Cont.

Soil Taxonomy
 Objectives
• Understand categories of the U.S. taxonomic
system
• How soil properties help distinguish soil
families
• Knowledge of locations of various soil orders
• Investigate how soil temps and moistures are
categorized
 U. S. System of Soil Taxonomy
Soils are named, mapped as a geologic entity or
individual
1st taxonomic system began in 1938
NRCS began extensive use of the system in 1965
12 orders separate all soils
– Pedons are identified to help separate soil orders
(minimum 3.3 ft2, & as deep as roots grow)
U. S. System of Soil Taxonomy
– Order
• Most general category
• Histosols
– Organic soils
• Entisols
– Undeveloped soils
• Inceptisols
– Slightly developed
• Andisols
– Volcanic material
• Vertisols
– Swelling-clay
U. S. System of Soil Taxonomy
• Gellisols
– Must have permafrost in the top 6’
• Mollisols
– Most extensive soils in the U.S.
– Naturally fertile, slightly leached
– Can be semiarid to subhumid climates
• Alfisols
– Fertile in favorable moisture conditions
– Usually very productive
• Ultisols
– Leached, acidic
– Moderate to low fertility
U. S. System of Soil Taxonomy
• Aridisols
– Arid-region soils
– Can be very productive
• Oxisols
– Hot, wet tropics
– Conducive to year-round plant growth
• Spodosols
– Found mostly in cool climates
– Poorest soils for cultivation
– Must have lime & fertilization to grow crops
U. S. System of Soil Taxonomy
– Suborder
• Differentiated based on soil properties & horizons
• Soil moisture, soil temp, dominating effects of chemical
or textural features
– Great Groups
• Differentiated by soil horizons & soil features
– Accumulated clay, iron, humus, hard pans/cement layers
– Subgroup
• Three kinds of subgroups
– Represent the central (typic) concept of the soil group
– Properties that intergrade towards other groups, etc.
U. S. System of Soil Taxonomy
– Properties that prevent its classification as typic or an
intergrade to another category
– Family
• Soil properties important to the growth of plants
• Behavior of soils when used for engineering
• Important soil properties: texture, mineralogy, pH,
avg. soil temp, moisture, permeability, thickness of
horizons, structure, consistency
– Series
• 18,000 soil series identified
• Typically named after something local
• Differentiated on the basis of observable & mappable
soil characteristics
U. S. System of Soil Taxonomy
• Must have similar color, texture, structure, consistency,
thickness, pH, similar horizon arrangements, similar
chemical & mineralogy properties
– Phase
• Not considered to be an official category, but being
used to further differentiate, if needed
• Further delineates soils w/in a series
 Soil Moisture & Temperature Regimes
• Soil Moisture Regimes
– Attempt to indicate the extent of naturally
available water in the soil depth of maximum root
proliferation
– Aquic
• Wet w/ anaerobic saturation long enough to produce
visual evidence of poor aeration
– Peraquic
• Tidal marsh or inland depression where groundwater is
always at or near the surface
Soil Moisture & Temperature Regimes
– Udic
• Usually has adequate water throughout the yr
– Perudic
• Extremely wet, percolation in all months when not frozen
– Ustic
• Moisture is limited but is present during the growing season
– Xeric
• Deficient in water & w/ a dry cropping season
• Most precipitation in the winter
 Soil Moisture & Temperature Regimes
– Aridic
• Very water deficient
• Long dry periods, short wet periods
• Soil Temperature Regimes
– Based on the mean annual soil temp (MAST)
– Mean summer soil temp
– Mean winter soil temp
– Determined at ~2’ depth
– Cryic
• MAST 46° F
Soil Moisture & Temperature Regimes
– Frigid
• MAST 46° F
• Mean summer temp >11° F higher than mean winter
temp
– Mesic
• MAST 46 - 59° F
• Mean summer temp >43° than mean winter temp
– Thermic
• MAST 59 - 72° F
• Mean summer temp >11° than mean winter temp
Soil Moisture & Temperature Regimes
– Hyperthermic
• MAST >72° F
• Mean summer temp >11° than mean winter temp
– Add iso prefix to the classification if the mean
summer & winter temps vary <11° F
 Additional Terminology for Family
Groupings
• Particle-size Classes
– Fragmental
• Mostly stones, cobbles, gravel, etc.
• Fine-earth component <10% of soil volume
– Sandy skeletal
• >35% rock fragments
• Fine-earth fraction is sand, sandy loam
– Loamy skeletal
• >35% rock fragments
• Fine-earth fraction loamy
 Additional Terminology for Family
Groupings
– Clayey skeletal
• >35% rock fragments
• Fine-earth fraction >35% clay
– Sandy
• Texture is sand, loamy sand
– Loamy
• Finer than sand or loamy, <35% clay
– Clayey
• >35% clay
– Very fine
• >60% clay
 Additional Terminology for Family
Groupings
• Soil Mineralogy Classes
– Ferritic: >40% iron oxide in fine-earth fraction
– Kaolinitic: >50% kaolinite & other 1:1 or
nonexpanding clay
– Carbonatic: >40% carbonates plus gypsum
– Magnesic: >40% magnesium-silicate minerals
– Smectitic: clayey soil w/ more smectite than any
other clay
– Siliceous: >90% silica minerals
– Mixed: not dominated by any mineral type
 Distribution of Soil Orders
• Soil orders diverse & unevenly distributed
• Some land areas don’t correspond to any
order
• See inside front & back covers for
distributions of soil orders
 Gellisols
• Occur in tundra regions
• Cold & relatively barren
• May have exposed rock intermixed
• Yukon & Northwest Territories of Canada,
northern 2/3 of Alaska
 Histisols
• Organic soils formed in cold or wet regions
• Can occur almost anywhere
• Found in FL, LA, GA, some in the Great Lakes
states
• Large area found in Canada
 Entisols
• Lack horizons due to being a young soil, or
weathering is ineffective
• Widely distributed in the U.S.
• Include river floodplains, rocky soils,
mountainous areas, barren islands of East &
Gulf coasts, beach sands
• Found on all continents
• Can be excellent ag soil, but may be very
unproductive
 Inceptisols
• Weakly developed soils
• More development than Entisols
• Mostly found in Middle Atlantic & Pacific
states, northern Rockies
• Develop in many climates
• Largest area globally found in China
 Andisols
• Weakly to moderately developed
• Most from volcanic materials
• Extensively found in the Pacific Ocean &
Hawaii
• Some also in the northwestern U.S.
 Aridisols
• Long dry periods, short periods of wetness
• Found in the U.S. primarily in the western
mountain states & Pacific states
• Low rainfall, scattered grasses, desert shrubs
• Rank second worldwide in area to Entisols
 Mollisols
• Dark-colored soils of grasslands & some
hardwood forests
• Deep, dark-colored, fertile A horizon (mollic
epipedon)
– Mollic epipedon extends from surface to ~2’ depth
• Properties & Classification of Mollisols
– Large number of suborders
– Naturally fertile
– Easily managed
 Mollisols
• Management of Mollisols
– Formed under grasses, forests
– Tend to be most fertile soil
– High humus content
– High concentration of N
– In wetter climates don’t need irrigation, but in
dryer areas can produce highly
– May become acidic
– Black soil colors to depth of 2-3’
 Mollisols
– 1/5 of the U.S. soils
– Can withstand much variation in cropping
– Limited leaching
– Quite fertile, even w/out fertilization
– Little to no lime needed
– Only Alfisols may have high natural productivity
– Texture, depth, climate make it ideal for cropping
and highly valuable
 Mollisols
• Distribution of Mollisols
– Found in the Great Plains region of the U.S.
extending north into Canada, south to Gulf of
Mexico
– Most extensive of U.S. soil orders
 Vertisols
• Self-mixing soils, >30% shrink/swell clays
• Found mostly in central & southeastern TX &
along lower Mississippi River
 Alfisols
• Usually enough precipitation to move clays
downward & form an argillic (clay
accumulation) horizon
• Generally have high CEC’s, usually fairly fertile
• Properties & Classification of Alfisols
– Medium to high supply of basic cations
• Evidence of mild leaching
– Water is adequate for plant growth for 3+ warm
season mos.
 Alfisols
• Management of Alfisols
– If topography & climate are favorable; alfisols can
be very productive
– Most are leached of lime, and can have an acidic
zone
• If leached enough, forms an E horizon
– Erosion exposing clays at the surface not favorable
for plant growth
– Most naturally productive soils w/out fertilization
or irrigation
 Alfisols
– Usually will require lime amendments
– Alfisols & Mollisols generally located in a region’s
breadbasket
• Distribution of Alfisols
– North-central states & mountain states
– Occur on all continents
– Corn belt of IN, OH, MI, WI, IL
– Woodland soils in TX, CO
 Spodosols
• High sand content
• High rainfall w/ easy leaching
– Humus, colloids leached
• Cold, wet climates are common
• Mostly found in Cascade Mountains in WA,
OR, New England, & Great Lakes states
– Also found in FL
 Ultisols
• Warm, humid regions
• Usually too acidic to be classified as a
Mollisol/Alfisol, not weathered enough to be
an Oxisol
• Located in southern Atlantic states, eastern
south-central states, Pacific sates
 Oxisols
• Most extensively weathered soils
• Typically found on old landforms in tropical,
subtropical climates
• Found only in HA, Puerto Rico, Guam
• Extensive in South America, Africa