SOILS OF THE SHENANDOAH RIVER TERRACE: A REVISION OF CERTAIN 

 SOILS IN THE ALBEMARLE AREA, VIRGINIA, 



INTRODUCTION. 



It has been found advisable to revise some of the soils of the Albe- 

 marle area, Virginia, particularly the Edgemont stony loam, to con- 

 form to more recent classifications, and some of the more important 

 changes are given in this preliminary report pending the actual field 

 revision of portions of the soil map. Some of the proposed changes 

 will be merely touched upon, inasmuch as they do not affect present 

 boundaries in the soil map, being only name changes. In other 

 more important cases the changes are discussed in greater detail. 



REVISION OF THE EDGEMONT STONY LOAM. 



The type originally mapped as Edgemont stony loam in the Albe- 

 marle area is largely developed in a broad continuous belt crossing 

 the area from the northeast corner, in the vicinity of Grindstone 

 Mountain, to the vicinity of Torry Mountain, approximately 50 miles 

 to the southwest. The average width of the belt is about 4 miles, 

 the greatest width being about 7| miles, and the narrowest about 1 

 mile. This body of soil is roughly included between the bottom lands 

 of the South and Shenandoah Rivers and the crest of the Blue Ridge 

 Mountains, covering a range in elevation from about 950 to 3,100 

 feet. The greater part of the type lies between the 1,100 and 2,500 

 foot contour lines. That portion lying above the 1,500-foot contour 

 line is mainly very stony and mountainous, while that below this level 

 is mainly flat or undulating, with a gradual drop toward the bottom 

 lands of the Shenandoah and South Rivers on the west. The line of 

 division between these widely different topographic forms is not 

 everywhere marked by the 1,500-foot contour line, as variations 

 occur up and down both sides of the valley. In most places, however, 

 this contour very closely marks the division. 



There are many very stony areas throughout the smoother, lower 

 division, and in many places the color of the subsoil is yellow, there 

 being some resemblance in this respect between the soils of this 

 division and those of the stony mountain slopes. These similarities 

 in appearance of many of the soils of these two divisions was the basis 

 upon which the different types were mapped together in the old 



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