Important/significant foundation soil

physical properties
Color
Redoximorphic features
Texture
Structure
Consistence
Coarse fragments
Reaction
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Important/significant foundation soil

physical properties
Color not an influence, but an indicator and
diagnostic resource
Texture the composition (sand, silt, clay),
the feel, the classification (triangle) micropores
Structure how the particles are aggregated,
bound together macropores
Consistence how the soil holds together,
feels, can be worked when wet; assessing
texture
Coarse fragments rocks dont hold water!
Soil reaction acid or base, leached or not
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leached, saturated or not saturated

 Color reflects physical, chemical and/or

biological composition and processes
Dark brown-black = organic matter
Bright-light = leached or bleached zones
Subsoil color reflects parent material
Subsoil color reflects redox status
oxidation = aerated
reduction = anaerobic, lacking oxygen
Carbonates, sulfates, chlorides affect color
Mottles, speckles, blotches alternating wet
and dry conditions.
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Pop Quiz Question:

Direction of water flow?

Soil color as a diagnostic tool

Color reflects the parent material, the soil formation
process, and the hydraulic properties of the soil

There are two ways to look at soil color

1) as a diagnostic tool what happened!
2) as a characterization/classification tool
what will happen!

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Soil
Color
Coloring agents in the soil
Effect/expression of
Organic matter

darkens the soil

Iron (Fe):primary coloring

agent in the subsoil

orange brown colors associated

with well drained soils are the
result of Fe oxide stains coating
individual particles.

Manganese (Mn) is common very dark black or purplish black

in some soils
color
Matrix color

the dominant color in the soil

Mottling

spots or blotches of color in the soil

that differ from the matrix color

Redoximorphic features

mottles that relate to the aeration,

drainage, and alterations between
aerobic and anaerobic of the soil
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Redoximorphic features

mottles that relate to the aeration and drainage

status of the soil, and alterations between aerobic and
anaerobic conditions of the soil

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Deal or No Deal!
As a generalization soils of fine, very uniform texture and very limited
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particle size distribution often have internal drainage limitations.

Alisol poorly drained clay loam

soil due to dense sub-surface
horizon rich in clay and
aluminum

Poorly drained silty clay

loam derived from alluvial
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deposits on a modern-day
flood plain

Deep, poorly drained fine

sandy loam formed in
sandy marine deposits,
flood-plains and depressions.
Shallow water table

Moderately well drained, slow

permeability, deep to water
table. Smectite clay; high
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shrink-swell properties

Soil colors associated with soil attributes.

Soil color

Soil
attributes

Environmental conditions

Brown to
black
(surface
horizon)

accumulation
of organic
matter (OM),
humus

low temperature, high annual precipitation

amounts, soils high in soil moisture, and/or litter
from coniferous trees favor an accumulation of OM

Black
(subsurface
horizon)

Accumulation
of manganese
Parent
material (e.g.
basalt)

Bright-lightnearly white

Elluvial
horizon (E
horizon)

In environments where precipitation >

evapotranspiration there is leaching of sequioxides,
carbonates, and silicate clays. The elluviated
horizon consists mainly of silica

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Brown to black
(surface horizon);
surface well-drained,
good aeration.
Darker vertical soil
deposits are
remnants of
burrowing animals.
The technical term is
krotovina
(crotovina): an
animal burrow that
has been filled with
organic or mineral
material from another
soil horizon.

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Reddish brown
subsoil, suggesting
good drainage,
aeration. Note the
buried A horizon, with
additional subsoil
material above
suggesting colluvial
deposition or some
form of mass action
in recent past. Zone
of elluviation below
the buried A horizon

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Bright-light; eluvial zone

below the relatively
shallow organic horizon
near surface; the lightcolored soils, the abundance
of red and yellow suggest
a well-drained soil. Considering that elluviation has also
occurred, one would conclude
that this would be a suitable
site good internal drainage,
appears to have good water
holding capacity.

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Redox reduction-oxidation status

Reduction oxygen is
depleted from the soil,
the soil may be
anaerobic, iron and
manganese chemistry
change, resulting in
color changes.
Mottles/Gleying
Oxidation oxygen is
present in the soil, the
soil is aerobic, leaching
is likely occurring, light
color of soil.
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Yellow to
reddish

Fe (oxidized
3+

iron)

Well-aerated soils
Poorly drained soils (e.g.
subsurface layer with a
high bulk density causes
waterlogging, or a very fine
textured soil where
permeability is very low),
anaerobic environmental
conditions

Gray,
bluishgreen

Fe

White to
gray

In arid or subhumid
environments where the
Accumulation evapotranspiration >
of salts
precipitation there is an
upward movement of water
and soluble salts in the soil

White to
gray

Parent
material:
marl, quartz

2+

(reduced

iron)

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An explanation of the Munsell color wheel and Munsell color charts

Hue: It is the dominant spectral
color, i.e., whether the hue is
pure color such as yellow, red,
green, or a mixture of pure
colors.

Value: It describes the degree of

lightness or brightness of the hue
reflected in the property of the
gray color that is being added to
the hue.

Chroma: It is the amount of a

particular hue added to a gray or
the relative purity of the hue.

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Standardizing Color the Munsell Color Chart

Munsell Color System

Hue refers to the dominant
wavelength of light (color)
(red, yellow, green, etc.).
Value refers to the lightness
and darkness of a color in
relation to a neutral gray
scale.
Chroma is the relative purity
or strength of the Hue.
Notation
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Hue = 5YR
Value = 2.5 8
Chroma = 1-8

So, for example: a soil

horizon with a Munsell
color description of 5YR
5/4 =

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Questions

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