Is there a map of dirt?
September 15, 2013 8:01 PM Subscribe
New England dirt is brown. In the south, it's red, and in other places it is almost black, or more like tan. Is there map that shows dirt colors throughout the US? Or even just an article or two about regional dirt colors? Please point me in the right direction, dear Mefites!
Yes, I've seen this but I'd love something perhaps a little more academic.
Yes, I've seen this but I'd love something perhaps a little more academic.
Academic soil maps don't map by color of the soil, they map with a key that references the parent material, or soil orders (characteristics). The Web Soil Survey map is useful for soil information for a particular area.
Soils generally aren't mapped by the color because they aren't all that different in color from each other in reality, and because most people need to know not just the parent material, but the characteristics. For example two adjacent areas may have the same parent material, but one area is low-lying and marshy, while one is higher and dryer. The pigments would be the same; the texture, composition and water may be different.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:26 PM on September 15, 2013
Soils generally aren't mapped by the color because they aren't all that different in color from each other in reality, and because most people need to know not just the parent material, but the characteristics. For example two adjacent areas may have the same parent material, but one area is low-lying and marshy, while one is higher and dryer. The pigments would be the same; the texture, composition and water may be different.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:26 PM on September 15, 2013
Soil isn't really "X in X" - there are thousands of local soil "microclimates", and many places in each where alterations have been made by human modification, in additional to natural variations made by any number of geological, vegetational, and climactic conditions. As the USDA map shows, some generalizations about mineral / nutrient content can be made, but it's not on a "US North", "US South" basis.
posted by reedbird_hill at 8:28 PM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by reedbird_hill at 8:28 PM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
There's a brief discussion of what colors may be effected by various regional depositions on the NRCS website education section.
While color may not be used as a US map because of regional variations, archaeologists (and geologists?) occasionally use Munsell charts to name soil colors. That said, our maps were more of a very small area's vertical stratigraphy versus a standard (horizontal) map.
posted by cobaltnine at 8:33 PM on September 15, 2013
While color may not be used as a US map because of regional variations, archaeologists (and geologists?) occasionally use Munsell charts to name soil colors. That said, our maps were more of a very small area's vertical stratigraphy versus a standard (horizontal) map.
posted by cobaltnine at 8:33 PM on September 15, 2013
This has soils from across the country (divided into state regions) with images of each and brief histories.
posted by codacorolla at 8:33 PM on September 15, 2013
posted by codacorolla at 8:33 PM on September 15, 2013
New England dirt is brown.
Having grown up in New England, I have to say that in addition to brown dirt I've also seen lots of black and tan dirt as well as brick red beaches a short distance away in Atlantic Canada.
posted by XMLicious at 8:34 PM on September 15, 2013
Having grown up in New England, I have to say that in addition to brown dirt I've also seen lots of black and tan dirt as well as brick red beaches a short distance away in Atlantic Canada.
posted by XMLicious at 8:34 PM on September 15, 2013
Best answer: I was once a soil scientist long ago, and this is what I can still half-remember from 20 years ago. There are soil orders and a taxonomy much like how we classify animals, and these are used to describe the dozen or so major soil varieties at the top and thousands of sub-varieties below. Soil colors are described in a different way, following the Munsell Color System, which acts as a standard for how coloration can be described. Even in places where all soil seems the same (like any low lying land), you will find pockets of different colors, usually related to the parent rock below (a reddish soil suddenly popping up somewhere would mean there's some rocks with a high iron content nearby causing it). You probably can't find a major US-map of soils by color, since there is so much local variability.
posted by mathowie at 8:40 PM on September 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by mathowie at 8:40 PM on September 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
Relevant to soil maps of the United States and somewhat interesting.
posted by rubster at 7:12 AM on September 16, 2013
posted by rubster at 7:12 AM on September 16, 2013
An agronomist I know would recoil at your question's vocabulary -- you're asking about the color of soil, not dirt.
posted by Rash at 10:11 AM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 10:11 AM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
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USDA soil taxonomy global map
posted by JujuB at 8:21 PM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]