Design of soil map units on a karst area in west central Florida

• Published in: Soil Science Society of America journal Vol. 54; no. 4; pp. 1068 - 1073
• Main Authors: Puckett, W. E., Collins, M. E., Schellentrager, G. W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Soil Science Society of America 01-07-1990
• Subjects: cartografia; cartographie; cartography; clasificacion de suelos; classification des sols; encuestas; enquete; florida; floride; lithological soil types; physiographic soil types; recursos del suelo; ressource en sol; soil classification; soil resources; surveys; tipos fisiograficos de suelos; tipos litologicos de suelo; type de sol geomorphologique; type de sol lithologique
• ISSN: 0361-5995; 1435-0661
• DOI: 10.2136/sssaj1990.03615995005400040023x

The objectives of this research were to identify soil taxa and to evaluate soil-landscape relationships in order to design map units that accurately describe soil distribution on the Chiefland Limestone Plain (CLP) in west central Florida. A conceptual soil-landscape model for mapping the CLP was derived based on information from similar karst areas in adjacent counties. Preliminary field observations using the model along with analysis of initial ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data indicated intricate soil patterns and little relationship between soil occurrence and landscape position. Flexgrid surveys were conducted and 61 GPR transects were performed to design map units and to facilitate placement of map-unit boundaries. Confidence levels of 95 and 80% were used to establish confidence intervals for named and similar soils in each map unit. A new kind of map unit termed "intriplex" was defined to bridge the gap between complexes and undifferentiated groups.