a comprehensive legend for soil maps
TRANSCRIPT
A COMPREHENSIVE LEGEND FOR SOIL MAPS
byR. EARL STORIE
University of California
Following completion of the fieldwork in the soil survey of an area Ihave found it desirable to make up whatI have termed a comprehensive or descrip-tive legend. The term "comprehensive le-gend" appeals to me so I will use thisto designate this type of legend. Thistype of legend, such as the one displayedof the Visalia area, California is onlyfor illustrative purposes and does notinclude all the soil types of the area.Only a few have been selected from eachgroup.
In this legend the soils are group-ed on the basis of their physiographicposition in the area and similar profilecharacteristics. All the upland residualsoils are grouped together, the bottom-land soils in a second group, and thehardpan soils in the third group. Insome of the other surveys we have hand-led them in additional groups when ne-cessary. Each soil type and phase islisted under the proper group, followedby the field symbol and a brief descrip-tion of the top soil, subsoil, and thesubstratum or parent material, pH,depth, and any other pertinent informa-tion.
This gives us a general idea of thesoil profile. In another column or twothere is listed such features as relief,erosion, drainage, native vegetation,etc. In some cases I have Inserted stillanother column in which information islisted on present and potential use andsoil factors influencing or limitingsuch uses. As the information necess-ary to properly complete this column of-ten requires a considerable number ofwords, I feel that it can be left off,since this legend is made to supplementthe soil survey report, not to replaceit.
The soil ratings used are the evalu-ation of the soils on a percentage basisby means of the "Storie Soil Index Ra-ting".* This includes a weighing ofsuch soil characteristics as depth, tex-ture, density of the surface soil andsubsoil, reactions, alkali content, ero-sion conditions, and drainage. The mostfavorable or ideal soil conditions arerated at 100 per cent. Following thisdetermination of the soil rating theyare arbitrarily divided into six grades,on the basis of the ratings. Soil hav-
ing ratings of 80 to 100$ are placed ingrade 1, with ratings of 60 to 79% ingrade 2, ratings of lj.0 to 59$ in grade3, ratings of 20 to y)% in grade £, rat-ings of 10 to 19% in grade 5, and thosehaving ratings of less than 10% in grade6. This additional information on thesoil rating and grade carries informa-tion of value to people interested inthe soil evaluation field.
In making up this type of legend Ihave usually listed all the material ona single sheet. In areas where we have50 to 70 soil types and phases, some-times the sheet has been quite large;yet I believe this procedure is desir-able. In writing up the report of anarea this sheet is valuable as a guidefor reference as the type and phase de-scriptions take form. Such a legend isa material aid In using the soil surveyin the interim between the completion ofthe survey and the publication of themaps. Many of our state men are askedto supply soil information to state en-gineers, land utilization agencies,soil conservation people and others inpublic service. I have found thatthese people are very desirous of hav-ing a comprehensive or descriptive leg-end to use with the maps. This is par-ticularly true in many cases where theymay be supplied with a map and nothingelse.
New men entering the soil surveywork for the first time can profit byhaving a descriptive legend of the soilsin nearby areas. We have made up a num-ber of these and given them to the menwho enter work in adjacent counties.They state that such a legend gives thema good idea of the soils and their re-lationship. I consider this a very im-portant item when we consider the num-ber of younger men entering the workboth in the government and state ser-vices.
Possibly this type of legend mighthave a still greater use in that of ac-companying the soil map after publica-tion; either on the face of the map oras a separate printed legend to accom-pany the map. Many of our irrigation,drainage, and agricultural engineers, andland utilization people are making use ofa number of extra copies of the soilmaps, I am afraid in many cases they
Storie, R. Earl) An index for Rating the Agricultural Value of Soils,California Agriculture Experiment Station.
Bull. 556,
109
tear the maps out of the reports and laythe reports aside. A comprehensive le-gend to accompany the maps would be ofreal value in such instances. Possiblyin publication an extra edition of mapsand legend could be printed and be usedfor those who need these extra copies.
In some of our areas there is a de-mand for maps for the information theycarry irrespective of soil. Extra cop-ies of the maps with accompanying com-
prehensive legend could be printed forJust such a demand where the personwants a map with some additional infor-mation on the soil.
With some of our surveys being ex-hausted at an early date, there is needfor extra maps being printed. Copies ofthe maps with the comprehensive legendwould be available after the reports areout of print if such extra copies couldbe printed.
See next page
for
Comprehensive Legend
110
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