Okay, it may not be the best way but it's a pretty darn good way to do it.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I will be moving to east central Illinois this summer. Curious about the nature of the soils there, I did some exploring on Web Soil Survey to get a little "dirt" on the area.
For a little background on the soil in Champagin County, I decided to look up the block diagram for the soils there.
Block Diagrams offer a general overview on the parent material of different soils in a county and general relief of the area. On the diagram we can see different names. Each of these names, Elliott, Varna, Ashkum, and Ozaukee, are different soil series. Soil series are names given to types of soil that have distinct characteristics. There are over 19,000 unique soil series in the United States!
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| Block Diagram for soil series in Champaign County, Illinois |
In the case of the Block Diagram for Champaign County, we can see that glacial till is overlain with loess sediments and colluvium. These different parent materials mean that the soils formed in each will have different characteristics.
Before getting into the properties of each of these series, it's important to know what loess and colluvium is. Loess, as defined by the Illinois State Geological Survey, are silty materials which are primarily wind-blown in origin or derived from wind blown sediments. Colluvium is a term given to loose, unconsolidated material, deposited at the base of hills by water or downslope creep.
The official soil series description for each soils can be found in a link for each soil series name: Elliott, Varna, Ashkum, and Ozaukee.
Elliott, Varna, and Ashkum are all considered to be of the soil order mollisols. Ozaukee is the odd ball as it is in the soil order alfisol.
All of the soil are fairly deep, meaning that their A horizons are of considerable thickness, i.e. 20 inches or more. This lends to the soils productivity in terms of crop production.
This is just a little overview of the soils of Champaign County, but it's important to know that there is a mix of soils formed on thick loess deposits, thin loess deposits, and colluvium.
The official soil series description for each soils can be found in a link for each soil series name: Elliott, Varna, Ashkum, and Ozaukee.
Elliott, Varna, and Ashkum are all considered to be of the soil order mollisols. Ozaukee is the odd ball as it is in the soil order alfisol.
All of the soil are fairly deep, meaning that their A horizons are of considerable thickness, i.e. 20 inches or more. This lends to the soils productivity in terms of crop production.
This is just a little overview of the soils of Champaign County, but it's important to know that there is a mix of soils formed on thick loess deposits, thin loess deposits, and colluvium.
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