Soil Data Explorer - COURSEY

Official Series Description

Lab Data Summary

Aggregate lab data for the COURSEY soil series. This aggregation is based on all pedons with a current taxon name of COURSEY, 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 COURSEY were used in the calculation. Source: KSSL snapshot (updated 2020-03-18). Methods used to assemble the KSSL snapshot used by SoilWeb / SDE

Pedons used in the lab summary:

MLRA	Lab ID	Pedon ID	Taxonname	CI	NSSL / NASIS Reports	Link To SoilWeb GMap
128	95P0086	94VA167007	Coursey	6	Primary | Supplementary | Taxonomy | Pedon | Water Retention | Correlation | Andic Soil Properties	36.7366104,-82.3233643

Water Balance

Monthly water balance estimated using a leaky-bucket style model for the COURSEY 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 COURSEY 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 COURSEY 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 COURSEY 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).

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

Competing Series

Soil series competing with COURSEY 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 COURSEY 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 COURSEY 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 hills figure.

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 COURSEY, 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

Click a link below to display the diagram. Note that these diagrams may be from multiple survey areas.

1. VA-2010-11-05-29 | Rockbridge County -

   Generalized diagram of a sequence of landforms along a river system underlain by shale bedrock in the western part of Rockbridge County. The soils named on the land surface are shown in their natural relationship to each other and in their relationship to parent material and landform position (Soil Survey of Rockbridge County, Virginia).

Map Units

Map units containing COURSEY 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
Coursey-Ogles-Shelocta complex	14B	2096	834336	x062	va005	2003	1:24000
Coursey silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, rarely flooded	13A	289	834335	x061	va005	2003	1:24000
Coursey silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, rarely flooded	11A	2572	1451402	1kq9f	va017	2005	1:24000
Coursey loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes, rarely flooded	13B	602	2481031	2p8q8	va045	2010	1:24000
Coursey loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, rarely flooded	13A	305	2481030	2p8q7	va045	2010	1:24000
Coursey silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, rarely flooded	10A	1491	2512032	2q7vc	va091	2010	1:24000
Coursey loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes	13B	1304	2514741	2q9l8	va163	2010	1:24000
Coursey loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, rarely flooded	12A	552	2514740	2q9l7	va163	2010	1:24000
Coursey loam, 2 to 7 percent slopes	14B	3698	520698	kgtq	va171	1988	1:15840
Coursey loam, 7 to 15 percent slopes	14C	1028	520699	kgtr	va171	1988	1:15840
Coursey loam, 2 to 7 percent slopes	17B	333	522099	kj8x	va185	1996	1:24000

Map of Series Extent

Approximate geographic distribution of the COURSEY 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).