Monday, February 15, 2010

Find out more about the soil under your feet; NRCS Web Soil Survey



Have you ever wondered about the soil under your feet, or somewhere else specific within the US? The USDA NRCS Web Soil Survey can answer SO MANY of the questions you may have about the soil of a small (10,000 acres or smaller) area. Learn things like the following:
  • Native vegetation most adapted for the soil
  • Recommended uses and limitations (e.g.:agriculture, building, recreation)
  • Potential hazards (e.g.: prone to flooding, easily eroded, low fertility)
  • Chemical and physical characteristics
  • Name of the soil
It is quite easy to use and there are instructions on the home web page. Basically, this info is pretty much taken from the most recent county soil surveys, which have been written for almost all of the counties in the US and describes the types of info listed above. You can type in your address or graphically select the area you are interested in, instead of going the old-fashioned way and reading a map yourself. Reading the archived county soil surveys is easier for me when I am trying to learn about multiple soils within a larger area. You can also make pretty reports with some of the the same information using the Soil Data Mart.

3 comments:

  1. I went to that NRCS website and found out that I have silt-loam under my feet with a 3-8% slope. Pretty cool- It took a few minutes to learn how to navigate it, but it does have some neat info. Thanks!!

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  2. Pretty cool! Let me know if you have any questions. I did some new searching and found out my soil is of low agricultural importance. Disappointing since it is the STATE soil of Texas. I almost want to nominate a new one...almost.

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  3. Or you could move to a state with better soil.

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