1

National

Cooperative

Soil

Survey Newsletter

Issue 14

February 2001

In This Issue—

Editor’s Note

Issues of this newsletter are

available on the World Wide Web

(www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/soildiv).

Click on NCSS and then on the desired

issue number of the NCSS Newsletter.

You are invited to submit stories for

future issues of this newsletter to

Stanley Anderson, National Soil Survey

Center, Lincoln, Nebraska. Phone—

402-437-5357; FAX—402-437-5336;

email—

stan.anderson@nssc.nrcs.usda.gov.

Retracing Charles

Kellogg’s Path in Ghana

By Henry R. Mount, Soil Scientist, Natural

Resources Conservation Service, National Soil

Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska

During August 2000, Berman Hudson and I were approved

to participate in a science and

technology mission to Ghana. Before

leaving the United States, we

discovered that Charles Kellogg had

visited Ghana (formerly the Gold

Coast) in August 1954—46 years

earlier. Detailed notes in his “African

Journal” provided day-by-day

information for his 1-week excursion.

Kellogg’s mission in 1954 was to

interact with the British to assess

whether swollen shoot disease of the

cocoa trees was soil borne. After our

itinerary arrived from our hosts in

Ghana, it became apparent we would be

traveling much of the same path as

Charles Kellogg did in 1954.

After arriving in Accra on

November 5, 2000, we were

introduced to our colleagues at the

Ecological Research Laboratory at the

University of Ghana in Legon. The

international team consisted of Henrik

Madsen and Mogens Greve from

Denmark, Theodore Awadzi and Seth

Danso from Ghana, and Berman and

me from the NSSC in Lincoln,

Nebraska. Our mission was to assess

the Ghanaian soil survey program,

sample soils at seven benchmark sites

throughout the southern part of Ghana,

and present two symposiums about the

soil survey program in the United

States.

With sampling equipment in hand,

we left Legon and traveled the southern

coastal region, where we described and

sampled an Oxisol (Tikobo). Then we

traveled to Kumasi, home of the Soil

Research Institute, which Kellogg had

visited in 1954. We found out that Drs.

C.H. Charter, Brammer, and Ahn,

British soil scientists in Ghana during

the 1950’s and colleagues of Charles

Kellogg, were still held in high regard.

They had introduced the soil series

concept and set up 360 series based on

25 soil descriptions for each series.

When Theodore Awadzi presented us a

description of the Tikobo series, we

found it to be a highly technical

description matching many of our

Official Series Descriptions in the

United States. In fact, we in the United

States rarely take the time to define a

soil series on the basis of 25

descriptions.

In Kumasi, we tried to interpret the

following Kellogg journal entry:

The calcium-collecting tree

called Chlorophora excelsa, one

of the emergents. Locally, it is

called “odum.” This tree

collects calcium, which oozes

into old wounds and cuts,

probably as calcium malate.

This changes to a kind of

limestone that runs 80 to 90

percent calcium carbonate. The

soils under such trees become

neutral to alkaline while soils

under adjacent trees may be

strongly acid.

While our colleagues in Ghana were

familiar with this tree, it is now quite

rare and the concretion that Kellogg

observed in the Kumasi Soils Museum

has now disappeared.

Retracing Charles Kellogg’s Path in

Ghana ............................................. 1

The Soil Scientist ................................ 4

Soil Horizon Designations .................. 5

Flood Recovery Assistance in

Honduras ........................................ 6

Geophysical Tools Utilized by NSSC to

Help States ..................................... 7

NCSS Soil Scientist Achievement

Award ............................................. 8

Language Matters ............................... 9
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NCSS Newsletter
3

After our symposium in Kumasi, we

sampled two soils rich in plinthite

(Plinthustults)—the Kobeda series in a

teak plantation and the Dominase series

in a bush fallow field. We also visited

the soil correlation room where,

through examination of soil correlation

trays, new soil scientists of Ghana are

expected to memorize the soils of the

area they are to map. The series

concepts in Ghana are fixed. The soil

scientists in this relatively small country

hold to the tradition of their 360 series

being a totality. There is no provision to

add any new series in Ghana.

Consequently, the series concepts are

often transferred down to local farmers

and do not migrate or shift with time.

Changes in the FAO classification

scheme do not split series either. The

system appears to be rather rigid and

fixed in some ways, but it allows new

scientists to be more easily trained in

the series concepts.

After our stay in Kumasi, we

followed Kellogg’s path back to Accra.

We saw upland rice similar to what

Kellogg documented in 1954. We also

saw the same rusted cannons at Elmina

Castle he mentioned. In contrast to

Kellogg’s writings, we noted

accelerated erosion in and around

villages. On August 6, 1954, Kellogg

stated, “All the accelerated erosion I

saw in over 200 miles could be found

on one small Georgia farm.” We doubt

that Kellogg saw the aftermath of a

rainstorm similar to what we saw in

Kumasi, where rivulets of red water

were flowing on top of plinthite in the

villages and in the gutters throughout

the streets. In addition, we later saw

clear evidence of 50 to 75 centimeters

of erosion near a Danish plantation ruin

in Sesemi.

One mystery of Kellogg’s writings

involves anthropic thickets. On August

6, 1954, Kellogg wrote, “Within 13

miles of the sea, we pass into anthropic

thicket. Only 15 to 20 feet high, these

thickets are almost impenetrable.” The

local scientists had not heard of this

term, and we saw no evidence of what

he might have been referring to. It is

possible he might have been referring

to the bush fallow areas, but these are

by no means impenetrable.

We visited the same Kpong

Experiment Station that Kellogg had

visited in 1954. On August 7, 1954, he

wrote:

We start for Kpong with Mr.

Brammer, Mr. MacKinnen, and

Mr. Linton at 12:30 p.m. At

2:40 p.m., we have arrived at

the site for the new irrigation

experimental station and have a

short time with Mr. Keyser, the

European manager. The soils in

this area formed in weathered

granite containing hornblende

gneiss at 40 to 48 inches. The

underlying rock is rich in sodalime feldspar and deficient in

potassium. We return to the

Hogensborg Castle about 5:20

p.m., just in time to change and

go with the Governor and his

lady to the Prime Minister’s

cocktail party. I mingle with the

people an hour or so and then

Mr. Hamilton gets me and we

return to the Castle for dinner at

8 p.m. I was impressed with the

alertness of Dr. Kwame

Nkrumah. He seemed especially

interested in following up on my

suggestions.

Though we did not meet with the

current Prime Minister of Ghana during

our excursion, we did describe and

sample a Vertisol (Akuse) formed in

hornblende gneiss at the Kpong

Experiment Station. This Akuse soil

mirrored what Kellogg mentioned in his

notes 46 years earlier.

Our excursion to Anloga was similar

to Kellogg’s trip to Ada. On August 8,

1954, Kellogg wrote:

We start for the field at 7

o’clock with Brammer, Loxton,

and Rose-Innes. We travel east

along the coast on the main road

from Accra to Ada. As we go

along the Accra Plain, I see red

soils with red termite mounds

on the higher swells. We

continue east through

Dawhwenya and stop at about

milepost 28 to look at the

Tropical Black Clay in a very

gently undulating landscape. We

then drive on into the Accra

Plain and pass on to some more

soils from acidic gneiss with

sandy surfaces and heavy clay B

horizons. The grasses here grow

in tussocks and these give the

surface a fine micro-relief. At

milepost 55, we stop to take a

quick look at a friable red soil

(2.5YR 4/4) of sandy loam to

loam texture from Tertiary sand.

Then we drive out toward the

sea over some nearly pure white

sandy soils derived from these

Tertiary sands, and out onto an

old lagoon on where the soil is

only a little above the sea.

Finally, we turn back and return

to Accra about 2:15 p.m.

Perhaps by accident or by fate,

milepost 28 still remains in Ghana, and

we observed many of the same things

that Kellogg did on August 8, 1954.

What started as an incidental

objective to our mission became a daily

experience of déjà vu. Traveling down

the same path that Charles Kellogg had

traveled and verifying similarities and

differences from the distant past

became more important as our trip

unfolded. Before leaving Ghana, we

informed our colleagues that as part of

the follow-up process, we would

present a paper at the 2002 ASA

meetings in Indianapolis about

retracing Kellogg’s path in Ghana. 

NCSS Newsletter
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NCSS Newsletter

In the beginning, God made the heavens and earth,

He designed them for us, for He knew our worth;

All was perfect and all was okay,

Till Adam and Eve fell that day.

Since that time, it has been upon man,

To steward the earth, to work the land;

But the land got tired and needed a rest,

So man got wise and devised a test.

Alas, he found not all soil was the same,

But what can we do to figure this game;

All through the years, we’ve hit and missed,

So the Lord provided the soil scientist.

He came on the scene a century ago,

Mapping soils anywhere the four winds blow;

Not knowing what he’d find over the next hill,

But blazing forward always ready to drill.

He’s a lone wolf but rarely lonely,

Sharpshooter in hand, his one and only;

Discovering creation one layer at a time,

Daily facing dust, sweat, boredom, and grime.

Pushing forward, at times not sure why,

Then thinking of goals, he begins to cry;

It seems as though he’ll never get done,

One day at a time, he follows the sun.

But then he realizes, as he tops a knoll,

Acres are important, but not the main goal;

He follows a calling that few understand,

To discover for man the treasures of land.

Most will never see the hours of toil,

That he invests into mapping our soil;

The fruit of his labor he may never see,

Lives are being helped; his purpose and destiny.

So much is changing with computers and NASIS,

Even publication is beyond the speed of molasses;

PEDON, SSURGO, and of course digitizing,

Help to make our future more energizing.

But there lies one certainty amongst all this change,

You’ll find him in field, forest, swamp, and range;

He’ll be needed forever, though sometimes ignored,

Till a conservation team member needs a hole bored.

As our second century gets underway,

Of one thing for sure he is proud to say;

I’ve been part of a winning team,

Even Hugh Hammond Bennett would give us a gleam.

When his time on earth is finished and done,

His reflection of life’s race that he ran and won;

Will likely include a request to roam,

For a visit to the soil on his way home.

—Jeff Olson

Soil Scientist

NRCS

Mena, Arkansas

The Soil Scientist
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NCSS Newsletter

Soil Horizon Designations

By Warren Lynn, Research Soil Scientist, USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Lincoln, Nebraska.

 Master horizons Subscripts

1951 1962 1975 1987 1992 1993 1998 1951 1962 1975 1987 1992 1993 1998

Aoo O1 O1 O O O O aaaa

Ao O2 O2 b b b b b b b

AAAAAA cccc

A1 A1 A1 dddd

A2 A2 A2 E E E E eeee

EB EB EB EB, E/B fffffff

E&Bt (lamellae) ff

A3 A3 A3 AB AB AB AB g g g g g g g

AB AB h h h h h h h

A&B A&B A/B A/B A/B A/B i i i i

AC AC j

B1 B1 B1 jj

B/E B/E B/E B/E ca ca ca k k k k

B&A B&A m m m m m m m

B2 B2 B2 B B B B nnnn

G oooo

B3 B3 B3 BC, B/C BC, B/C BC, B/C BC, B/C ppppppp

CB, C/B CB, C/B CB, C/B CB, C/B si si qqqq

C CCCCCC rrrr

R R R R R R ir ir ir ssss

W ss ss ss

D ttttttt

u

Repeated designations: cn cn cn vvvv

A ́ A ́ A ́ A ́ w w w w

E ́ E ́ E ́ xxxxxx

B ́ B ́ B ́ B ́ cs cs cs y y y y

C ́ C ́ C ́ C ́ sa sa sa z z z z

Discontinuities:

I 111

II 2 2 2

III 3 3 3

IV 4 4 4

etc. etc. etc. etc.

1951—Soil Survey Manual, U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 18, pp. 173-183.

1962—Supplement to Soil Survey Manual, USDA Handbook 18, pp. 173-188 (replacing pp. 173-183).

1975—Soil Taxonomy, U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 436.

1987—Keys to Soil Taxonomy, SMSS Technical Monograph 6.

1992—Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 5th edition.

1993—Soil Survey Manual, U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 18, pp. 117-130.

1998—Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 8th edition.
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NCSS Newsletter

Flood Recovery

Assistance in Honduras

By Henry R. Mount, Soil Scientist, Natural

Resources Conservation Service, National Soil

Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska

I

 was part of an NRCS

 interdisciplinary team assisting in

flood recovery work in Honduras

during the period August 6 to 23,

2000. This team consisted of an

agronomist from Vermont, an irrigation

engineer from Texas, and myself as the

participating soil scientist. We were

part of a USAID initiative to provide

flood recovery assistance to limited

resource farmers along the Choluteca

River in southern Honduras. This part

of the country was ravaged by the

effects of Hurricane Mitch during

October and November of 1998 (fig. 1).

Sixteen months later, the entire country

was still trying to rebound.

After traveling to the USAID

mission office in Tegucigalpa, we

received photo ID’s and were driven by

our personal bodyguard to the city of

Choluteca. After checking into the hotel

in Choluteca, we met Giovanny Molina,

our field technician. We worked with

Giovanny closely during the next 2

weeks. We worked with nine clients

along the Choluteca River, gathering

information about soils and crops for

use in flood recovery plans. After we

secured GPS coordinates for fields, we

used ArcView software to generate

maps (fig. 2).

Southern Honduras is dry. The soil

moisture regime ranges from ustic in

and around the city of Choluteca to

aridic near La Zabila (fig. 3). The soils

near Choluteca have high bases and are

Haplustolls with very good physical

characteristics for growing corn and

melons.

Soil temperature is warm throughout

the year in southern Honduras. A 1-day

Figure 1.—A bridge that was in use for only 6 months before Hurricane Mitch swept part of it

away.

Figure 2.—ArcView representation of the fields belonging to Filomena Gomez near La Zabila.
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NCSS Newsletter

study at Javier Baca’s upper field near

La Zabila showed that a sandy soil has

a much higher maximum temperature

than a loamy soil only a few feet away

(fig. 4 and table 1). The daily range in

temperature also is much higher in the

sandy soil.

Every soil scientist should consider a

TDY assignment to a foreign country.

The opportunity to meet new people

and experience different cultures will

test your ability to adjust to new and

different circumstances. 

Figure 3.—A Torriorthent on the flood plain along the Choluteca River.

Table 1.—Soil Temperature Data

 from Javier Baca’s Upper Field

Temperature (°F) Loamy Sandy

Mean .................... 83.4 84.3

Maximum............. 88.9 98.3

Minimum ............. 78.8 76.6

Max.-Min. ............ 10.1 21.7

Geophysical Tools Utilized

by NSSC to Help States

By Jim Doolittle, Soil Scientist, National Soil

Survey Center, USDA, Natural Resources

Conservation Service.

The National Soil Survey Centeris using ground-penetrating

radar (GPR) and electromagnetic (EMI)

methods to help States document soil

survey activities, evaluate potential

environmental hazards, and preserve

cultural resources. GPR and EMI are

noninvasive geophysical tools that offer

the advantages of portability, speed of

operation, flexibility of observation

depths, and moderate resolution of

subsurface features.

Last fall, assistance was provided to

soil scientists in Maine, New York, and

California to help determine the depth

Figure 4.—Javier Baca at the break between his upper field and his lower field. to bedrock and the thickness of organic
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NCSS Newsletter

Figure 1.—A radar profile from a soil-geomorphic study conducted in a Carolina Bay near Lumberton, North Carolina. Depth is marked in

meters. The white vertical lines at the top of the profile are spaced at an interval of about 30 meters. The vertical scale is exaggerated about

14 times the horizontal scale. The letters A, B, C, and D indicate soil or stratigraphic units.

Wisconsin, to characterize soils on

mine benches in Virginia, to

characterize soil-landscape patterns in

North Carolina, and to determine depth

to bedrock in Iowa.

GPR and EMI are helpful tools in

improving soil surveys as well as

assessing environmental issues. 

deposits in several soils. These data

help soil scientists design more accurate

map units and in turn make more

accurate interpretations for construction

of roads, septic tank absorption fields,

buildings, and other structures. GPR

was used by soil scientists in North

Carolina to help document the

presence, depth, and extent of

impermeable layers across a Carolina

Bay (fig. 1). It was used to help

engineers detect voids under a concrete

spillway in South Carolina and was

used to help foresters map tree roots

and access biomass under loblolly pines

in Georgia.

During the same period, EMI was

used to determine whether detectable

patterns of seepage had developed in

an animal waste holding facility in

New York and an earthen dam in

NCSS Soil Scientist

Achievement Award

By Horace Smith, Director, Soil Survey

Division, Natural Resources Conservation

Service, Washington, D.C.

William (Bill) E. Dollarhide,Reno, Nevada, is the recipient

of the National Cooperative Soil Survey William E. Dollarhide

(NCSS) Soil Scientist Achievement

Award for the year 2000. This award
9

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all

its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex,

religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family

status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities

who require alternative means for communication of program information

(Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

(202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil

Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD).

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

NCSS Newsletter

recognizes exceptional achievement by

individuals working in production soil

survey under the auspices of the NCSS.

Bill Dollarhide is being honored for his

cumulative impact and exceptional

management of all phases of the soil

survey program, including mapping,

classification, correlation,

investigations, interpretations, map

compilation and map finishing,

publications, and database

management. You name a job and Bill

has done it for the NCSS throughout his

35-year career with the USDA, Natural

Resources Conservation Service

(NRCS), in California, Utah, and

Nevada.

In particular, the NCSS would like

to highlight Bill’s remarkable years in

a leadership role in Nevada. Some of

his accomplishments to date have

been:

• Under his leadership, 21 soil surveys

have been published in Nevada and

56.5 million acres has been mapped.

• Interagency agreements with the

Bureau of Land Management that lasted

15 years resulted in soil mapping to

NCSS standards on 49 million acres of

public land .

• Bill developed interagency

agreements with the United States

Forest Service, the National Park

Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs,

and the Department of Defense. To

Bill’s credit, all Indian land in Nevada

has a soil survey and has been digitized

and most of this land has been

SSURGO certified.

• As an Assistant State Soil Scientist

and State Soil Scientist, Bill provided

quality control for more than 13 million

acres of soil survey. He prepared

numerous final correlation documents,

processed more than 300 new soil

series, reviewed or supervised the

review of more than 2,000 Soil Survey

Interpretations Records (Form SCSSOI-5), and did technical edits on nine

soil survey manuscripts covering about

15 million acres.

• Under Bill’s leadership, 33 soil

surveys in Nevada and 15 soil surveys

in other States of the MLRA Survey

Region have been certified, covering

about 50 million acres.

• Before the reorganization of NRCS in

1995 and the creation of the MLRA

concept for production soil survey, Bill

served as State Soil Scientist for both

Nevada and Utah together, covering an

area of 135 million acres. In his current

position, he serves as NRCS State Soil

Scientist for Nevada and MLRA Leader

for Region 3, which covers parts of five

States—Nevada, Utah, California,

Idaho, and Oregon.

• Bill implemented a process within the

MLRA concept to publish six or seven

manuscripts each year and plans to

finish the backlog of soil surveys in all

of MLRA Region 3 in 2001 and have

all published soil surveys in digital

format for that MLRA region by 2002.

• Digital map finishing was completed

for three surveys in Nevada before

Reno was named one of the seven

digital map finishing sites for the

country. Since September 1999, the

digital map finishing site at Reno has

completed six surveys, which are from

Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. Digital

map finishing has been completed on a

total of 800 quad sheets.

Other accomplishments for the

NRCS Soil Survey Program have

been:

• Cochair of the West Region Soil

Consortium

• Soil Survey Reorganization Team

Member

• Expanded Soil Survey Division

Steering Team Member

• West Region Technical Strategic

Planning Team Member

• West Liaison with NRCS National

Headquarters and National Soil Survey

Center

• Chair of the Quality Improvement

Team for Digital Map Finishing

The award is granted annually in the

form of a plaque. 

Language Matters

By Stanley Anderson, Editor, USDA, Natural

Resources Conservation Service, National Soil

Survey Center.

Following is a sentence about the implications for NRCS of a

United Nations initiative to combat

desertification: “We have an

opportunity to contribute to land

degradation and desertification.” The

author says exactly the opposite of

what he means.