The ground beneath America, layer by layer.
Typical profiles drawn to scale, classification and mapped extent for 90 U.S. soil series — every state soil and the largest series in the country — counted from the national soil survey database.
Open the soil series finder to filter all 90 series by state, order, drainage and depth, and compare two profiles side by side.
- Valentine10.8 M acres
- Gilpin5.8 M acres
- Smithdale5.7 M acres
- Cecil5.5 M acres
- Williams4.2 M acres
- Ector4.0 M acres
- Harney3.9 M acres
- Sharkey3.7 M acres
- Valent3.5 M acres
- Berks3.2 M acres
- Pacolet3.1 M acres
- Pullman3.1 M acres
Twelve orders cover every acre
Share of the 1.60 billion acres that U.S. soil surveys map to a named series.
- Mollisols27.3%Soils with a thick, dark, organic-rich topsoil
- Alfisols17.3%Moderately leached soils with a clay-enriched subsoil
- Entisols12.3%Young soils with little or no horizon development
- Ultisols11.8%Strongly weathered, leached soils with a clay-enriched subsoil
- Inceptisols11.4%Young soils with weakly developed horizons
- Aridisols9.7%Soils of dry climates
- Spodosols3.7%Acid soils with a subsoil of humus and iron or aluminum
- Vertisols2.7%Clay soils that shrink and crack when dry
- Histosols1.9%Organic soils: peat and muck
- Andisols1.3%Soils formed in volcanic ash and similar material
- Gelisols0.5%Soils with permafrost
- Oxisols<0.1%Very highly weathered soils of the tropics
Every state has a soil of its own
Each state’s official or proposed state soil, colored by its order.
The largest series
Mapped acres in current SSURGO data. Valentine alone covers 1.9 times as much ground as the runner-up, Gilpin.