page_title: Serpentine soil
section_title: Serpentine barrens
hierarchical_section_title: Serpentine soil / Serpentine barrens
caption_attribution_description: English: Stream running through Rock Springs Nature Preserve, Lancaster County, PA
context_page_description: Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially antigorite, lizardite, and chrysotile or white asbestos, all of which are commonly found in ultramafic rocks. The term "serpentine" is commonly used to refer to both the soil type and the mineral group which forms its parent materials.
  Serpentine soils exhibit distinct chemical and physical properties and are generally regarded as poor soils. The soil is often reddish, brown, or gray in color due to its high iron and low organic content. Geologically, areas with serpentine bedrock are characteristically steep, rocky, and vulnerable to erosion, which causes many serpentine soils to be rather shallow. The shallow soils and sparse vegetation lead to elevated soil temperatures and dry conditions. Due to their ultramafic origin, serpentine soils also suffer from a low calcium-to-magnesium ratio and lack many essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
context_section_description: Serpentine barrens are a unique ecoregion found in parts of the United States in small but widely distributed areas of the Appalachian Mountains and the Coast Ranges of California, Oregon, and Washington. Species-rich archipelagos of communities comprise 1.5% of the state's land area. In California, 10% of the state's plants are serpentine endemics. The barrens occur on outcrops of altered ultramafic ophiolites.
  They are named for minerals of the serpentine group, resulting in serpentine soils, with unusually high concentrations of iron, chromium, nickel and cobalt. Serpentine barrens often consist of grassland or savannas in areas where the climate would normally lead to the growth of forests.
  Serpentine soils can be amended to support crops and pasture land for cattle grazing. This can be done by adding ample amounts of gypsum to the soil. By adding gypsum the soil pH (potential hydrogen) can be potentially leveled, creating an environment where more plant nutrients are in their available state. This however poses a possible implication to grazing cattle. An article from the “Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology” discerned that 20% of the grazing animals had toxic levels of nickel in their kidneys, and 32% had toxic levels of copper in their liver (Miranda et al. 2009). Further study is needed to see if this will potentially have a negative effect on human health as it pertains to beef consumption.
caption: Unlike most ecosystems, in serpentine barrens there is less plant growth closer to a stream, due to toxic minerals in the water.
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