BULLETIN OF THE 



No. 46 



Contribution from the Bureau of Soils, Milton Whitney, Chief 

 December 15, 1913. 



A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE SOILS OF VIRGINIA SO 

 FAR IDENTIFIED IN THE SOIL SURVEY. 



AREAS SURVEYED. 1 



The Bureau of Soils has surveyed 12 widely separated areas in 

 Virginia, covering parts or all of 31 counties and aggregating 

 4,138,022 acres, or about one-sixth of the State. For purposes of soil 

 classification the State has been divided into five soil provinces, the 

 areas of which are approximately as follows: 



Piedmont Plateau Province 



Appalachian Mountain and Plateau Province. 



Coastal Plains Province 



Limestone Valley and Upland Province 



River Flood Plains Province 



9,501,600 

 6,420,000 

 5,136,000 

 3,081,600 

 1,540,800 



Total area of State 25, 680, 000 



1 Explanation of terms. — For purposes of soil classification the United States east 

 of the Great Plains region has been divided into seven great soil provinces, based 

 upon the mode of origin of the soil material. In the Piedmont Plateau Province the 

 soils have been derived directly from the disintegration of the old crystalline and meta- 

 morphic rocks in place. In the River Flood Plains Province the soils are composed of 

 material, more or less mixed, which has been carried by the rivers, particularly in flood, 

 and deposited on more or less well defined terraces. In the Coastal Plains Province the 

 material thus carried by the rivers has been subjected to wave and current action of 

 the ocean, with considerable separation and segregation of material, based upon the 

 size of grain and- depth and movement of the ocean water. The Appalachian Mountain 

 and Plateau Province is in effect an old coastal plain, when the material, after segrega- 

 tion into sand beds and clay beds, with the deposition of lime in places, has subse- 

 quently been consolidated into sandstone shale and limestone rocks and greatly elevated 

 above present sea level. The present soils are derived from the disintegration of these 

 secondary rocks in place. In the Limestone Valley and Upland Province the soils are 

 derived from the solution of the lime carbonate, leaving the impurities of the old lime- 

 stone rocks as present soil material. In the Glacial and Loessial Province the soils 

 have resulted from the grinding and transportation of rocks and unconsolidated mate- 

 rial by ice and from deposits formed by wind and rushing glacial waters. In the Glacial 

 Lake and River Terrace Province the soils are derived from glacial material reworked and 

 sorted out by wave and current action of the old glacial lakes and rivers, which have 

 now largely disappeared. 



The names given to soil types, such as Norfolk sandy loam or Portsmouth sandy loam, 

 are usually names of towns in the areas where the types are first encountered and are 

 used for purposes of identification and as being more distinctive and easier to remember 

 than numbers. They have no further significance. All types having the same name, such 

 as the Norfolk sand, Norfolk fine sand, and Norfolk sandy loam, together constitute a 

 soil series. 



14272°— Bull. 46—13- 



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