Missouri Association of Professional Soil Scientists

To Advance The Knowledge And Wise Use Of Our Soil Resources

The fall meeting will be held on Saturday, December 5, 1998 at the Ozark Underground Laboratory near Protem Missouri. We will tour the Laboratory. The first part of the tour will be a surface tour. The tour includes the relationships between the surface ecosystem and the cave ecosystem. The afternoon part of the tour is in the cave. The tour includes observing endangered animal species.

The evening portion of the program will be held at Cookies, a restaurant at Theodosia Marina Resort in Theodosia. This will include at least one speaker and a short business meeting. The speaker tentatively scheduled is Jim Vancey from DNR Parks and Historical Preservation. Jim will talk about his experience in mapping caves in New Mexico.

To get to the Ozark Underground Laboratory, from the stop light in Forsyth (Taney County), travel east on Highway 160 for 4 miles to the junction of highways U.S. 160 and MO 76. Turn right on U.S. 160 continue east for 15.4 miles to the junction of highways MO 125 and U.S. 160 at Rueter. From this junction, continue on U.S. 160 and MO 125 for 2 miles to the junction where MO 125 and U.S. 160 divide. The Mark Twain School is at this junction. Continue on U.S. 160 for 1.3 miles to the first county maintained on the right (the county road will have a stop sign). Follow this gravel road for two miles (keeping left at all forks) to the Laboratory entrance on the left (east) side of the road. The gate into the Laboratory is flanked by rock pillars, and the mailbox is opposite the gate. Pass through the gate and follow the road along the ridge to the Laboratory. Park in the parking area. The address is 1572 Aley Lane and the phone number is 417-785-4289.

TMR and Cookies is located at County road 160-25 at Theodosia. Their phone number is 417-273-4444. I have reserved a block of room for December 4 and 5. For those planning on attending the meeting your reservations need to be in by November 1 to guarantee a room. MAPSS is paying for the cave tour. You need to bring a sack lunch for the cave tour and a good flash light.

I need to know who is going on the cave tour by November 1 to make reservations with Ozark Underground Laboratory. Call me @ 573-226-5527.

The Schedule - December 5, 1998
9:00 am - Surface tour at Ozark Underground Laboratory
Noon - Lunch (sack lunch)
1:00 pm - Cave tour
6:30 pm - Evening meal, speaker(s) and evening meeting.

The summer meeting was held at the Central States regional soils Conference. The meeting was attended by about 25 persons. The main topic was the fall meeting. The certification field written test was held at the conference. The field test was held at a later date due to rain. Wyn Kelley, Mark Osbourn, Mike Chalfant, and Ken Gregg all eventually took the test and passed. They are now certified.

It is exactly the middle of September and a questionable day for soil mapping. It has been cloudy with occasional rain the past two days. The sun was trying to shine and the air felt like it could rain at any moment, so I decided to go for some field time. I parked the truck next to a paved-letter designated highway. I put the ignition key and credit card on the ground under a chert cobble next to an oak tree1 five steps away from the front of the truck. I believed this was a more secure method of safeguarding the key and card rather than leaving them in or on the truck.

I arrived back at the truck in about 2 1/2 hours to eat and catch my second breath. I went to the tree and picked up the rock. There was nothing on the ground. The rock was exactly like the way I had left it. The truck hadn't moved. I started to question myself. Have I reached that point in life that the ability to remember what I did in the past is deteriorating with advancement of age? Did I actually put the key at that particular place or was it at a different tree? I checked other trees, my pockets, the pouch on my belt, and inside the truck (under and behind the seat, glove box, lunch box) . I even checked under the engine hood, truck bed, and under the truck if someone that lived nearby was playing a trick on me.

I started to walk towards a house nearby to use a phone when I met a truck coming from there. I asked if there was still someone at the house so that I could use their phone. I told them what had happened to me and they told me that their dogs had been seen around the truck after I left it and one of the dogs will pickup things and carry it away. They told me to look around at the front of the house near a flower bed because that is where they commonly lay. I couldn't find anything there. I called the soils office for someone to bring the spare key out to me.

After Dave and Scott arrived at the scene, we looked over a larger area. Dave walked along the highway towards a different house that had a barking dog. Scott and I looked in the wooded area adjacent to the truck. We looked for about fifteen minutes and decided to quit. I tried to insert the spare key to start the truck but it wouldn't go in. Dave brought the wrong key. It was the right make of key but was for a Dodge truck that at been turned in for a govt vehicle auction over two years ago. I had the option of going back to the office with them, go map, or keep looking until he returned again. I stayed there and continued to look.

I walked back down towards the house still thinking that those dogs were the cause of this trouble. While I was looking around the house again the dogs were laying down and not barking at me. I guess that they had gotten accustomed to me. I walked back towards the truck and made a larger sweep of the area that had been looked at earlier. I started walking away trom the rear of the truck in a fairly open area when I spotted the key and credit card. It was twenty- two steps away from the truck. It was right next to the spot where Dave had parked after coming out from the office. All of us had walked by it but we were concentrating our efforts fn the more dense and taller vegetative areas. Those darn keys were actually laying in an old tire track. I didn't pick it up because I wanted Dave to see where it was when he returned. We couldn't detect any teeth marks on he leather case containing the credit card to determine if the dog was he culprit. This incident ended on a positive note due to the fact that Dave initially brought the wrong spare key and gave me the additional time to search.

Following retirement from NRCS in Jan., 1996, my wife and I relocated to Savannah, just N of St. Joseph. I submitted my name to the State Health Department to be an approved Soil Scientist and do on-site soil evaluations for waste water systems. Since I am the only soil scientist performing that task up this way, work load is steadily increasing.

Soil evaluation for a site or lot considers:
1. Topography and landscape position.
2. Soil characteristics - horizons, color, texture, structure, etc.
3. Soil drainage.
4. Soil depth.
5. Restrictive horizons.
6. Available space.
A site plan is also drawn for each location. Guidelines are followed to determine whether the site is suitable, provisionally suita~e or unsuitable for a conventional or standard soil absorption system. If unsuitable, information is used by a Professional Engineer in the design of an alternative system such as a low pressure pipe, sand filter or drip system. Waste stabilization ponds (lagoons or potty ponds) are not used in many places because of size or configuration of the lot or subdivision restrictions. Some counties adhere to the state regulations. Those with significant housing development have more restrictive regulations than the state and employ their own sanitaridns. Each county has a preference of waste water system types and may have somewhat different regulations pertalning to those systems.

When first starting this activity, several jobs were in the Lake Viking area (Daviess County) for both new construction and failing systems. Work has decreased in that locality because lot owners have become aware of the severe limitations (high clay and high shnink-swell till paleosols). Counties serviced the must include Clay and Platte or the K. C. ffinge area followed by Buchanan, Andrew and Clinton. There is increasing work in evaluating subdivisions and in some cases, detailed analysis on each lot before sale. Ideally, the selected treatment area should be roped off and no disturbance allowed during construction activities except for placement of the system.

Normal procedure is to meet with the owner, contractor or developer, use a back-saver probe to determine soil variability and then select a pit Site. The soil probe can be used in most places in this part of the state. Normally a pit is dug with a back-hoe or front end loader except for isolated cases and circumstances where one is dug by hand. When soil conditions are dry and hard, more than one back-hoe pit may be dug. In Clay and Platte counties, I often work with an Engineer who has his own back-hoe. He collects other information while at the site and I provide the soils information which is then used in the design of a system. Many sites require that the effluent be pumped to higher elevation and that interceptor or curtain drains be used for subsurface water movement associated with seasonal perched water tables.

Perc tests are still used in some places, but the trend is to have a Soil Morphology evaluation. One site evaluated in the river ~ls region of Platte County had a failed perc test. However, it was provisionally suitable for a standard system. The perc test was done when the soil was moist and the sides of the test holes were smeared and not scratched before adding water.

Wise water use is also a matter that is not considered by many homeowners, especially those previouly on city water. Two subdivisions in Clay County have used the STEP (Septic Tank Effluent Pump) system. This is a method where each lot provides primary treatment in a septic tank or aerator unit and then the filtered or screened effluent is pumped to a small diameter main line which feeds to an appropriately sized sand filter for flirther treatment. Technology is rapidly increasing in the waste water management industry. In most cases, a system can be designed for a site or lot, but with increasing cost dependent on the type and complexity.

The Drew 7.5' quadrangle in lacled County was selected as a typical area in which to begin. The first step was to identify and map the sequence of geomorphic surfaces present in the area. A geomorphic surface is a part of the landscape that cab be defined in space adnd time. It is mappable and represents a specific time period when processes of erosion and deposition were operating to produce a land surface of some extent, affected throughout by a particular sequence of events. Geomorphic surfaces provide the chronological framework for the study of soils.

Geomorphic mapping in the Drew quadrangle along the Osage Fork-Gasconade divide, revealed a sequence of five surfaces as shown on the accompanying figure. S1 (lebanon) is the highest and oldes. it occupies the highest ridgetop or summit positions and is of small extent. reconnaissance toward the south up the divide, indicates that it terminates at the Grovespring scarp, toe elevation 1320 feet. S2 (falcon) is a second ridgetop surface, one step below S1 and separated from S1 by a scarp. Based on drill hole and backhoe pit data, S2 appears to be, in part, of fluvial origin and is thus a high old river terrace that stands about 250 feet above the present river level. Mapping is incomplete so the up-divide extent of S2 is not known.

There are three erosion surfaces that either truncate or occupy positions below the two S or summit surfaces. E4 (jacksonville), the oldest, truncates both S1 and S2. It is fairly extensive and has relatevely smooth rolling topography with fairly long slopes. Topgraphic profiles show that it grades to a base level well above the present stream system. E5 (drew) is a younger valley slope erosion surface that truncates any of the proceeding surfaces. It has relatively steep slopes and appears to be fairly extensive. E5 grades to the Lambeth terrace which now stands 40-60 feet above the flow line of the Osage Fork river. The Lambeth terrace has been cut up by erosion and now exists as remnants of cutoff meanders. E6 (nebo) with even steeper slopes truncates E5 and appears to grade to a low terrace and/or the present flood plain. Geomorphic mapping on adjoining quadrangles suggests that these surfaces are of regional extent.

Geomorphic mapping in Texas County, along the Big Piney--Current divide, in the vicinity of Houston revealed the same general sequence of surfaces. There were two ridgetop surfaces, one the probable equivalent of the Laclede County S1 (lebanon) and the other an even higher and older surface (field named Success.) Remnants of a high terrace, standing about 250 feet above the Big Piney were identified. A complex of three erosion surfaces that truncated the high terraces and the ridgetop surfaces was identified and mapped. These three surfaces appear to be equivalent to E4 (jacksonville), E5 (drew) and E6 (nebo) of the Laclede County area.

It was found that one surface in this complex graded to remnats of a terrace in the Big Piney valley that stands 40-60 feet above the Big Piney flow line. This relationship of erosion surface and terrace is simlar to the E5 (drew)--Lambeth terrace relationship found in the Osage Fork valley in Lacled County. The Osage Fork and the Big Piney rivers are parts of the Gasconade drainage. If the 40-60 foot terrace could be shown to be the same terrace level throughout the Gasconade drainage basin, then an erosion surface grading to this terrace level would be the same surface throughout the drainage basin and the regional extent of the erosion surface would be demonstrated.

A study of this 40-60 foot (lambeth) terrace using topographic map interpretation, confirmed by field observations, showed that this terrace and realted meander cutoffs was traceable down the Osage Fork, down the Gasconade to the Big Piney, and up the Big Piney to within four miles of its headwaters. Thus the E5 (drew) erosion surface is shown to have regional extent. This also helps establish the regional extent of other surfaces that are associated with the E5 (drew) surface.

Work in the Pomme de Terre drainage by Brackenridge (1981) offered the possibility of some finite dating of the Lambeth terrace and the related E5 (drew) valley slope erosion surface. Breshears Valley, a cutoff menader standing 40-60 feet above the Pomme de Terre flow line was dated by Brackenridge (1981) as follows: Alluviation began more than 140,000 YBP; alluviation ended about 50-55,000YBP; 49-45,000 YBP erosion caused abandonment of the meander.

The proximity of the Osage Fork and the Pomme de Terre and the 40-60 foot elevation of Breshears Valley and the Lambeth terrace above the respective flow lines suggested extrapolation of the Breshears Valley dating to the Lambeth terrace. This sould then permit dating of the E5 (drew) erosion surface in an indirect way because E5 grades to the Lambeth terrace. Thus erosion of E5 began more than 140,000 YBP and ended 50-55,000 YBP. According to current thinking, this would be the time span from some point in the Illinoian to Middle Wisconsin. E4 (jacksonville), S2 (falcon), S1 (lebannon) and the Success surface would all be older. Surfaces grading to the low terrace and/or flood plain (mapped as E6, nebo) would be Late Wisconsin and Holocene.

Soil-geomorphic surface relations in the Laclede County area show a high proportion of Alfisols on the older surfaces and Ultisols on the younger valley slope surfaces. This is an anomalous relationship, normally Ultisols would be expected on the oldest surfaces. There is a progressive increase in number of soil mapping units from older to younger surfaces. This is due to the incomplete removal of old surface and weathering zonations by the erosion that cut the younger surface. Soil-surface relations are different in Houston county. Ultisols are predominant on all surfaces. But, the number of map units increases from older to younger across the upland surface sequence.

Erling E. Gamble
Soil Scientist
Soils Staff

Brackenridge, G.R., 1981. Late Quaternary flood plain sedimentation along the Pomme de Terre river, southern Missouri. Quaternary Reserch; 15:62-72

Gamble, E.E. and M.J. Mausbach, 1982. Summary Report Missouri Ozarks Soil-Geomorphic Study. Laclede County NSSL Project CP 81-MO-028, Soils Staff and NSSL, MNTC, SCS, USDA, Lincoln, NE.

Editor's Note -

The preceding article by Erling E. Gamble appeared in the spring 1988 (vol. #33) issue of The Probauger and was re-submitted for our review by Dave Skaer. Dave has been very good about finding relevant articles from the past for inclusion in the present and I much appreciate his efforts.

The entire report is entitled Geomorphic Study in the Upper Gasconade River Basin, Laclede and Texas Counties, Missouri, Soil Survey Inyestigations Report No. 43. The National Soil Survey Center in Lincoln, Nebraska may be contacted for the availability of this report.

The following is a riddle. There IS a correct answer. This is not a trick riddle. The instructions are clear, and there are no hidden clues or tricks.

The Cabool Soil Survey Crew has to cross a bridge. They all begin on the SAME side. You~have 17 minutes to get all of them across to the OTHER side. They all must be together on the OTHER side of the bridge at the end of the 17 minutes.

It is night. There is one flashlight. A MAXIMUM of 2 people can cross one time. Any party who crosses, either 1 or 2 people, must have the flashlight with them. The flashlight must be WALKED back and forth, it cannot be thrown, etc. Each man walks at a different speed (reality at Cabool) . A pair must walk together at the rate of the SLOWER man's pace.

Sid Vander Veen - 1 minute to cross
Mike Moore - 2 minutes to cross
Robert Rouse - 5 minutes to cross
Scott Paine - 10 minutes to cross (gets distracted easily)

For example, if Sid and Scott walk across first, 10 minutes have elapsed when they get to the OTHER side of the bridge. If Scott returns with the flashlight, a total of 20 minutes have passed and you have failed the mission.

Good Luck. I didn't get it. My 10 year old daughter took 10 minutes to figure it out. If you can't figure this out, let me know and I will ask her again. -JP-

UPDATE
Answer:
Sid and Mike cross first = 2 minutes: elapsed time 2 minutes
Sid takes light back accros = 1 minute: elapsed time 3 minutes
Robert and Scott cross next = 10 minutes: elampsed time 13 minutes
Mike takes the light back = 2 minutes: elapsed time 15 minutes
Mike and Sid cross again = 2 minutes: elapsed time 17 mintes
by Jeremy Monroe

The following letter was written by Mike Burney expressing his concerns about the "new way" of authoring soil survey manuscripts. Mike met with all the "fieldless project coordinators" and the state office soils staff and he aired all his concerns. Some off his concerns have been corrected, the others explained (you win some and you lose some). Ken Benham suggested that this letter (with Mike's permission which he freely gave) be published in an effort to encourage others who have concerns about any new method, etc., to bring them to the attention of others for explanation of the methods or correction. Things can't get better if the problem is not known!

Dennis Potter
Soil Scientist, Liaison
Columbia, Mo.

1) Not being able to clarify what similar soils are.
(e.g. Some areas have more clay in the subsoil)
2) Not having any explanation or recommendation for the restrictions of specific map units found in tables.
(These are supposedly hidden somewhere in the Use and Management section and are very general to say the least)
3) The same typical profile is used for every map unit that has the same series name.

"The purpose of the soil survey manuscript...is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to those who make decisions about soil use." (NSSH p644-1) The heart of facilitation, or simplifying, this "transfer of knowledge" for the non-soil scientist is best accomplished through three areas that are either left out or reduced to almost nothing in the Polk County manuscript. A user can't in reality use the tables for planning purposes if he doesn't understand what a soil map unit is. And to have any hope of the user grasping the concept of a map unit he needs to know the following:

1) What a map unit is composed of and its potentials and limitations. (as discussed above)
2) How a map unit fits in the landscape (through the use of block diagrams the user can see the geology, the associated map units and landscape position)
3) Where the map unit fits in the county. (the general soils map can help the user related broad areas of the county to a map unit)

According to part 644 of the NSSH everything I've discussed above can and should be part of a soil survey manuscript. For example exhibit M-1 (p644-66, NSSH) includes a minor components and use and management section. These sections, as I understood it, could not be part of the manuscript for Polk County. And, for reasons I still don't understand, neither could the block diagrams, soil associations or a general soils map.

I've talked to you many times over the years about how '01' doesn't understand the difference between a map unit and a series, I know I was there once. If you take out parts of the manuscript that show a map unit isn't just another name for series, you may have made a computer friendly product but, you've deceived the user about what is really inside the circle drawn on the aerial photo.

The above, as you know, are just my opinions seen from my limited vantage point. However, with the emergencies of the 'fieldless' project coordinator/supervisor my input is minimal at best. And though I've discuss the above with Tom many times over the months, I felt that, after seeing the Polk County manuscript and knowing Dade and Cedar would contain the same lack of information, that I would cry in a differnt direction. The time to print a useful product is now and "this ain't it".

Sincerely,

Mike Burney
USDA-NRCS Soil Scientist

CC: Tom DeWitt, Soil Scientist, Project Coordinator
Richard Tummons, Soil Scientist
Bob Howe, District Conservationist (Team Leader)