Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative

Vermont Long-Term Soil Monitoring Program: Soil sample descriptions

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Metadata Provider

  • Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative

    • Address:
      705 Spear Street
      South Burlington, Vermont 05403
      United States of America

      Phone: (802) 391-4135
      Email: femc@uvm.edu
      Website: www.uvm.edu/femc

Abstract

    Long-term monitoring of forest soils is necessary to understand the effects of continued environmental change, including climate change, atmospheric deposition of metals, and recovery from acidic precipitation. A monitoring program was initiated in 2002 at five protected forest sites in Vermont, three in Mt. Mansfield State Forest and two in the Lye Brook Wilderness Area. Every 5 years at each site, ten soil pits are dug and sampled from subplots in a 50 × 50-m plot.

People

  • Joshua Halman: Content Provider

  • Carl Waite: Content Provider

  • Sandra Wilmot: Content Provider

  • Nancy Burt: Content Provider

  • Jamie Shanley: Content Provider

  • Deane Wang: Content Provider

  • Sean Lawson: Content Provider

  • Thomas Villars: Principal Investigator

  • Scott Bailey: Principal Investigator

  • Donald Ross: Principal Investigator

  • James Duncan: Content Provider

  • Jennifer Wright: Content Provider

  • Angelica Quintana: Content Provider

Keywords

  • forest health, long-term soil monitoring, soil horizons, soils,

Organizations

  • United States Geological Survey (USGS) : partner
  • United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service: partner
  • Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC) : partner
  • University of Vermont College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: partner
  • United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests: partner

Geographic Coverage

  • Coordinates
    • -73.059551667, 43.05681667
    • -72.79543333, 43.05681667
    • -72.79543333, 44.53525
    • -73.059551667, 44.53525
    • -73.059551667, 43.05681667

Data Table

  • Title: Soil sample descriptions
  • Start Date: 2002-06-01
  • Description: Soils were described using NRCS procedures referenced in the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, version 2.0, September, 2002. The following soil physical properties were described, and the numbers in parentheses refer to page numbers in the Field Book referencing that property: Horizon Designation and lower Boundary (pgs 2-2 to 2-6).; Depth of horizon (upper and lower) in centimeters; Matrix color, moist, Munsell notation; Texture (pgs 2-29 to 2-31); Percent rock fragments by volume (shape- pg 2-40, note basic Percent Chart on page 2-9 – some Munsell color books also have a Percent Chart); structure; grade, size, and type (pgs 2-41 to 2-48); consistence, moist (also referred to as Rupture Resistance, pgs 2-49 to 2-50); Redoximorphic features; quantity, size, contrast – and Munsell color (pgs 2-14 to 2-17; see also quantity, size and contrast charts under Mottles on pgs 2-9 to 2-12); Roots (pgs 2-56 to 2-58); other features such as: organic streaks and stains, type of organic material, moisture status, slope percent, aspect and horizons sampled. Soil chemical properties (such as pH) was not recorded in the field since these were analyzed more accurately in the lab at a later date.

  • Purpose:

  • Condensed Title: Z0161_2469_W04IX1

  • Object Name: VMC.161.2469

  • Data Type: mySQL
  • Citation: Natural Resources Conservation Service, Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative, University of Vermont, USDA Forest Service, Green Mountain National Forest and Northern Research Station, and US Geological Survey (2018) Soil sample descriptions. FEMC. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/femc/data/archive/project/long-term-soil-monitoring/dataset/soil-sample-descriptions

  • Online Distribution: https://vmc.w3.uvm.edu/vmcdevel/data/archive/project/long-term-soil-monitoring/dataset/soil-sample-descriptions

Attribute List

    Attribute Name: BedrockReached
    • Label: Bedrock Reached
    • Description: BedrockReached field was added in 2017 to account for situations where bedrock was not reached during the soil examination. This was flagged in excel through records showing + next to the bottom depth. 1 for yes bedrock assumed reached. 0 for no bedrock was not reached.
    • Storage Type: int
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: BottomDepth
    • Label: Bottom Depth
    • Description: Bottom depth of sample relative to soil-air interface. A value of -999 indicates that there was either a mistake and the depth was never recorded or bedrock was never reached.
    • Storage Type: decimal
    • Measurment Type: ratio
    • Precision: 0.1
    • Unit: centimeter
    Attribute Name: Boundary
    • Label: Boundary
    • Description: Boundary at the bottom of the horizon
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: Describer
    • Label: Describer
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: Consistence
    • Label: Consistence
    • Description: Resistence of soil peds to rupture in moist conditions
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: FeatureColor1
    • Label: FeatureColor1
    • Description: Munsell color of the most common feature
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: FeatureColor2
    • Label: FeatureColor2
    • Description: Munsell color of the second most common feature
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: FeatureColor3
    • Label: FeatureColor3
    • Description: Munsell color of the third most common color
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: FeatureDescription1
    • Label: FeatureDescription1
    • Description: Description of the most common feature
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: FeatureDescription2
    • Label: FeatureDescription2
    • Description: Description of the second most common feature
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: FeatureDescription3
    • Label: FeatureDescription3
    • Description: Description of the third most common feature
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: FieldHorizon
    • Label: Field Horizon
    • Description: Field-designated horizon
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: fkSampleID
    • Label: fkSampleID
    • Description: Sample ID
    • Storage Type: int
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: LabHorizon
    • Label: Lab Horizon
    • Description: Lab-designated horizon
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: MatrixColor
    • Label: MatrixColor
    • Description: Munsell color - dominant color of the horizon
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: Notes
    • Label: Notes
    • Description: Notes on this horizon
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: RockFragments
    • Label: Rock Fragments
    • Description: Visual estimate of the percent soil in certain size
    • Storage Type: int
    • Measurment Type: interval
    • Precision: 1
    • Unit: percent
    Attribute Name: Roots
    • Label: Roots
    • Description: Percentage of fine to very fine roots
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    • Unit: percent
    Attribute Name: Structure
    • Label: Structure
    • Description: Shape and prevalence of soil aggregates
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: Texture
    • Label: Texture
    • Description: Texture of the soil according to USDA classification
    • Storage Type: text
    • Measurment Type: nominal
    Attribute Name: TopDepth
    • Label: Top Depth
    • Description: Top depth of sample relative to soil-air interface
    • Storage Type: decimal
    • Measurment Type: ratio
    • Precision: 0.1
    • Unit: centimeter

Methods

  • No methods recorded for this dataset

Sampling Equipment

  • No sampling equipment recorded for this dataset

Site Characteristics

  • No site characteristics recorded for this dataset