Eastern Massachusetts Digital Soil Survey CD Version 2.0

Digital Soil Data now available from Web Soil Survey

CD Discontinued
Jump to Attribute tables

This CD is not an official or authorized USDA-NRCS soil survey product, for info on official SSURGO soils data click HERE).

To Obtain a Copy of this CD email your inquiry to jimturenne@gmail.com I will reply with information.
Special Note on CD (June 2004): Due to a high demand for this CD, and certain circumstances which require me to distribute this CD on my own expense, there is now a $5.00 charge for the CD to cover postage and cost of blank CD. Digital soil information can be downloaded from MassGIS or the NRCS but attribute data is not provided. Sorry for this change in policy.

This CD was created to provide digital (GIS) soil survey data for Eastern Massachusetts area. It consists of digital soils data for the counties of Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Nantucket, Norfolk, and Suffolk Massachusetts, along with scanned copies of the field map sheets for areas updated in Plymouth County Massachusetts. In addition to the updated Plymouth County mapping, scanned copies of the 1969 Soil Survey of Plymouth County, map unit descriptions from the published soils surveys, along with the entire NEsoil.com web site for off-line viewing

The digital soil data includes soil attribute information to provide interpretive information such as hydric soils, suitability for onsite septic systems, hydrologic soil groups, etc. A field is also added to the attribute table which links soil polygons to the complete map unit descriptions from the published soil reports via the Internet. This attribute data is not usually directly provided with digital soil data, making the digital soil difficult to use for those not familiar with GIS. In addition to the modified soil data the CD also contains MS Access database files for producing interpretive tables for the county soil reports. Other files and programs are also provided (read the CD contents for more information).

Comments and feedback on this CD are welcome. Please note this CD is a personal product created by Jim Turenne to provide digital soils information in a user-friendly format. It is NOT a USDA-NRCS product and was NOT created using government time or equipment.

Introduction:

As of December, 2003 digital soil survey information is available for Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Nantucket, Norfolk, and Suffolk Counties Massachusetts (other counties are also available for other parts of Massachusetts). There are two sources of digital soils information in Massachusetts for use with a Geographic Information System (GIS) program. One source is from the USDA NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (see: http://www.ncgc.nrcs.usda.gov/branch/ssb/products/ssurgo/ for SSURGO information). Another source for digital soil data is from Mass/GIS (http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/soi.htm). If you want to use the soil data with other data in Massachusetts, I recommend getting it from MassGIS. Soil data from Mass/GIS is available by County and is projected in Massachusetts State Plane, NAD 83 coordinates.

The folder called "Sesoil" on this CD contains digital soil data for Southeastern Massachusetts. The digitized mapping is the same as the published soil surveys with some minor line and soil map unit changes made to conform to the base map imagery (consult the metadata for complete information - metadata is located in the sesoil/county folder called ma##.met). The development of this CD spans several years and each County may have different data structure and attribute information than what is describe below. All of the digital data on the Arc View project files are in Massachusetts State Plane, NAD 83 coordinate system; some of the Counties also contain the original downloaded SSURGO data in UTM projection (navigate to the county folder to check).

ArcView project files called "sesoilX.apr" (where X is a drive letter such as C or d DRIVE) are located in the main Sesoil folder. To open the ArcView project file double click the sesoilX.apr file that matches your drive letter (for example if you want to run from your CD and your CD drive letter is "D" double click the sesoilD.apr). Once the APR file is running your ArcView project should look like the following:

NOTE: Hydrography (streams) included may not match the hydrography from the published soil survey maps. The hydrography on the CD was clipped from the 25K hydro coverage on the MassGIS dataviewer.

Each county soil survey is set as individual views in the main document window. Opening the view for the county you are interested in will provide the soil polygons, Ad-hoc spot points and lines, and other index coverages. You will notice that the "Hotlink" button is active when the soil theme is active. This feature allows you to link the soil polygons to map unit descriptions, provided you are connected to the Internet. To use this feature make the soil poly theme active, click the "Hot Link" button, then click on a polygon. If this does not work contact me for help.

Making soil interpretive maps:

As mentioned above I modified the original soil polygon attribute table with a join table to provide information to create interpretive maps. In order to view the soil interpretive maps double click the countysoil.shp shape file to open the legend editor. In the "Legend Type" box select "Unique Value", in the "Values Field" navigate to the field you want to create as shown below (explanations of each field is provided below):

You may want to edit the symbols to suit your needs.

Explanations of Soil Attribute Table Fields:

The soil attribute table (barnsoil.dbf, norfsoil.dbf, etc.) contains numerous fields for creating interpretive maps, Some of the fields were developed for specific interpretations in SE Massachusetts, others were taken from the soil interpretation tables from the published soil surveys. The following is an explanation of each field in order of appearance (Note due to the evolution of the soil join table some of the fields may vary from County to County):

MAPUNIT: This field contains the alpha and or alphanumeric map unit symbol used to join with the STATELEG filed of the soil attribute table. The numbers are the soil map units used on our state-wide soil legend. A field called "CODE" has the published alpha map unit symbol such as HfC.

UNITNAME: This field has the soil map unit name from the published soil survey .

DESCRIPT: Quick soil description:

This field lists a brief description of the soil map unit, grouping properties such as depth to watertable, drainage, and other features. The following table describes the fields and provides some information about development potential/limitations:

This rating is designed to show soil ability to deliver household sewage effluent into the soil under the State (Massachusetts) Environmental Code Title V: Minimum Requirements for the Subsurface Disposal of Sanitary Sewage (310 CMR 15.00). The interpretive groups are developed to provide general site characteristics for soil requirements.

This information is intended for general planning purposes only and is not, in any way, intended to replace or supercede an on-site investigation. On-site investigations for siting septic systems by certified soil evaluators are required by Title V.

These classes are designed for the installation of new septic systems for new single-family residences and do not apply to large systems or commercial/industrial systems. These classes are only designed for the soils mapped in Southeastern Massachusetts.

The general requirements relating to soil suitability for onsite sewage disposal systems in Massachusetts are;

• Four feet of naturally occurring (C-horizon) pervious material with percolation rates less than 30 minutes per inch.

• The minimum vertical separation distance of the bottom of the crushed stone underlying the soil absorption system above the seasonal high ground-water level is four feet in soils with a recorded perc rate of more than 2 min/inch and five feet in soils with less than 2 minute/inch perc rates.

Based on this criteria, the onsite sewage disposal classes were developed by grouping soil properties such as depth to seasonal high watertable, permeability, depth to bedrock, type of parent material, and drainage class together. The following table lists the onsite sewage disposal classes (A through I), a brief description of the class, and the relation to the Massachusetts Title V code for siting onsite septic disposal systems within this type of soil.

Dual classes may be assigned to soil complexes such as A/B for map unit 478B-Plymouth-Poquonock complex. The first class (A) is the rating for the Plymouth soil component and the second (B) is the rating for Poquonock soils. Complexes that have the same rating are not assigned dual classes (example: map unit 480 Plymouth-Carver complex, both are class A units).

This theme map shows hydric and non-hydric soil areas. Hydric soils are soils that are saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part. Hydric soils are generally associated with wetlands and are subject to protection under State and Federal laws. Remember; all soil map units may contain inclusions of hydric and non hydric soils, onsite determination is required to delineate wetlands!! Most published soil surveys are mapped at a scale of 1:20,000 to 1:25,000 with minimum delineation's of 5-8 acres in size. In addition to the soil polygons, always check the Ad Hoc spot symbols for the wet spot and the swamp or marsh symbol. These are small wetland areas in an upland soil polygon.

This theme map groups soil map units into a farmland classification scheme developed by the USDA-NRCS.

This theme map groups soil map units according to the parent material (geologic sediments ) the soil formed in. Types of parent material (referred to as the substratum) in Massachusetts soils are broken down into two major categories; glacial deposits and post-glacial deposits. Glacial deposits are mostly of Pleistocene age, and post-glacial deposits are Holocene age. This field may be used for title V soil evaluations (office review of site - page 1 of the log form) in areas where surficial geology maps are not available.

This theme map shows the classification of soil map units according to their hydrologic soil groups.

A hydrologic group is a group of soils having similar runoff potential under similar storm and land cover conditions. Soil properties that influence runoff potential are those that influence the minimum rate of infiltration for a bare soil after prolonged wetting and when not frozen. These properties are depth to a seasonally high water table, intake rate and permeability after prolonged wetting, and depth to a very slowly permeable layer. The influence of ground cover is treated independently.

The soils in the United States are placed into four groups, A, B, C, and D. In the definitions of the classes, infiltration rate is the rate at which water enters the soil at the surface, and is controlled by the surface conditions. Transmission rate is the rate at which water moves in the soil and is controlled by soil properties..

Definitions of the classes are as follows:

A. (Low runoff potential). The soils have a high infiltration rate even when thoroughly wetted. They chiefly consist of deep, well drained to excessively drained sands or gravels. They have a high rate of water transmission.

B. The soils have a moderate infiltration rate when thoroughly wetted. They chiefly are moderately deep to deep, moderately well drained to well drained soils that have moderately fine to moderately coarse textures. They have a moderate rate of water transmission.

C. The soils have a slow infiltration rate when thoroughly wetted. They chiefly have a layer that impedes downward movement of water or have moderately fine to fine texture. They have a slow rate of water transmission.

D. (High runoff potential). The soils have a very slow infiltration rate when thoroughly wetted. They chiefly consist of clay soils that have a high swelling potential, soils that have a permanent high water table, soils that have a claypan or clay layer at or near the surface, and shallow soils over nearly impervious material. They have a very slow rate of water transmission.

1. Dual classes such as B/A/C are assigned to soil map unit complexes such as unit 490C: Barnstable-Plymouth-Nantucket complex, rolling. This map unit consists of 3 components -Barnstable soils (hydro group B), Plymouth soils (hydro group A), and Nantucket soils (hydro group C). Refer to the soil map unit description for more information. Bedrock controlled areas are also grouped with dual classes for the Hollis soil series which has a dual group of C/D. The C is used if the underlying bedrock is fractured, D is used if the rock is not fractured.

This field contains the Internet URL used to link the map unit polygon with the soil map unit description. See the directions above on using the Link_URL script to link the polygons.

The following fields are not available on all county views.

This field provides the USDA soil texture class of the surface soil horizon. The letters are abbreviations for each soil texture class such as FSL for fine sandy loam.

This field lists the potential frost action of the soil. Frost action is the likelihood of upward or lateral expansion of the soil caused by the formation of segregated ice lenses (frost heave) and the subsequent collapse of the soil and loss of strength on thawing. Frost action occurs when moisture moves into the freezing zone of the soil. Temperature, texture, density, permeability, content of organic matter, and depth to the water table are the most important factors considered in evaluating the potential for frost action. It is assumed that the soil is not insulated by vegetation or snow and is not artificially drained. Silty and highly structured clayey soils that have a high water table in winter are the most susceptible to frost action. Well drained, very gravelly, or very sandy soils are the least susceptible. Frost heave and low soil strength during thawing cause damage mainly to pavements and other rigid structures.

This field provides the USDA soil drainage class. The following is a description of each drainage class:

Drainage class (natural): Refers to the frequency and duration of periods of saturation or partial saturation during soil formation, as opposed to altered drainage, which is commonly the result of artificial drainage or irrigation but may be caused by the sudden deepening of channels or the blocking of drainage outlets. Seven classes of natural soil drainage are recognized:

ED - Excessively drained: Water is removed from the soil very rapidly. Excessively drained soils are commonly very coarse textured, rocky, or shallow. Some are steep. All are free of the mottling related to wetness.

SWED - Somewhat excessively drained: Water is removed from the soil rapidly. Many somewhat excessively drained soils are sandy and rapidly pervious. Some are shallow. Some are so steep that much of the water they receive is lost as runoff. All are free of the mottling related to wetness.

MW - Moderately well drained: Water is removed from the soil somewhat slowly during some periods. Moderately well drained soils are wet for only a short time during the growing season, but periodically they are wet long enough that most mesophytic crops are affected. They commonly have a slowly pervious layer within or directly below the solum, or periodically receive high rainfall, or both.

PD - Poorly drained: Water is removed so slowly that the soil is saturated periodically during the growing season or remains wet for long periods. Free water is commonly at or near the surface for long enough during the growing season that most mesophytic crops cannot be grown unless the soil is artificially drained. The soil is not continuously saturated in layers directly below plow depth. Poor drainage results from a high water table, a slowly pervious layer within the profile, seepage, nearly continuous rainfall, or a combination of these.

VP - Very poorly drained: Water is removed from the soil so slowly that free water remains at or on the surface during most of the growing season. Unless the soil is artificially drained, most mesophytic crops cannot be grown. Very poorly drained soils are commonly level or depressed and are frequently ponded. Yet, where rainfall is high and nearly continuous, they can have moderate or high slope gradients.

This field lists weather the soil map unit is hydric or not hydric, see the field HYDRIC above for more information. Y means the soil is hydric, N means it is not hydric. Remember; all soil map units may contain inclusions of hydric and non hydric soils, onsite determination is required to delineate wetlands!! Most published soil surveys are mapped at a scale of 1:20,000 to 1:25,000 with minimum delineation's of 5-8 acres in size.

CORCON and CORSTEEL:

This field lists the soils risk of corrosion of concrete (CORCON) and Steel (CORSTEEL).

Risk of corrosion pertains to potential soil-induced electrochemical or chemical action that dissolves or weakens uncoated steel or concrete. The rate of corrosion of uncoated steel is related to such factors as soil moisture, particle-size distribution, acidity, and electrical conductivity of the soil. The rate of corrosion of concrete is based mainly on the sulfate and sodium content, texture, moisture content, and acidity of the soil. Special site examination and design may be needed if the combination of factors creates a severe corrosion environment. The steel in installations that intersect soil boundaries or soil layers is more susceptible to corrosion than steel in installations that are entirely within one kind of soil or within one soil layer. For uncoated steel, the risk of corrosion, expressed as low, moderate, or high, is based on soil drainage class, total acidity, electrical resistivity near field capacity, and electrical conductivity of the saturation extract. For concrete, the risk of corrosion is also expressed as low, moderate, or high . It is based on soil texture, acidity, and amount of sulfates in the saturation extract.

This field provides the Land Capability Classification. Land capability classification shows, in a general way, the suitability of soils for most kinds of field crops. Crops that require special management are excluded. The soils are grouped according to their limitations for field crops, the risk of damage if they are used for crops, and the way they respond to management. The criteria used in grouping the soils do not include major and generally expensive landforming that would change slope, depth, or other characteristics of the soils, nor do they include possible but unlikely major reclamation projects. Capability classification is not a substitute for interpretations designed to show suitability and limitations of groups of soils for rangeland, for woodland, and for engineering purposes. In the capability system, soils are generally grouped at three levels: capability class, subclass, and unit. Only class and subclass are used in this survey. These levels are defined in the following paragraphs.

Capability classes, the broadest groups, are designated by Roman numerals I through VIII. The numerals indicate progressively greater limitations and narrower choices for practical use. The classes are defined as follows:

SUBCLAS: Capability subclasses are soil groups within one class. They are designated by adding a small letter, e, w, s, or c, to the class numeral, for example, IIe. The letter e shows that the main limitation is risk of erosion unless close-growing plant cover is maintained; w shows that water in or on the soil interferes with plant growth or cultivation (in some soils the wetness can be partly corrected by artificial drainage); s shows that the soil is limited mainly because it is shallow, droughty, or stony; and c, used in only some parts of the United States, shows that the chief limitation is climate that is very cold or very dry.In class I there are no subclasses because the soils of this class have few limitations. Class V contains only the subclasses indicated by w, s, or c because the soils in class V are subject to little or no erosion. They have other limitations that restrict their use to pasture, rangeland, woodland, wildlife habitat, or recreation. Capability units are soil groups within a subclass. The soils in a capability unit are enough alike to be suited to the same crops and pasture plants, to require similar management, and to have similar productivity. Capability units are generally designated by adding an Arabic numeral to the subclass symbol, for example, IIe-4 or IIIe-6.

The folder called "Sesoil" on this CD contains digital soil data for eastern Massachusetts. The digitized mapping is the same as the published soil surveys with some minor line and soil map unit changes made to conform to the base map imagery (consult the metadata for complete information - metadata is located in the sesoil/county folder called ma##.met or the .xml file). The development of this CD spans several years and each County may have different data structure and attribute information than what is describe below. All of the digital data on the Arc View project files are in Massachusetts State Plane, NAD 83 coordinate system; data is also available in UTM coordinates from the SSURGO download site: http://www.ncgc.nrcs.usda.gov/branch/ssb/products/ssurgo/.

I also included the free Shareware GIS program called ArcExplorer from ESRI (http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/index.html) in the "programs" subfolder (sesoil/programs/ae2setup.exe) in case you do not have ArcView GIS installed. There is an ArcExplorer project file called "sesoilC.aep" in the root directory to view the digital soils with ArcExplorer.

The following is a list of each file and subfolder content in the "Sesoil" directory on the CD and information about each file and folder:

The root directory (Sesoil) contains two shapefiles (matown and topoindex); an ArcView script called "link_URL.ave" which is used to hotlink soil map units to descriptions via the Internet, and the sesoilX.apr project files and the ArcExplorer file called sesoilc.aep. The file ssurgo_db.pdf is the SSURGO users guide downloaded from the web (http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/ssur_data.html).

The following is a list of files in each subdirectory (information about each soil survey can be found at: http://nesoil.com). The asterisk * implies that there are several file extension with the same name such as .shp, .dbf, etc.:

Barnstable: Contains the soil survey polygon shapefiles (barnsoil.*) along with the Ad-hoc spot symbol point file (barnspot.*). Descriptions of the Ad-hoc spot symbols can be found at: http://nesoil.com/adhoc/index.htm. The metadata for the SSURGO soil data is located on the ma001.met file (open with any text editor).

Bristol: Has two sub-directories for Bristol North and Bristol South. Each directory has the soil and ad-hoc spot symbols data in Mass. State Plane (NAD83). There is also a copy of a Microsoft Access database (Bristol*.MDB) files for generating interpretive reports.

Dukes: Contains the Dukes County soil survey polygons (dukesoil.*) and Ad-hoc spot and line files (dukespotln.* and dukesspotpt.*). There is also a Cov.zip file that contains the original coverages, downloaded form SSURGO (UTM projection, NAD 83), the Shp.zip file has the original shape files in UTM, NAD 83. The metadata for Dukes County is in the ma007.met file.

Essex: Has two subdirectories for Essex North and South. Each directory has the soil and ad-hoc spot symbols data in Mass. State Plane (NAD83). There is also a copy of a Microsoft Access database (essex*.MDB) files for generating interpretive reports.

Nantucket: Contains the soil survey of Nantucket County polygons (nantsoils.*), Ad-hoc points and lines (nantspotln.* and nanspotpt.*). Two zip files have the original coverages (cov.zip) and shapefiles (shp.zip) in UTM, NAD 83 projection. A Microsoft Access database file called Nantucket.mdb file is also included. If you have MS Access 97 you can run this file to generate the interpretive tables included with the soil report. The metadata is located in the ma019.met file.

Norfolk: Contains the Soil Survey of Norfolk and Suffolk Counties Massachusetts (polys, Adhoc points) and the MS Access 97 database file for generating interpretive data. The metadata is located in the norfolksoilsurvey.met file.

Programs: This folder contains the free ArcExplorer program which you may install if you do not have ArcView GIS (Ae2setup.exe). There is also a Microsoft Access database file called Soilsood.mdb, which has interpretive tables for several counties in Massachusetts.

StatsgoSP: This folder contains the State Soil Geographic Map, which I have reprojected in Mass. State Plane NAD 83 coordinates. STATSGO soil maps are for regional planning purposes and NOT intended for detailed planning uses. The Statsgo_db.pdf file is a users guide for STATSGO data. I also provided the original doc.zip, ma.zip, and spatial.zip files downloaded form the STATSGO web page (http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/stat_data.html).

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