Low and inadequate moisture produces desert shrub vegetation.
Vegetation: Influences Soil Color, Organic Matter, and Chemical Fertility
Low and Acid
High and Neutral
High and Alkaline
Time: Time is required for the above processes to take place. In general, the longer the time element, the more apt is the soil to develop a clayey subsoil.
Using soil properties to classify soils
Soil scientists use soil properties such as slope, particle size, depth, color and degree of development to name and classify soils.
In October 1987, the Soil Conservation Service, now the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), completed mapping the state after 50 years of strenuous effort. Now each county has it own published soils booklet. (Copies may obtained either from the local office of the County Extension Service (CES) or the NRCS.)
School teachers are encouraged to consult the offices of CES or NRCS for assistance in preparing lesson plans using the county soil survey report.
Selection of Hamey Silt Loam as the official state soil for educational programs. The Hamey silt loam was selected as the state soil because:
It has ideal properties of a prairie soil, of which Kansas has more acres than any other state;
Its nearly 4 million acres in 26 westcentral counties is the most of any of the state's more than 300 different soils;
Its uneroded profile is an ideal model to which other soils may be compared;
Its high crop-yield record has contributed to the state's economic wealth; and
Its excellent properties make it an ideal soil to commemorate the completion in October 1987 of the State's soil inventory by more than 75 soil scientists of the SCS and the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.