Soils Parent Material Name

Parent material name is a term for the general physical, chemical, and mineralogical composition of the unconsolidated material, mineral or organic, in which the soil forms. Mode of deposition and/or weathering may be implied by the name. The soil surveyor uses parent material to develop a model used for soil mapping. Soil scientists and specialists in other disciplines use parent material to help interpret soil boundaries and project performance of the material below the soil. Many soil properties relate to parent material. Among these properties are proportions of sand, silt, and clay; chemical content; bulk density; structure; and the kinds and amounts of rock fragments. These properties affect interpretations and may be criteria used to separate soil series. Soil properties and landscape information may imply the kind of parent material. For each soil in the database, one or more parent materials may be identified. One is marked as the representative or most commonly occurring.The representative parent material name is presented here. This data set is a digital soil survey and generally is the most detailed level of soil geographic data developed by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. The information was prepared by digitizing maps, by compiling information onto a planimetric correct base and digitizing, or by revising digitized maps using remotely sensed and other information. This data set consists of georeferenced digital map data and computerized attribute data. The map data are in a soil survey area extent format and include a detailed, field verified inventory of soils and miscellaneous areas that normally occur in a repeatable pattern on the landscape and that can be cartographically shown at the scale mapped. The soil map units are linked to attributes in the National Soil Information System relational database, which gives the proportionate extent of the component soils and their properties.