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 
Total area of State . 
Acres. 
9,501,600 
6,420,000 
5,136,000 
3,081,600 
1,540,800 
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 1 
