Overview
Step One: Launch the Soil Survey
Navigate to the Soil Survey https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspLinks to an external site.
You should see a map of the continental U.S.
On the left, you should see a Menu with 'Quick Navigation' that will allow you to search by address, county, and so forth.
Above the map you should see a title 'Area of Interest Interactive Map'; Below that title you should see a set of tools for interacting with the map (zoom, pan, AOI, etc).
- If you've found those items on the page, then continue to the next step. (picture uploaded 1)
Step Two: Delineate an Area of Interest
Select a wetland of interest contained in the map. The wetland should be located in Okeechobee County, Florida.
Zoom into that location. You can use either the interactive tools (e.g. zoom, pan) or the quick navigation tools (e.g. address or county) to navigate to your location.
- Delineate an area of interest around the wetland using the AOI tool (there are rectangular and polygon tools in the tool bar (they say AOI above a red shape) by using the cursor to draw around your area.
- Once you've successfully created your AOI, it will appear outlined in aqua like below.
- If you need to redraw your AOI, just click 'Clear AOI' on the AOI Properties menu that you'll see on the left, and try again.
- One you're satisfied with the AOI, move to the next step.
Step Three: Explore the Soils Data
Near the top of the page, click on the red tab labelled 'Soil Map'. If you get an error saying data in unavailable, you’ll need to redraw your AOI until you find one with availability.
Your mapped view should now show polygons delineating different soil map units. These map units cover areas of similar soils.
- On the left, you'll see a list of the soil map units in your AOI. The list will be in table form and include: Map Unit Symbol, Map Unit Name, Acres in AOI, and Percent of AOI.
Click on one of the names. You should then see a window pop up with information about that map unit. You'll see what soil types are present (sometimes there are more than one) and which is the most dominant.
You can also click the 'i' icon from the map tools to load the information tool, and then click on an area of your AOI. This will give you a quick description of the soil, but not the full details in the pop-up window.
- Take a few minutes to look at the kind of data recorded in the soil survey for your AOI.
- Once you're satisfied in how to navigate the data, move on to the next step. (picture uploaded 2)
- Step Four: Describe the Soils for your AOI(1) What were the two most common map units in your AOI? Provide their names and acreage.(2) Choose any one of the map units that you found interesting. Provide a description of one of its components (e.g. 5—Felda fine sand, 0 to 2 percent slopes), including:
- Soil type name
- Landform
Drainage class
- Frequency of flooding
Other vegetative classification
Hydric Soils rating
- Description of the Soil Profile (depth and texture of each horizons). Note: in this class, we simplify soil profiles. For example, you may see an E horizon, which is a mineral horizon in the upper part of the soil that is typically only present in forested areas. Or, you may see subscripts to the letters (like Btg) which you can ignore
- Step Five: Did you know that you can also download soils data from the Soil Survey? This would be useful if you want to map the soils in a geographic information system. We won't do that in this course, but to do so, you would click on the red tab labelled 'Download Soils Data', click 'Create Download Link' at the bottom, and then save the .zip folder to your computer.