 25 to 50 centimeters
Depth to base of argillic - 114 to 152 centimeters or more
Depth to fragipan - 69 to 102 centimeters
Particle-size control section (weighted average): Clay content - 18 to 20 percent
Vitrandic feature thickness - 25 to 51 centimeters
Volcanic glass content in the 0.02 to 2.0 mm fraction - 5 to 20 percent
Acid-oxalate extractable Al plus 1/2 Fe - 0.4 to 1.0 percent
Phosphate retention - 30 to 40 percent
15-bar water retention on air dried samples - 10 to 13 percent
Moist bulk density - 1.00 to 1.45 g/cc
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for dryland small grain, hay, pasture and woodland. Potential natural vegetation is mainly Douglas fir and ponderosa pine, with an understory of common snowberry, white spirea, creambush oceanspray, mallow ninebark, Nootka rose, Woods rose, Columbia brome, sweetscented bedstraw and pinegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Idaho; MLRA 9 and 43A. The series is of large extent; about 156,000 acres.
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Sand dunes are lessons in artistry - in how a slight change can modify the external outcome quickly and irreversibly. If we think a ripple pattern to be unique, maybe even exotic, does its beauty exist if no one sees it? (Richard Arnold, former Director, Soil Survey Division, USDA-NRCS)
______________________________
Typic Torripsamments consociation, very high dunes and flats consists of narrow sinuous dune ridges that form linear or roughly rectangular patterns around deflation plains and inland sabkha flats. The dunes have a relative relief of about 80m. Dune formations are variable due to multi-directional winds, and include barchanoid, transverse and star shapes. The star dunes are often higher than the surrounding dunes and form impressive and imposing features in the landscape. A white, gray or red surface veneer of fine to coarse sand and fine gravel occurs on the gentle slopes of the dunes adjacent to the sabkhas and deflation plains.
Small areas of sabkha flat are included within this map unit. The map unit occurs as linear polygons in the south-eastern part of the area adjacent to Oman and Saudi Arabian border. Polygons range in size from 60ha to 94,557ha. The land is used as low density grazing. The map unit has sparse vegetation cover with Cyperus conglomeratus and Zygophyllum spp on the lower slopes of the dunes together with Calligonum comosum on the slopes and slip faces. The map unit forms part of the Cyperetum-Zygophylletum vegetation community.
The soils of this map unit are dominated by Typic Torripsamments, mixed, hyperthermic (85% AD158) in the high dunes. Other soils are Typic Petrogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD123), Petrogypsic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD143) and Gypsic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD135) that are confined to the deflation flats.
Steep, high dunes are the major constraint to land use in this map unit.
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Human settlement in the area covered by the emirate has existed for over 120,000 years, with significant finds made of early axes and stone tools as well as Copper and Iron Age implements in Al Dhaid, Al Thuqeibah, Mileiha, Tell Abraq, Muwailah, Al Madam and Jebel Faya.
The word “soil,” like many common words, has several meanings. In its traditional meaning, soil is the natural medium for the growth of land plants, whether or not it has discernible soil horizons. This meaning is still the common understanding of the word, and the greatest interest in soil is centered on this meaning. People consider soil important because it supports plants that supply food, fibers, drugs, and other wants of humans and because it filters water and recycles wastes. Soil covers the earth’s surface as a continuum, except on bare rock, in areas of perpetual frost or deep water, or on the bare ice of glaciers. In this sense, soil has a thickness that is determined by the rooting depth of plants.
Soil is formed when the rocks (parent material) are exposed to the weathering action of natural elements like wind, water, glaciers, and change in temperature. These weathering agents progressively break rocks into finer grains that are laid in layers to form the soil.
The distinct layers of soil lying one above the other, parallel to the soil surface, are known as soil horizons. They are identified on the basis of their physical features, mainly their color, structure, texture, particle size, as well as biological and chemical composition. Each horizon is the result of a number of geological, chemical, and biological processes that have been in progress for over thousands of years.
A soil horizon is a result of soil-forming processes (pedogenesis). Layers that have not undergone such processes may be simply called “layers”.
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
Soil scientists and lithified sand dunes on the central coastline of Abu Dhabi Emirate. Ancient sand dunes that have become cemented and hardened through time are identified as Miliolite.
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.
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The dark layer near the surface of the pit is a spodic horizon. What made this area so interesting was the presence of the spodic horizon and underlying subsoil that contained plinthite.
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The Al Kihef series is a very deep soil formed in sandy alluvial deposits with increasing gravel content with depth. Land use and vegetation. This soil is mostly used for rangeland grazing for camels. In areas where water is available, small farms have been developed. Where water resources have been depleted, cultivated lands are idle and returning to natural vegetation. Commonly described vegetation species include Acacia Tortilis, Calligonum comosum, Calotropis procera, Tribulus arabicus, and Rhazya stricta. Vegetative cover is mostly less than 5%, but may be as much as 10 to 15% in places.
The main distinguishing feature of this soil is the sandy textures with accumulations of calcium carbonate in the subsoil. A desert pavement of fine to medium surface gravel provides some limited protection against wind erosion, but if disturbed, wind erosion can become a problem. Although the soil has limited water and nutrient holding capacity, where quality water is available it can be farmed successfully.
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Effect of slope aspect on vegetation and tree seedling survival. (Photo courtesy of Kerry Arroues)
Slope aspect is the compass bearing that a slope faces looking down slope. It is recorded either in degrees, accounting for declination, or as a general compass orientation. The direction is expressed as an angle between 0 and 360 degrees (measured clockwise from true north) or as a compass point, such as east or north-northwest.
Aspect can substantially impact local ecosystems. The impact generally increases as slope gradient and latitude increase. In the mid latitudes of the conterminous United States, this effect becomes particularly important on slopes of approximately 6 to 8 percent or greater. Increased or decreased solar radiation on slopes due to aspect can affect water dynamics across a site. In the northern hemisphere, north-northeast aspects reduce evapotranspiration and result in greater soil moisture levels, improved plant growth and biomass production, higher carbon levels, and improved drought survival rates for plants. Increased solar radiation on south southwest aspects increases evapotranspiration and decreases biomass production, seedling survival rates, and drought survival rates for plants.
Salidic Haplocalcids are the Haplocalcids 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. These soils are not commonly used for irrigated agriculture due to salt content.
Haplocalcids are the Calcids that have a calcic horizon with its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. These soils do not have a duripan or an argillic, natric, or petrocalcic horizon within 100 cm of the soil surface. Some of the soils have a cambic horizon above the calcic horizon. Haplocalcids are extensive.
Calcids are the Aridisols with calcium carbonate that was in the parent materials or was added as dust, or both. Precipitation is insufficient to leach or even move the carbonates to great depths. The upper boundary of the calcic or petrocalcic horizon is normally within 50 cm of the soil surface. If the soils are irrigated and cultivated, micronutrient deficiencies are normal. These soils are extensive in the western part of the United States and in other arid regions of the world.
Aridisols, as their name implies, are soils in which water is not available to mesophytic plants for long periods. During most of the time when the soils are warm enough for plants to grow, soil water is held at potentials less than the permanent wilting point or has a content of soluble salts great enough to limit the growth of plants other than halophytes, or both. The concept of Aridisols is based on limited soil moisture available for the growth of most plants. In areas bordering deserts, the absolute precipitation may be sufficient for the growth of some plants. Because of runoff or a very low storage capacity of the soils, or both, however, the actual soil moisture regime is aridic.
This region lies in the south-west of the Emirate, adjacent to the border with Saudi Arabia. It constitutes linear dune fields of interlayered white carbonatic and red quartzite sands with minor exposure of Quaternary dunes and inter-dune formation.
The Rub' al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert. One very large pile of sand!!!
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Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Sunnyside series; the Representative Soil (State Soil) of Washington DC.
Landscape: These soils are common to the area in and around the National Arboretum (upper left corner of landscape image). (Soil Survey of the District of Columbia; by Horace Smith, Soil Conservation Service).
A state soil is a soil that has special significance to a particular state. Each state in the United States has selected a state soil, twenty of which have been legislatively established. These “Official State Soils” share the same level of distinction as official state flowers and birds. Also, representative soils have been selected for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
The Sunnyside series consists of red, very deep, well drained and moderately permeable soils formed in unconsolidated deposits of very old, dominantly sandy sediments. They are on uplands of the Coastal Plain, with slopes that range from 0 to 40 percent. Sunnyside is categorized as a Prime Farmland Soil, which means it is one of the most productive soils for agriculture and forestry, in addition to being one of the best suited soils to construction and recreational development.
These soils are mapped on nearly 700 acres in the District of Columbia, and other areas in the adjacent state of Maryland.
Average annual precipitation is 44 inches. Average annual air temperature is 55 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
The thickness of the solum ranges from 24 to 48 inches, but the maximum depth to the lower limit of the argillic horizon is less than 40 inches. Some pedons have up to 10 percent rounded pebbles or fine black concretions in the C horizon. Soil reaction is strongly acid to extremely acid in unlimed areas.
USE AND VEGETATION: Some areas are in corn, soybeans, small grains or tobacco, but most acreage is used for urban or other suburban uses. Wooded areas consist of oak and Virginia pine with an understory of huckleberry, azalea and dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia; the series is moderately extensive.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Prince Georges County, Maryland, 1939.
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Soil profile: The Eva series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained, moderately rapid permeable soils. (Soil Survey of Stevens County, Kansas; by Thomas C. Byrd, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Sunflowers in an area of Eva loamy fine sand, 1 to 3 percent slopes, on the south side of the Cimarron River in Stevens County.
Eva soils formed in sandy eolian deposits of Holocene age. These soils are on very gently to strongly sloping dunes and plains of the Southern High Plains, northern part (MLRA 77A). Slope ranges from 1 to 9 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 13 degrees C (57 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 460 mm (18 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustalfs
Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 in)
Thickness of the ochric epipedon: 8 to 48 cm (3 to 19 in)
Thickness of the argillic horizon: 25 to 180 cm (10 to 71 in)
Depth to secondary calcium carbonate: 152 to 203 cm (60 to 80 in)
Depth to lithologic discontinuity (where present): 120 to 185 cm (47 to 73 in)
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Silicate clay: 8 to 16 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are mainly used for rangeland. Some areas are used for irrigated crops. Native vegetation is dominantly sand bluestem little bluestem, sideoats grama, sand lovegrass, sand paspalum, fall witchgrass, and sand dropseed. Sand sagebrush is the major woody species with lesser amounts of skunkbush sumac and yucca.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Kansas and Southeastern Colorado south of the Cimarron River, and the Oklahoma Panhandle (MLRA-77A in LRR H). This soil is moderately extensive. These soils were formerly included in the Vona series.
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A representative soil profile of the Narragansett series. (Photo provided by Mark Stolt University of Rhode Island's Dept. of Natural Resources; New England Soil Profiles)
The Narragansett series consists of very deep, well drained loamy soils formed in a mantle of medium-textured deposits overlying till. They are nearly level to moderately steep soils on till plains, low ridges and hills. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. Permeability is moderate in the surface layer and subsoil and moderately rapid or rapid in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 50 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is about 47 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Thickness of the solum and depth to the lithologic discontinuity range from 18 to 38 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 0 to 25 percent in the solum and from 10 to 50 percent in the substratum. Except where the surface layer is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded pebbles and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, the soil is extremely acid to moderately acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for cultivated crops, hay or pasture. Common crops are silage corn, tobacco and vegetables. Some areas are wooded and scattered areas are used for community development. Common trees are red, white and black oak, hickory, white ash, sugar maple, red maple, gray birch, white pine and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent; more than 50,000 acres.
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A representative soil profile of the Skyuka series. (Soil Survey of Polk County, North Carolina; by Scott C. Keenan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Skyuka series consists of gently sloping to strongly sloping, very deep, well drained soils on stream terraces of the Piedmont. They formed in old alluvium washed from upland soils underlain dominantly by dark colored high grade metamorphic rocks such as hornblende gneiss, amphibolite, hornblende schist, and biotite gneiss. Slopes range from 2 to 15 percent. Mean annual precipitation is 64 inches and mean annual temperature is 59 degrees F. near the type location.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Ultic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness ranges from 48 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 72 inches. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid unless lime has been added. Limed soils typically range from moderately acid to neutral in the upper part of the solum. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 15 percent by volume throughout. Fragments are gravel or cobbles. Content of mica flakes ranges from none to common. Content of iron-manganese masses ranges from few to common in the B and C horizons of some pedons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are cleared and used for cropland, hayland or pasture. Important crops include corn, soybeans, small grains, and specialty crops such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, snap beans, and cabbage. The major forages are tall fescue and ladino clover. A few areas are in forest. Native trees include red maple, sweetgum, yellow poplar, black oak, white oak, southern red oak, shortleaf pine, and Virginia pine. A few areas are managed for improved loblolly pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont area of North Carolina and possibly Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is of small extent.
This soil was previously included with the Masada series. Masada soils are Typic Hapludults. Classification of this soil is supported by reference laboratory data from the typical pedon (NSSL Nos. 90P1477, 90P1478). This revision changes the depth to the seasonally high water table to 4 to 6 feet.
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Soils are often dominated by two main coloring agents: organic matter and iron minerals. Often we see colors of red, yellow, brown, orange, etc. in a soil profile. All of these colors are created by different forms of iron minerals present on the soil particles. Historically, the term “mottles” has been used to identify differences in color patterns in a soil profile. Those color difference can be a result of something inherent in the parent material that formed the soil (lithochromic mottles) and chemical reactions in the soil (redixomorphic features--mottles that form as a result of saturated conditions in the soil). The word redoximorphic stems from “redox” which is short for reduction and oxidation and “morphic” which is short for “morphology”, which is the study of how things form.
In this example, most of the naturally occuring iron has been stripped from the ped face leaving a neutral gray color as a result of redoximorphic processes.
Alfisols (SOIL TAXONOMY; JA.1. a or c.) Even though the ped interior does not have a predominately gray interior color, it is considered aquic if 50 percent or more redox depletions with chroma of 1 or less are on faces of peds or chroma of 2 or less with redox concentrations in the matrix.
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-...
For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
A representative soil profile of the Rainbow soil series. (Photo provided by Mark Stolt University of Rhode Island's Dept. of Natural Resources; photo location is the Great Swamp Management Area, Kingston, RI. 41°28'10.76"N 71°34'33.28"W)
The Rainbow series consists of moderately well drained loamy soils formed in silty mantled lodgement till. The soils are very deep to bedrock and moderately deep to a densic contact. They are nearly level to strongly sloping soils on till plains, hills and drumlins. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the surface layer and subsoil, and low to moderately high in the dense substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 48 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
Thickness of the solum ranges from 18 to 40 inches. Depth to the densic contact commonly ranges from 20 to 40 inches but the range currently includes 18 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 0 to 20 percent by volume in the solum and from 5 to 35 percent in the substratum. Except where the surface is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded gravel and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used mostly for cultivated crops, hay, or pasture. Some areas are used for vegetables, nursery stock, and other specialty crops. Scattered areas are used for community development. Stony areas are mostly wooded. Common trees are ash, hemlock, white pine, hickory, red and white oak, red maple, and sugar maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
For more information about New England soils, visit:
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/R/RAINBOW.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile of Altamira soil and hayland in an area of Altamira gravelly clay, 2 to 20 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of San Germán Area, Puerto Rico by Jorge L. Lugo-Camacho, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Setting
Landscape: Hills
Landform: Limestone hills
Major uses: Hayland, pasture, and naturalized pastureland
Elevation: 100 to 1,312 feet
Composition
Altamira and similar soils: 85 percent
Dissimilar soils: 15 percent
Typical Profile
Surface layer:
0 to 8 inches—very dark brown gravelly clay
Subsoil:
8 to 14 inches—brown clay that has masses and concretions of calcium carbonate
Substratum:
14 to 33 inches—very pale brown clay loam that has masses and concretions of calcium carbonate
33 to 43 inches—pale brown clay loam that has masses and concretions of calcium carbonate
43 to 54 inches—grayish brown loam that has masses and concretions of calcium carbonate
54 to 80 inches—very pale brown and grayish brown, stratified, soft limestone bedrock
Minor Components
Dissimilar:
• Costa soils, which have fractured limestone bedrock below a depth of 20 inches
• Pitahaya soils, which have fractured limestone bedrock at a depth of 5 to 14 inches
• La Covana soils, which have a petrocalcic horizon
Similar:
• Guayacán soils, which are in a fine-loamy family
Soil Properties and Qualities
Depth class: Deep
Depth to soft bedrock: 40 to 60 inches
Parent material: Material that weathered from soft limestone bedrock
Surface runoff: Medium
Drainage class: Well drained
Permeability: Moderate
Available water capacity: Very low
Flooding: None
Hazard of water erosion: Moderate
Rock fragments in the surface layer: 5 to 60 percent, by volume, pebbles and cobbles
Shrink-swell potential: Moderate
Natural fertility: Moderate
Content of organic matter in the surface layer: Moderate
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline throughout
Land Use
Dominant uses: Naturalized pastureland
Other uses: Hayland; pasture
Agricultural Development
Cropland
Suitability: Unsuited
Management concerns: Erosion; slope; very low available water capacity
Pasture and hayland
Suitability: Moderately suited
Commonly grown crops: Kleberg’s bluestem
Management concerns: Erosion; slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Erosion is a concern in unprotected areas.
• The moderately steep slopes increase the difficulty of management.
• Including grasses and legumes in the cropping system helps to control further erosion.
• Returning crop residue to the soil helps the soil to retain moisture.
• Overgrazed pastures should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
Naturalized pastureland
Suitability: Moderately suited
Management concerns: Erosion; slope
Management measures and considerations:
• Erosion is a concern in unprotected areas.
• The moderately steep slopes increase the difficulty of management.
• Overgrazed pastures should be reestablished and then protected from further overgrazing.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/puerto_rico/PR...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ALTAMIRA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A greyed soil (Gleysol) from Latvia. (Photo revised, and information courtesy of Andrea Howard.)
latviaforthewin.blogspot.com/2013/03/soils-of-latvia.html
Gleyed soil happens when the parent material is rich in carbon or the water contains a lot of calcium and magnesium and is very fertile.
Each soil type, no matter how insignificant in amount, plays in Latvia’s ability to produce crops as well as selecting locations for animal grazing or even housing. While the variety can prove to be a problem in how to use it, soils are able to be cultivated so they may become fertile and useable. The infertile soil that makes up the majority of the land in Latvia can become fertile and used as agriculturally viable land.
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Gleysols comprise soils saturated with groundwater for long enough periods to develop reducing conditions resulting in gleyic properties, including underwater and tidal soils. This pattern is essentially made up of reddish, brownish or yellowish colours at aggregate surfaces and/or in the upper soil layers, in combination with greyish/bluish colours inside the aggregates and/or deeper in the soil. Many underwater soils have Annex 1 - Description, distribution, use and management of Reference Soil Groups 159 only the latter. Gleysols with a thionic horizon or hypersulfidic material (acid sulfate soils) are common. Redox processes may also be caused by upmoving gases, like CO2 or CH4. Common names for many Gleysols are Gley (former Soviet Union), Gleyzems (Russia), Gleye, Marschen, Watten and Unterwasserböden (Germany), Gleissolos (Brazil) and Hydrosols (Australia). In the United States of America many Gleysols belong to Aquic Suborders and Endoaquic Great Groups of various Orders (Aqualfs, Aquents, Aquepts, Aquolls, etc.) or to the Wassents. (WRB-World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014)
For more information about soil classification using the WRB system, visit:
www.fao.org/3/i3794en/I3794en.pdf
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:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Tate series. The average content of semi-rounded rock fragments is as much as 35 percent in the solum and s much as 60 percent in the substratum. Depth to bedrock is more than 150 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Grayson County, Virginia; Robert K. Conner, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A restored pioneer farm in Grayson Highlands State Park, in an area of Tate loam, 7 to 15 percent slopes, stony. Areas of this map unit are on footslopes and toeslopes.
The Tate 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 weathered from felsic to mafic high-grade metamorphic rocks. Mean annual temperature is 52 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation about 52 inches near the type location. Slope ranges from 2 to 50 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
Thickness of the solum ranges from 24 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Content of rock fragments is less than 35 percent by volume in the A and Bt horizons, and less than 60 percent in the BC and C horizons. The soil is very strongly acid to slightly acid unless limed. Content of mica flakes is few or common.
USE AND VEGETATION: About half is cleared and used for growing corn, small grain, tobacco, truck crops, and pasture. Common trees in forested areas are scarlet oak, white oak, yellow-poplar, eastern white pine, shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, and northern red oak. Understory plants include mountain-laurel, rhododendron, blueberry, greenbrier, flowering dogwood, black locust, honeysuckle, sourwood, and flame azalea.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Blue Ridge (MLRA 130) of North Carolina, Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and possibly Georgia and South Carolina. The series has large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/VA077...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TATE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of a Typic Plagganthrept from Germany. (Photo and comments courtesy of Stan Buol, NCSU.)
This profile was photographed in Eastern Netherlands where indigenous people gathered vegetation and surface layers from adjacent organic soils to serve as bedding material for their animals. These are mineral soils with thick organic enriched surface horizons called Plaggen epipedons created by human activity over hundreds of years. The practice known as Plaggen culture was most common in parts of Western Europe mainly in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. After the material became mixed with manure it was spread on the surface of the fine sands that dominated the gently rolling landscape.
Recent studies have indicated that it took material from about 40 acres to maintain 1 acre of Plaggen soil. They selected those parts of the landscape where the water table was 50 to 100 cm below the surface and thereon grew their vegetable crops in the fertile soil. Similar human activity has taken place in the Amazon basin where human activity around villages deposited organic wastes, mixed with charcoal of their cooking fires created fertile, black colored soils known as Terra Preta.
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Plagganthrepts are the Anthrepts that have a plaggen epipedon. Because Plagganthrepts are not extensive, their classification has not been developed beyond their grouping into a single great group. These soils are known to occur only in Europe, including the British Isles. They have a udic moisture regime. They have gentle slopes and are used either as cropland or as homesites. The buried soils under the plaggen epipedon vary appreciably in morphology, but few of them had high natural fertility.
Anthrepts are the more or less freely drained Inceptisols that have either an anthropic or plaggen epipedon. Most of these soils have been used as cropland or as sites for human occupation for many years. Anthrepts can have almost any temperature regime and almost any vegetation. Most have a cambic horizon.
Plaggen soils were created in parts of northwest Europe in the Middle Ages. In order to fertilize the fields, pieces of heath or grass including roots and humus ("plaggen") were cut and used as bedding for cattle. In springtime, this bedding, enriched with slurry was then spread over the fields near the village as manure. The long term practice of this form of agriculture created a rich agricultural soil to a depth of between 40 cm and over 1.50 m, unlike modern arable soils, which tend to be just 30 centimetres deep. The raised fields give rise to a typical landscape with sharp breaks in elevation and are called Plaggenesche in Germany or Es in Dutch. This form of agriculture stopped around 1900 with the introduction of fertilizers.
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:
Clayey soil baking in the hot desert sun. 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.
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.
A soil profile of a Haploturbel in Alaska. Involutions of soil material (brown) are mixed into the underlying soil by cryoturbation. (Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
Haploturbels have an ochric (typically thin and/or light-colored) epipedon and have sufficient moisture for cryoturbation. Commonly, the cryoturbation is not well expressed. These soils occur in Alaska, Canada, and Siberia.
Turbels are the Gelisols that have one or more horizons with evidence of cryoturbation (intense frost churning) in the form of irregular, broken, or distorted horizon boundaries; involutions; the accumulation of organic matter on top of the permafrost; ice or sand wedges; or oriented rock fragments. Cryoturbation occurs only in soils that have sufficient moisture for the formation of ice crystals. Soils that have cryoturbated horizons and are dry for most of the year were probably moister in the past. Turbels are the dominant suborder of Gelisols. They account for about half of the Gelisols worldwide. These soils are common in the High and Middle Arctic Vegetation Regions of North America and Eurasia, at latitudes of 65 degrees north or more.
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Mazarn soil series. (Soil Survey of Montgomery County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Mazarn silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, in the middle ground and Sherless-Littlefir complex, 1 to 8 percent slopes, in the foreground and background. These soils are well suited to pasture and hayland. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Arkansas; by Jeffrey W. Olson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Mazarn series consists of moderately deep, somewhat poorly drained, moderately slowly permeable soils that formed in loamy sediments from shale, siltstone and sandstone. These soils are adjacent to small, upland drains and intermittent streams in the Ouachita Mountains; MLRA 119. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 62 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 52 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
Solum thickness and depth to weathered, shale bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for pasture and woodland. The native vegetation was mixed hardwoods and pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. The series is of small extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/AR097...
and...
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/pikeA...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MAZARN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: Chilicotal very gravelly fine sandy loam in an area of Chilicotal very gravelly fine sandy loam, 1 to 8 percent slopes. Rock fragments comprise more than 35 percent of the 10- to 40-inch control section.
Landscape: A healthy plant community, about one year after a prescribed fire, of black grama, Texas prickly pear, and skeletonleaf goldeneye occupy this area of Chilicotal very gravelly fine sandy loam, 1 to 8 percent slopes. Abundant summer precipitation following the fire allowed the vegetation to recover. Some mortality of pricklypear is evident in the foreground. Rock outcrop-Brewster complex, 20 to 70 percent slopes, is mapped on the Chisos Mountains in the background. (Cover of Soil Survey of Big Bend National Park, Texas; by James Gordon, Soil Scientist, James A. Douglass, Soil Scientist, and Dr. Lynn E. Loomis, Soil Scientist, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Chilicotal series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy gravelly piedmont sediments from igneous mountains. These soils are on gently undulating to strongly rolling fan remnants and alluvial fans. Slopes range from 1 to 50 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Ustic Haplocalcids
USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Grasses in most areas are mainly chino grama, slim tridens, black grama, and threeawns with woody vegetation of lechuguilla, creosotebush, skeletonleaf goldeneye, catclaw, sotol, yucca, and ceniza.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West Texas in MLRA 42. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/bigbendT...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CHILICOTAL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Photo courtesy of EAD-Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. www.ead.gov.ae/
Saline soils contain enough soluble salts to injure plants. They are characterized by white or light brown crusts on the surface. Saline soils usually have an EC of more than 4 mmho cm-1. Salts generally found in saline soils include NaCl (table salt), CaCl2, gypsum (CaSO4), magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride and sodium sulfate.
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.
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.
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:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Mimosa soil series. (Soil Survey of Macon County. Tennessee, by Charlie McCowan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Mimosa soils are on gently sloping to steep uplands extending from the edge of the Highland Rim down into the outer Central Basin, and on outlying knobs and hills within the inner Central Basin.
The Mimosa series consists of deep, well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in clayey residuum from phosphatic limestone. These soils are on gently sloping to steep uplands with medium to rapid runoff. Near the type location, average annual precipitation is 49 inches and average annual air temperature is 60 degrees F. Slopes range from 2 to 45 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludalfs
Solum thickness and depth to rock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 25 percent in the surface layer and 5 percent or less below. The fragments are mostly chert and most areas have less than 15 percent in the surface layer. The soil is medium acid to very strongly acid except the layer just above bedrock is medium acid to mildly alkaline. Phosphorous content of each horizon is medium to high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage of these soils have been cleared, but some areas reverted back to trees. Most cleared areas are used for growing pasture and hay. Wooded areas are in oak, hickory, black walnut, elm, maple, hackberry, black and honey locust, and redcedar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Central Basin of Tennessee and possibly in northern Alabama. The soil is extensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/tennessee/maco...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/M/MIMOSA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
(L) The clayed Bt horizon commonly has strong subangular blocky structure with many prominent clay films on faces of peds.
(R) Georgeville soils are on gently sloping to moderately steep Piedmont uplands. Slopes are generally 6 to 15 percent but range from 2 to 50 percent.
The Georgeville series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in material mostly weathered from fine-grained metavolcanic rocks of the Carolina Slate Belt. Slopes are 2 to 50 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
Thickness of the clayey part of the Bt horizon ranges from 24 to 48 inches. Depth to the bottom of the clayey Bt horizon exceeds 30 inches. Depth to a lithic contact is more than 60 inches. Few fine flakes of mica are in the lower part of the solum of some pedons, and some pedons may have few fine manganese concretions in the surface and upper subsoil horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for cotton, small grains, tobacco, corn, hay, and pasture. Forested areas are in mixed hardwood and pines.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is extensive.
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GEORGEVILLE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Fibrous gypsum is used as building materials. It is used in rubber, plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, paints, textiles, food, medicine, household chemicals, arts and crafts, culture and education. Gypsum is usually divided into raw gypsum and plaster. The raw gypsum (gypsum ore) is pulverized into a very fine powder and it is called plaster of Paris after heating. The plaster of Paris will solidify when it meets water, and it can be used to fix the injured limb of the fracture, the shape of the crafts, the mold of the foundry industry, and the mold of the jewelry. (Scale is 10cm / 4 in).
For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...
or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...
For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM
For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...
or;
www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...
A representative soil profile of the Pittstown series. (Photo provided by Mark Stolt University of Rhode Island's Dept. of Natural Resources Science; New England Soil Profiles)
These soils are moderately well drained and formed in loamy dense till derived primarily from carboniferous rocks and minerals dominated by sandstone, slate, schist, phyllite, and shale. The dark colored till is due to the high carbon contained in minerals within the parent rocks. The dark colors of the soil causes some difficulty to determine the depth to estimated average seasonal high water table. Pittstown soils are in a catena with well drained Newport soils, poorly drained Stissting soils and very poorly drained Mansfield soils. These soils are mapped primarily in the Narragansett Basin and in the Boston Basin in southern New England.
The Pittstown series formed in lodgement till derived mainly from slate, phyllite, shale, and schist. These soils are very deep to bedrock and moderately deep to a densic contact. They are nearly level through moderately steep soils on uplands. Slope ranges from 0 through 25 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral solum and moderately low or moderately high in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F. (9 degrees C.), and mean annual precipitation is about 45 inches (1143 millimeters).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
Thickness of the mineral solum and depth to dense substratum ranges from 20 through 30 inches (50 through 76 centimeters), but the range currently includes 15 through 30 inches (38 through 76 centimeters). The solum in the fine earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or very fine sandy loam with more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. Rock fragments consist of dark phyllite, slate, and schist. Rock fragments, by volume, larger than 10 inches range from 0 through 20 percent in the surface and 0 through 5 percent in the subsoil and substratum. 3 through 10 inch size fragments range from 0 through 15 percent in surface, 0 through 10 percent in the subsoil, and 0 through 15 percent in the substratum. Fragments less than 3 inches range from 5 through 25 percent in the surface, 5 through 25 percent in the subsoil, and 15 through 30 percent in the substratum. The soil, below the A or Ap horizon and above a depth of 30 inches (76 centimeters), is very strongly acid through moderately acid where not limed, and ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid below a depth of 30 inches (76 centimeters).
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. Cleared areas are used for growing hay and pasture in support of dairy farming. Principal trees are northern red, white and scarlet oak, red and sugar maple, gray and yellow birch, white ash, eastern white pine, and eastern hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and eastern New York. MLRA 144A. The series is of moderate extent, estimated to be about 125,000 acres.
For additional information about New England soils, visit:
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PITTSTOWN.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Chernozem (from Russian: chernozyom, is a black-colored soil containing a high percentage of humus (4% to 16%) and high percentages of phosphoric acids, phosphorus, and ammonia. Chernozem is very fertile and can produce high agricultural yields with its high moisture storage capacity. Chernozems are a Reference Soil Group of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB).
Russian soil scientists rank the deep, central Chernozems among the best soils in the world. With less than half of all Chernozems in Eurasia being used for arable cropping, these soils constitute a formidable resource for the future. Preservation of the favorable soil structure through timely cultivation and careful irrigation at low watering rates prevent wind and water erosion. Application of P fertilizers is required for high yields.
Wheat, barley and maize are the principal crops grown, alongside other food crops and vegetables. Part of the Chernozem area is used for livestock rearing. In the northern temperate belt, the possible growing period is short and the principal crops grown are wheat and barley, in places in rotation with vegetables. Maize and sunflower are widely grown in the warm temperate belt. Maize production tends to stagnate in drier years unless the crop is irrigated adequately (WRB, 2016)
Soil profile: (Photo courtesy of Yakov Kuzyakov, revised.)
For more information about this soil, visit;
wwwuser.gwdg.de/~kuzyakov/soils/WRB-2006_Keys.htm
Landscape: Chernozems are relict soils in Poland, covering only small patches of our country. In recent years, discussions on genesis, transformation and relations of Chernozems with other soil types have been revived. Interdisciplinary research conducted jointly with archaeologists broadened knowledge and verified scenarios of Cherznozems evolution in selected regions of Poland. On the other hand, there are reports of significant degradation or even disappearance of Chernozems due to intensive cultivation and soil erosion. It indicates the great importance to protect these fertile soils. Therefore, despite the fact that Chernozem is “the first among soils”, from recognizing the genesis of which modern soil science has begun, we still see exciting research challenges and practical needs regarding these soils in Poland, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. (Cezary Kabała)
For more information about "Chernozem – Soil of the Year 2019", visit;