Soil Inventories, Sampling, Characterization, and Data Acquisition

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Soil Inventories, Sampling, Characterization, and
Data Acquisition
Toby Rodgers, USDA-NRCS Soil Survey Project Leader
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Site and Soil Considerations

• Ideally located with climate sensors or in close
  proximity to a station
• Located in area with existing soil survey
  information
• Availability of soil scientist with local
  knowledge of soil conditions
• Representative soil characteristics and ability
  to sample soil

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Sites with Soil SensorsOregon and Washington
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Okanogan National Forest Soil Survey Harts Pass
SNOTEL site
920
902
914
919
702
923
905
712
902
919
712
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923Vitrandic Dystrocryepts, 5 to 35 slopes Map
Unit Setting Elevation 5,800 to 6,800 feet Mean
annual precipitation 40 to 80 inches Mean annual
air temperature 35 to 40 degrees F Frost-free
period 40 to 70 days Map Unit Composition Vitrand
ic Dystrocryepts, udic, non-forested, and similar
soils 85 percent Description Setting Landform
Moraines Parent material Mixed volcanic ash 7 to
25 inches thick over colluvium and residuum from
mixed rock sources Properties and
qualities Slope 5 to 35 percent Depth to
restrictive feature 20-40 inches to
bedrock Drainage class Well drained Capacity of
the most limiting layer to transmit water (Ksat)
1.98 to 5.95 in/hr Depth to water table
n/a Available water capacity Low (about 3.7
inches) Interpretive groups Ecological site
SUBALPINE PARK (R006XY704WA) Typical profile 0 to
4 inches Gravelly ashy sandy loam 4 to 12
inches Gravelly ashy sandy loam 12 to 20 inches
Very gravelly ashy sandy loam 20 to 31 inches
Extremely gravelly sandy loam 31 to 35 inches
Unweathered bedrock
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Soil Survey Report Physical Properties Table
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Soil Bulk Density Sampling
Saran-coated Clods
Compliant Cavity
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Saran-coated Clods
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Measured Soil Properties
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Measured Soil Properties
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Soil fabric obtained from saran-coated clods
Bw (cambic) horizon
Cd (densic) horizon
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• 2 stations on Mitchellbay series (forested vs.
  pasture)
• fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aquultic
  Haploxeralfs
• somewhat poorly drained, moderately deep to
  densic
• Each station has 3 moisture sensors (Decagon
  EC-20)
• and 1 temperature sensor at 20 inches

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Soil Moisture vs. Precipitation
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Soil Moisture Across Horizons
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Daily Soil Temperature vs. Average Daily Air
Temperature
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Soil Moisture vs. Growing Degree Days
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Remote Area Soil Proxy Model

• RASP developed to model soil-landscape
  relationships of Cascade Range
• Intended for Order 3 and 4 surveys
• Growing inventory (gt 600) of site and soil
  observations
• Ongoing development and research with NRCS, NPS,
  and WSU

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S (cl, o, r, p, t, )

• Climate frigid/xeric, frigid/udic, cryic/xeric
  cryic/udic
• - proxies from vegetation and climate modeling
• Vegetation coniferous, deciduous, and
  herbaceous
• - satellite imagery interpretation and
  classification
• Topography slope, aspect, wetness index,
  elevation, etc.
• - geomorphology and GIS derived data
• Parent Material residuum, glacial sediments,
  volcanic tephra
• - varies by landform, delineated through
  geomorphology data
• Time - lt13,000 yrs, dependant on landform

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Andic Haplocryod
Oi
E
Bs1
Bs2
2BC
2C
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• Schematic View of the Middle Fork Pasayten River
• oblique color photograph of river drainage
• false color satellite image, (bands 3, 4, 5) of
  same drainage draped over 30 meter DEM
  illustrating clear differences in coniferous
  (dark green), herbaceous (light green), snow
  (blue), and non-vegetated (pink) cover types
• curvature grid zoomed to peak visible at left
  edge of valley view
• color photograph of peak
• meadow soil profile, location indicated with
  arrow
• forested valley bottom soil profile, location
  indicated with arrow
• forested slope soil profile, location indicated
  with arrow

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Modeling Sequence in Pasayten River
Watershed Modeling steps successively extract
soil types with unique combinations of digital
soil proxies until each cell is classified to
provide the final map of soil distribution.
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NRCS Soil Characterization Data
Soil Survey Laboratory National Soil Survey
Center USDA-NRCS - Lincoln, NE http//ssldata.nr
cs.usda.gov Web soil survey http//websoilsurve
y.nrcs.usda.gov/app/ Example of Soil
Characterization