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Soil profile: A representative profile of Potomac soil, the dominant soil on first-bottom flood plains in western West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. Potomac soils are characterized by a high content of cobbles and gravel throughout and commonly have layers deposited from a series of flood events. (Soil Survey of Pike County, Kentucky; by John A. Kelley, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: A typical landscape of Potomac–Nelse complex, 0 to 5 percent slopes, extremely stony, frequently flooded. (Soil Survey of New River Gorge National River, West Virginia; by Wendy Noll and James Bell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Potomac series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained soils formed in coarse-textured alluvial material on flood plains. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. The mean annual percipitation is about 32 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 51 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Typic Udifluvents
Depth to bedrock is greater than 5 feet. Pebbles and cobblestones dominantly of sandstone range from 0 to 50 percent in the A horizon, and the weighted average by volume in the C horizon is dominantly greater than 50 percent, but ranges from 35 to 70 percent. Subhorizons of the C horizon in some pedons are nearly free of rock fragments and in others it ranges to 80 percent. Unlimed soils are mildly alkaline to very strongly acid.
USE AND VEGETATION: More than one-half of the acreage is cleared and used mainly for pasture or hay. Many areas are idle and reverting to woody vegetation. Native vegetation was mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ridge and Valley and southern Appalachian Plateau areas of West Virginia, also Kentucky and North Carolina. The extent is moderate.
For additional information about the survey areas, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/kentucky/KY195...
and...
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/west_virginia/...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/POTOMAC.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Whipple series in an area of Stormjade-Whipple complex, 8 to 50 percent slopes. (Interim Report for the Soil Survey of Chemehuevi Wash Off-Highway Vehicle Area, California; by Leon Lato, Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, and Heath McAllister, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Whipple series consists of very shallow and shallow, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium from granite. Whipple soils are on backslopes of hills. Slopes range from 8 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 100 millimeters (4 inches) and the mean annual air temperature is about 24 degrees C (75 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Lithic Haplargids
Soil moisture control section: usually dry throughout, rarely moist in some part during summer or winter. The soils have a typic-aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 22 to 26.7 degrees C (72 to 80 degrees ).
Depth to argillic horizon: 2 to 4 centimeters.
Depth to bedrock: 13 to 36 centimeters.
Control section - Clay content: averages 12 to 18 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Whipple soils are used for recreation and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly burrobush, brittlebush and creosote bush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Colorado Desert of southeastern California, U.S.A.; MLRA 31. These soils are of small extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA6...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WHIPPLE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
An Arenic Paleaquult in North Carolina.
Arenic Paleaquults.—These soils have a sandy layer, starting at the mineral soil surface, that is between 50 and 100 cm thick and are permitted to have brownish colors in the matrix below the A or Ap horizon, but they are otherwise like Typic Paleaquults in defined properties.
Most Arenic Paleaquults developed in somewhat sandier materials and have less clay in the argillic horizon than the soils in the Typic subgroup. The natural vegetation consisted of forest plants. The Arenic Paleaquults in the United States are mainly on the coastal plains in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. They are moderately extensive. Most of these soils are used as forest, but some have been cleared and are used as cropland or pasture.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Whitetop series. (Soil Survey of Bear Lake County Area, Idaho; by Francis R. Kukachka, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Weakly cemented volcanic ash in detailed map unit 40, Burchert-Whitetop complex, 10 to 45 percent slopes
The Whitetop series consists of shallow, well drained soils formed in residuum from weakly consolidated ash. These soils are on shoulders, summits, and upper backslopes of hills. Permeability is moderately rapid. Slopes range from 8 to 45 percent. Average annual precipitation is about 16 inches and the average annual air temperature is about 41 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy, glassy, frigid, shallow Vitrandic Haploxerolls
Soil moisture control section usually moist, dry in all parts for 45 consecutive days or more in the four months following the summer solstice. Xeric moisture regime.
Thickness of mollic epipedon 14 to 20 inches
Depth to paralithic contact 10 to 20 inches
Average annual soil temperature 41 to 44 degrees F. Frigid soil temperature regime.
Particle-size control section
Clay content 8 to 12 percent
Pararock fragments 0 to 20 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for wildlife habitat and rangeland. The dominant native vegetation is mountain big sagebrush, serviceberry, mountain snowberry, buckwheat, bluebunch wheatgrass, Sanberg bluegrass, and prairie junegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Idaho. The series is not extensive. MLRA 43B.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/bearlake...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/W/WHITETOP.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
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.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
The Ashe series consists of moderately deep, somewhat excessively drained soils on gently sloping to very steep ridges and side slopes of the Blue Ridge (MLRA 130). They formed in residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper part, and weathered from felsic or mafic igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks such as granite, hornblende gneiss, granodiorite, biotite gneiss, and high-grade metagraywacke.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 14 to 40 inches. Depth to lithic contact ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent by volume throughout. Reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid, unless limed. Content of flakes of mica is few or common throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Common trees are black locust, chestnut oak, scarlet oak, eastern white pine, northern red oak, Virginia pine, and pitch pine. The understory species includes mountain laurel, rhododendron, and sourwood. Some areas are in pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Blue Ridge (MLRA 130) of North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The series is extensive.
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ASHE.html
For geographic distribution, visit:
Typical profile of a Latahco soil. The mollic epipedon extends from the surface of the mineral soil material to a depth of about 30 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Clearwater Area, Idaho; by Glenn Hoffman, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Latahco series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained soils that formed in alluvium from the surrounding loessal uplands. Latahco soils are on low terraces, flood plains and drainageways. Slopes are 0 to 3 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 20 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 44 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, frigid Argiaquic Xeric Argialbolls
Mean annual soil temperature - 41 to 47 degrees F.
Soil moisture control section - usually moist but are dry for 45 to 60 days in late summer and fall.
Mollic epipedon thickness - 11 to 22 inches
Depth to the argillic horizon - 17 to 35 inches
Depth to aquic features with chroma of 2 or less with redox concentrations is 17 to 27 inches
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for cropland. Crops are wheat, barley, hay, pasture, and grass seed. Native vegetation includes perennial forbs and grasses, black hawthorn, common chokecherry, and ponderosa pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Idaho, MLRA 9. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/clearwat...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LATAHCO.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A Typic Petrogypsid, shallow-lithic from the interior of the UAE.
These shallow mineral soils that are less than 50 cm deep (from the soil surface) to a root-limiting layer (petrogypsic or petrocalcic horizon, or a paralithic contact). In addition, these soils that have a lithic contact at a depth of more than 50 cm, but within 200 cm from the soil surface.
Petrogypsids are the Gypsids that have a petrogypsic horizon that has its upper boundary within 100 cm of the soil surface. These soils occur in very arid areas of the world where the parent material is high in content of gypsum. When the petrogypsic horizon is close to the surface, crusting forms pseudohexagonal patterns on the soil surface. Petrogypsids occupy old surfaces. In Syria and Iraq, they are on the highest terraces along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These soils are not extensive in the United States but are extensive in other countries.
The petrogypsic horizon is a horizon in which visible secondary gypsum has accumulated or has been transformed. The horizon is cemented (i.e., extremely weakly cemented through indurated cementation classes), and the cementation is both laterally continuous and root limiting, even when the soil is moist. The horizon typically occurs as a subsurface horizon, but it may occur at the surface in some soils (foreground).
Gypsids are the Aridisols that have a gypsic or petrogypsic horizon within 100 cm of the soil surface. Accumulation of gypsum takes place initially as crystal aggregates in the voids of the soils. These aggregates grow by accretion, displacing the enclosing soil material. When the gypsic horizon occurs as a cemented impermeable layer, it is recognized as the petrogypsic horizon. Each of these forms of gypsum accumulation implies processes in the soils, and each presents a constraint to soil use. One of the largest constraints is dissolution of the gypsum, which plays havoc with structures, roads, and irrigation delivery systems. The presence of one or more of these horizons, with or without other diagnostic horizons, defines the great groups of the Gypsids. Gypsids occur in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, West Asia, and some of the most arid areas of the western part of the United States. Gypsids are on many segments of the landscape. Some of them have calcic or related horizons that overlie the gypsic horizon.
For more information about describing soils, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052523...
For additional information about soil classification using Soil Taxonomy, visit:
sites.google.com/site/dinpuithai/Home
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
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: Typical profile of Driggs loam in an area of Alpine-Driggs complex, 0 to 2 percent slopes. (Soil Survey of Teton Area, Idaho and Wyoming; by Carla B. Rebernak, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Irrigated hay in an area of Alpine-Driggs complex, 0 to 2 percent slopes, on a fan remnant. This map unit is composed of about 50 percent Alpine and similar soils and 45 percent Driggs and similar soils.
The Driggs series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in mixed alluvium with loess influence. Driggs soils are on fan remnants and have slopes of 0 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 406 mm and the mean annual air temperature is about 5 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Calcic Argixerolls
Mollic epipedon thickness: 25 to 44 cm.
Control section total clay range: 20 to 30 percent in the upper part and 1 to 8 percent in the lower part
Rock fragments: 2 to 20 percent in the upper part and,35 to 95 percent in the lower part
Depth to argillic horizon: 12 to 29 cm
Depth to calcic horizon: 44 to 86 cm
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 40 percent in the calcic horizon
Depth to sandy-skeletal material (2Bk horizon): 50 to 89 cm
Mean annual soil temperature: 6 to 8 degrees C.
Mean summer soil temperature: 15 to 18.9 degrees C. (frigid soil temperature regime)
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses: irrigated areas are used primarily for small grains, potatoes, hay and pasture; nonirrigated areas are used for pasture and limited production of small grains and hay. Dominant native vegetation: mountain big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, arrowleaf balsamroot, snowberry, antelope bitterbrush
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Southeastern Idaho, MLRA 13
Extent: the series is not extensive
This revision in 2007 changes the type location and classification of this series. It was formerly classified as fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed superactive Xeric Argicryolls.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/wyoming/TetonI...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/D/DRIGGS.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A typical profile of Oriskany gravelly fine sandy loam. The content of rock fragments averages more than 35 percent in the subsoil. (Soil Survey of Bland County, Virginia; by Robert K. Conner, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: An area of Oriskany gravelly fine sandy loam, 15 to 55 percent slopes, very rubbly. Numerous boulders and stones limit this soil for most uses. Most areas of this map unit are in woodland and a few areas are in pasture.
Soils of the Oriskany Series are very deep and well drained. They formed in colluvial material from sandstone, quartzite, and shale in uplands. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 42 inches and mean annual temperature is about 55 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments of sandstone and quartzite range from 15 to 65 percent in the A and E horizons, and 35 to 75 percent in the B and C horizons. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout, unless limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in woodland consisting of northern red oak, scarlet oak, yellow poplar, hickory, white pine, and flowering dogwood. A few areas cleared of stones are used for native pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia and possibly West Virginia and Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/VA021...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/O/ORISKANY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
The China Soils Museum displays typical cross-section soil samples collected from home and abroad with detailed introductions beside them, including structure, chemical composition, and suitable crop growing conditions. The museum is divided into two parts, one for displaying samples collected from the seven major regions of China, namely South, Central, North, East, Northwest, Southwest, and Northeast China, the other for samples collected from all over the world.
By adopting a variety of modern multi-media technologies, the museum is able to give a graphic and vivid illustration of various topics, such as soil sample introductions, soil knowledge, soil conditions at home and abroad and GIWSR’s development plans in soil improvement, which renders it modernized and unique.
Located in Guangzhou, the museum was founded and funded in 2016 by Hongda Xingye Co., Ltd. The China Soils Museum functions as a collection and exhibition center. The museum seeks to set up a platform for studying soil samples and grow a professional R&D team through facilitating the collection of and further research on soil samples, so as to provide steadfast support to the research of Guangdong Institute of World Soil Resources.
For more information about the soils of China, visit;
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:
Dothan series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slowly to slowly permeable soils on broad uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A) and to a much lesser extent in the Eastern Gulf Coast Flatwoods (MLRA 152A) Major Land Resource Areas. They formed in thick beds of unconsolidated, medium to fine-textured marine sediments. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Plinthic Kandiudults
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Dothan soils have been cleared and are used for the production of corn, cotton, peanuts, vegetable crops, hay, and pasture. Forested areas are in longleaf pine, loblolly pine, sweetgum, southern red oak, and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is of large extent, over 1.5 million acres.
For a detailed description of the soil, visit:
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:
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 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:
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.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/district_of_co...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SUNNYSIDE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, 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 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.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/idaho/clearwat...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TANEY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative profile of the Clarendon soil series.
Landscape: Soybeans in an area of Clarendon loamy sand, 0 to 2 percent slopes. This soil is considered prime farmland and is well suited to cultivated crops. (Soil Survey of Effingham County, Georgia; by Casey Sowell, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Depth Class: very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): moderately well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: moderately deep, common
Index Surface Runoff: low to medium
Permeability: moderately slow
Landscape: middle to upper coastal plain
Landform: uplands
Geomorphic Component: interfluves
Hillslope Profile Position: summit, shoulder
Parent Material: marine sediments
Slope: 0 to 6 percent
Elevation (type location):
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 65 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 45 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Plinthaquic Paleudults
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 18 to 30 inches, December to March
Rock Fragment content: ironstone, 0 to 10 percent in the A and E horizons and in the upper part of the Bt horizon, and 0 to than 2 percent in the lower part of the Bt horizon, by volume
Soil Reaction: is very strongly acid to slightly acid in the A horizon and extremely acid to strongly acid throughout the rest of the profile, except where limed
Thickness of solum: 60 to 80 or more inches
Depth to horizons with 5 percent or more plinthite: 20 to 58 inches
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: cropland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--growing tobacco, cotton, corn, soybeans, small grain, and pasture grasses. Where wooded--pine with scattered hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
Extent: large
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clarendon County, South Carolina; 1972.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
archive.org/details/usda-soil-survey-of-effingham-county-...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/C/CLARENDON.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...
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.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/wisconsin/lang...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/ANTIGO.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...
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”.
A representative pedon of a Snaggletooth soil in an area of Snaggletooth-Carrizo association, 1 to 8 percent slopes. (Interim Report for the Soil Survey of Chemehuevi Wash Off-Highway Vehicle Area, California; by Leon Lato, Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, and Heath McAllister, Natural Resources Conservation Service).
Snaggletooth soils are on fan remnants. Slopes range from 1 to 4 percent. These soils formed in alluvium from granite. Elevations are 285 to 500 meters (about 900 to 1600 feet). The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and warm, dry winters.
The Snaggletooth series consists of very deep, well drained soils The mean annual precipitation is about 100 millimeters (about 4 inches) and the mean annual air temperature is about 24 degrees C (about 75 degrees F).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Typic Calciargids
Soil moisture control section: usually dry throughout, rarely moist in some part during summer or winter. The soils have a typic-aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 22 to 26.7 degrees C (72 to 80 degrees F).
Depth to argillic horizon: 2 to 50 centimeters.
Depth to base of argillic horizon: 150 to 200 centimeters.
Depth to calcic horizon: 2 to 50 centimeters.
Organic matter: 0 to 0.5 percent
USE AND VEGETATION: Snaggletooth soils are used for recreation and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly creosote bush and burrobush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Lower Colorado Desert of southeastern California, U.S.A.; MLRA 31. These soils are of moderate extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA6...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/SNAGGLETOOTH.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
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.
www.ead.gov.ae/Experience-Green-Abu-Dhabi/Places-To-Go/Al...
Typic Petrogypsids, sandy, gypsic, hyperthermic (Soil AD121) are moderately deep, sandy soils with gypsum occurring from the surface and a petrogypsic horizon within 100cm depth from the surface. They occur in deflation plains throughout the Emirate and often occupy the paleo-terraces or the caps of small mesas. Soils are well drained or somewhat excessively drained, above the hardpan and have moderately rapid or rapid permeability.
These soils remain as barren land or in some places have been leveled for agroforestry or sometimes used for low intensity grazing by camel, sheep or goats. They frequently have less than 5% vegetation cover of Cornulaca aucheri, Cyperus conglomerate, Haloxylon salicornicum and Zygophyllum spp.
Plate 19: Typical soil profile and associated landscape for Typic Petrogypsids, sandy, gypsic, hyperthermic (Soil AD121).
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...
A representative soil profile of Forestay soils, which formed in material weathered from shale. (Soil Survey of Channel Islands National Park, California; by Alan Wasner, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Forestay series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in shale. Forestay soils are on hills that formed on uplifted marine deposits on islands. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches (457 millimeters) and the mean annual temperature is about 57 degrees F. (14 degrees C.)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, smectitic, mesic Ultic Palexerolls
Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches (152 centimeters).
Depth to abrupt clay increase is 6 to 28 inches (15 to 70 centimeters). High variability of depth to clay is due to disturbance and erosion caused by animals, mostly wild pigs.
Base saturation by sum of bases ranges from 38 to 73 percent.
Depth to lithologic discontinuity ranges from 6 to 22 inches, but does not occur in all pedons.
Mollic epipedon thickness is always more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) often extending into the argillic horizon.
The particle size control section averages 40 to 60 percent clay and 35 to 60 percent rock fragments. Organic matter ranges from 1 to 4 percent to a depth of at least 20 inches (50 centimeters). Reaction is extremely acid to neutral throughout the profile.
USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife habitat, recreation and building site development. Vegetation is coast live oak, scrub oak and annual grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Santa Barbara County, California on Santa Cruz Island. The soil is not extensive. MLRA 20.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/F/FORESTAY.html
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/F/FORESTAY.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
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...
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...
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:
Note the accumulation of iron (red redox feature) and areas of reduction (gray color) from the lower subsoil of a Tifton soil. The dark red rounded areas have a firmer rupture resistance, are brittle, and can be removed from the matrix as a distinct body. The are plinthite. (See comments)
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.
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.
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...
For more information about a plinthic horizon, visit;
www.researchgate.net/publication/242649722_Rationale_for_...
or;
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00167061220043...
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.
For additional information about Idaho soils, please visit:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/97d01af9d4554b9097cb0a477e04...
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class...
The Sassafras soil series was one of the first soil series established during the early days of soil survey activities in 1901, making it one of the oldest soil series in the United States. The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has designated Sassafras as a Benchmark and Hall of Fame soil series, recognizing its historical significance in the evolution of soil science in the United States. Sassafras was chosen as the Maryland state soil due to its dominance in soil map unit acreage across a large area of the state.
In addition to being highly productive for growing crops, vegetables, and forest products, Sassafras soil is one of the best-suited soils for construction and recreational development, with few limitations for usage. The main management concern is controlling the moderate hazard of erosion and blowing soil. Contour farming, grassed waterways, no-till practices, and the use of cover crops in a rotation that includes grasses and legumes will reduce erosion and enhance soil health.
For more information about this and other State Soils, visit the Soil Science Society of America "Around the World-State Soils" website.
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.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/arkansas/pikeA...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PEANUTROCK.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Still series. (Soil Survey of Pinnacles National Monument, California; by Ken Oster, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Landscape: Still soils are on flood plains and alluvial fans. They forned in alluvial material from sedimentary rocks. Elevations are 600 to 2,000 feet. The climate is subhumid mesothermal with warm dry summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 12 to 25 inches.
The Still series consists of deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvial material from sedimentary rocks. Still soils are on flood plains and alluvial fans and have slopes of 0 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 60 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Cumulic Haploxerolls
Note: A Still taxadjunct pedon was sampled in Pinnacles National Monument in 2006 - Pedon No 06N0207. The pedon was a taxadjunct due to silty clay loam textures below 40 inches that was strongly to violently effervescent.
USE AND VEGETATION: The soil is used for cultivated alfalfa, sugar beets and dry farmed grain. Natural vegetation is mainly annual grasses with scattered oaks.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Valleys of the south half of the Coast Range in California. The soils are inextensive.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA7...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/S/STILL.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
A representative soil profile of a fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Udic Argiustoll from Nebraska. (Photo and comments courtesy of Stan Buol, NCSU.)
This quarry exposure was photographed in Lancaster County, Nebraska. The soil is formed in loess, to a depth of about 150 cm over glacial till. The till is unoxidized, grey color except around oxidized cracks that are filled with white CaCO3 illuviated from the solum. No plow layer is evident at this site but these soils are extensively used for corn and small grains. However, unreliable rainfall during the summer growing season threatens yields in most years unless supplemental irrigation is available.
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Udic Argiustolls are more moist than Typic Argiustolls because they either receive more precipitation or receive runoff from other soils. Most of the Udic Argiustolls in the United States are in areas between Typic Argiustolls and Udolls. Udic Argiustolls are extensive soils in the southeastern part of the Great Plains. The natural vegetation was mostly grasses and shrubs. Slopes generally are gentle. Most of these soils are used as cropland.
Argiustolls are the Ustolls that have an argillic horizon in or below the mollic epipedon. Most Argiustolls have a Bk or calcic horizon below the argillic horizon, and some have a Bz or By horizon below the Bk horizon. Argiustolls formed mostly in late-Pleistocene deposits or on surfaces of comparable age. They occur in relatively stable positions. Slopes generally are moderate to nearly level, and most of the soils are cultivated. Argiustolls are extensive soils on the western Great Plains and also occur in the mountains and valleys of the Western United States.
Ustolls are the more or less freely drained Mollisols of subhumid to semiarid climates. Rainfall occurs mainly during a growing season, often in heavy showers, but is erratic. Drought is frequent and may be severe. During a drought, soil blowing becomes a problem. Without irrigation, the low supply of moisture usually limits crop yields. Ustolls are extensive soils on the western Great Plains in the United States.
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:
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-...
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)
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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.
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
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:
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.
Less than one-fourth of the republic’s area is cultivated. Along with the decrease in farm population, the proportion of national income derived from agriculture has decreased to a fraction of what it was in the early 1950s. Improvements in farm productivity were long hampered because fields typically are divided into tiny plots that are cultivated largely by manual labor and animal power. In addition, the decrease and aging of the rural population has caused a serious farm-labor shortage. However, more recently productivity has been improving as greater emphasis has been given to mechanization, specialization, and commercialization.
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil’s agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area. Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soyabeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand. Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soya, beans, maize and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
Soils of the cerrado are in the order of Oxisols. Oxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are classified as ferralsols in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources; some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.The main processes of soil formation of oxisols are weathering, humification and pedoturbation due to animals. These processes produce the characteristic soil profile. They are defined as soils containing at all depths no more than 10 percent weatherable minerals, and low cation exchange capacity. Oxisols are always a red or yellowish color, due to the high concentration of iron(III) and aluminium oxides and hydroxides. In addition they also contain quartz and kaolin, plus small amounts of other clay minerals and organic matter.
For more information on Soil Taxonomy, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/class/
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soybeans, corn, and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil’s agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area. Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soybeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand.
Soils of the cerrado are in the order of Oxisols. Oxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are classified as ferralsols in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources; some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.The main processes of soil formation of oxisols are weathering, humification and pedoturbation due to animals. These processes produce the characteristic soil profile. They are defined as soils containing at all depths no more than 10 percent weatherable minerals, and low cation exchange capacity. Oxisols are always a red or yellowish color, due to the high concentration of iron(III) and aluminium oxides and hydroxides. In addition they also contain quartz and kaolin, plus small amounts of other clay minerals and organic matter.
For more information about the Brazilian Soil Classification system, visit:
www.embrapa.br/en/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/10940...
For more photos related to soils and landscapes visit:
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of a Mollisol from the Cerado physiographic region--a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District of Brazil. (Horizonation is by Brazil soil classification system.)
Landscape: Typical landscape and vegetation (pastureland) occurring on upland side-slopes in Brazil.
Mollisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. Mollisols form in semi-arid to semi-humid areas, typically under a grassland cover. They are most commonly found in the mid-latitudes, namely in North America, mostly east of the Rocky Mountains, in South America in Argentina (Pampas) and Brazil, and in Asia in Mongolia and the Russian Steppes. Their parent material is typically base-rich and calcareous and include limestone, loess, or wind-blown sand. The main processes that lead to the formation of grassland Mollisols are melanisation, decomposition, humification and pedoturbation.
Mollisols have deep, high organic matter, nutrient-enriched surface soil (A horizon), typically more than 25 cm thick. This fertile surface horizon, known as a mollic epipedon, is the defining diagnostic feature of Mollisols. Mollic epipedons result from the long-term addition of organic materials derived from plant roots, and typically have soft, granular soil structure.
Mollisol (Chernossolos) and landscape BRAZIL--In the Brazil soil classification system, these Chernossolos are well structured soils, rich in organic matter, with high content of exchangeable cations. They are typically found in the south and east parts of Brazil.
A soil profile of an Epiaquept used for paddy rice production in South Korea. Compaction of the upper part of the soil facilitates puddling with irrigation water so that areas remain flooded while the crop matures. The gray colors between depths of about 15 and 30 cm are caused by the human-induced wet soil conditions, which in turn result in the chemical reduction of iron in the upper part of the soil. This soil has an ochric epipedon about 15 cm thick underlain by a cambic horizon that extends below the base of the photo. The right side of the profile has been smoothed; the left side retains the natural soil structure.
Epiaquepts have one or more layers in the upper part of the profile that are saturated for part of the year and underlain by unsaturated layers (a perched water table). They have cool to warm soil temperatures. Before cultivation, most Epiaquepts supported forest vegetation. Epiaquepts are generally nearly level or gently sloping, and their parent materials are typically late-Pleistocene or younger sediments
(Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated guide to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska)
For additional information about soil classification, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/cla...
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:
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.
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 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-...