Soil Data Explorer - BLUE STAR

Official Series Description

Lab Data Summary

Aggregate lab data for the BLUE STAR soil series. This aggregation is based on all pedons with a current taxon name of BLUE STAR, and applied along 1-cm thick depth slices. Solid lines are the slice-wise median, bounded on either side by the interval defined by the slice-wise 5th and 95th percentiles. The median is the value that splits the data in half. Five percent of the data are less than the 5th percentile, and five percent of the data are greater than the 95th percentile. Values along the right hand side y-axis describe the proportion of pedon data that contribute to aggregate values at this depth. For example, a value of "90%" at 25cm means that 90% of the pedons correlated to BLUE STAR were used in the calculation. Source: KSSL snapshot (updated 2020-03-18). Methods used to assemble the KSSL snapshot used by SoilWeb / SDE

There are insufficient data to create the lab data summary figure.

Water Balance

Monthly water balance estimated using a leaky-bucket style model for the BLUE STAR soil series. Monthly precipitation (PPT) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) have been estimated from the 50th percentile of gridded values (PRISM 1981-2010) overlapping with the extent of SSURGO map units containing each series as a major component. Monthly PET values were estimated using the method of Thornthwaite (1948). These (and other) climatic parameters are calculated with each SSURGO refresh and provided by the fetchOSD function of the soilDB package. Representative water storage values (“AWC” in the figures) were derived from SSURGO by taking the 50th percentile of profile-total water storage (sum[awc_r * horizon thickness]) for each soil series. Note that this representation of “water storage” is based on the average ability of most plants to extract soil water between 15 bar (“permanent wilting point”) and 1/3 bar (“field capacity”) matric potential. Soil moisture state can be roughly interpreted as “dry” when storage is depleted, “moist” when storage is between 0mm and AWC, and “wet” when there is a surplus. Clearly there are a lot of assumptions baked into this kind of monthly water balance. This is still a work in progress.

Sibling Summary

Siblings are those soil series that occur together in map units, in this case with the BLUE STAR series. Sketches are arranged according to their subgroup-level taxonomic structure. Source: SSURGO snapshot (updated 2024-02-21), parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-06) and snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the BLUE STAR series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the BLUE STAR series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Small Shannon entropy values suggest relatively consistent geomorphic association, while larger values suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

Competing Series

Soil series competing with BLUE STAR share the same family level classification in Soil Taxonomy. Source: parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-06) and snapshot of the SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the BLUE STAR series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the BLUE STAR series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Shannon entropy values close to 0 represent soil series with relatively consistent geomorphic association, while values close to 1 suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D mountains figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Soil series sharing subgroup-level classification with BLUE STAR, arranged according to family differentiae. Hovering over a series name will print full classification and a small sketch from the OSD. Source: snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Block Diagrams

No block diagrams are available.

Map Units

Map units containing BLUE STAR as a major component. Limited to 250 records.

Map Unit Name	Symbol	Map Unit Area (ac)	Map Unit Key	National Map Unit Symbol	Soil Survey Area	Publication Date	Map Scale
Blue Star gravelly loam, 6 to 20 percent slopes	BgE	2566	481334	j4vx	ut602	1969	1:20000
Blue Star association, steep	BLG	857	481324	j4vl	ut602	1969	1:20000
Blue Star gravelly loam, gravelly subsoil variant, 6 to 10 percent slopes	BhD	784	481335	j4vy	ut602	1969	1:20000
Woodrow, slightly saline-Blue Star complex, 0 to 5 percent slopes	115	1216	2220438	2djk1	ut626		1:24000
Blue Star-Ushar complex, 2 to 5 percent slopes	170	625	2220492	2djls	ut626		1:24000
Blackett-Blue Star association, 3 to 20 percent slopes	208	65	2220513	2djmg	ut626		1:24000
Blue Star cobbly sandy loam, 3 to 10 percent slopes	203	24	2220508	2djm9	ut626		1:24000
Blue Star cobbly sandy loam, 3 to 10 percent slopes	BSD	3460	484568	j877	ut640	1967	1:20000
Blackett-Blue Star association, 3 to 20 percent slopes	BLE	1600	484565	j874	ut640	1967	1:20000
Snake Hollow-Blue Star association, 3 to 10 percent slopes	SOD	955	484695	j8cb	ut640	1967	1:20000
Blue Star-Donnardo, very stony families, complex, 2 to 15 percent slopes	115		581641	mj7m	ut649		1:24000

Map of Series Extent

Approximate geographic distribution of the BLUE STAR soil series. To learn more about how this distribution was mapped, or to compare this soil series extent to others, use the Series Extent Explorer (SEE) application. Source: generalization of SSURGO geometry (updated 2023-10-04).