SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES AND THEIR USE XXIV. 



THE ORANGEBURG SANDY LOAM. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The Orangeburg sandy loam is found in both the Atlantic and Gulf 

 Coastal Plain regions, in a large number of scattered localities. The 

 most northern occurrences are to be found in the central portion of 

 South Carolina, where the type is extensively developed. Additional 

 areas are found in southwest Georgia and adjoining portions of 

 Florida and Alabama. The greatest development of the type, how- 

 ever, is found in southern and central Alabama, in scattered areas 

 occurring in different portions of Mississippi, and in considerable 

 areas in the extreme northwestern portion of Louisiana. There are 

 a few scattered and unimportant areas in Texas. 



During the progress of soil-survey work the Orangeburg sandy 

 loam has been encountered in 28 different areas located in 7 States, 

 and has been mapped to the total extent of 507,648 acres. Since only 

 about one-seventh of the total area of the Coastal Plain region has 

 been covered by soil surveys, it is safe to estimate that between 

 3,000.000 and 3,500,000 acres of this type will ultimately be found in 

 the region named. Of the area already surveyed, fully three-fifths 

 lies in the State of Alabama alone, and four-fifths of all of the 

 type yet encountered in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. South 

 Carolina is the only other State which possesses any appreciable area 

 of the Orangeburg sandy loam. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL AND SUBSOIL. 



The surface soil of the Orangeburg sandy loam to an average depth 

 of 6 or 8 inches is a gray or'brown sandy loam. There is consider- 

 able variation in the texture of the surface soil and the material at 

 the immediate surface may in many instances be a medium gray sand, 

 underlain at no great depth by a gray or brown loamy sand. In other 

 instances the surface material is a finer grade of sand, somewhat 

 loamy in its structure. This surface material grades downward into 

 a red sandy clay, which at greater depths is succeeded by a stiff red 

 clay. The total depth of surface soil and subsoil material is almost 



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