Suitability of Natural Surface for Roads
National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Resource Mangement and Science and National Park Service: Thomas Colson. 2015. Suitability of Natural Surface for Roads
The ratings in this interpretation indicate the suitability for using the natural surface of the soil for roads. The ratings are based on slope, rock fragments on the surface, plasticity index, content of sand, the Unified classification of the soil, depth to a water table, ponding, flooding, and the hazard of soil slippage. The ratings are both verbal and numerical. The soils are described as "well suited," "moderately suited," or "poorly suited" to this use. "Well suited" indicates that the soil has features that are favorable for the specified kind of roads and has no limitations. Good performance can be expected, and little or no maintenance is needed. "Moderately suited" indicates that the soil has features that are moderately favorable for the specified kind of roads. One or more soil properties are less than desirable, and fair performance can be expected. Some maintenance is needed. "Poorly suited" indicates that the soil has one or more properties that are unfavorable for the specified kind of roads. Overcoming the unfavorable properties requires special design, extra maintenance, and costly alteration. Numerical ratings indicate the severity of individual limitations. The ratings are shown as decimal fractions ranging from 0.01 to 1.00. They indicate gradations between the point at which a soil feature has the greatest negative impact on the specified aspect of forestland management (1.00) and the point at which the soil feature is not a limitation (0.00). The map unit components listed for each map unit in the accompanying Summary by Map Unit table in Web Soil Survey or the Aggregation Report in Soil Data Viewer are determined by the aggregation method chosen. An aggregated rating class is shown for each map unit. The components listed for each map unit are only those that have the same rating class as listed for the map unit. The percent composition of each component in a particular map unit is presented to help the user better understand the percentage of each map unit that has the rating presented. Other components with different ratings may be present in each map unit. The ratings for all components, regardless of the map unit aggregated rating, can be viewed by generating the equivalent report from the Soil Reports tab in Web Soil Survey or from the Soil Data Mart site. Onsite investigation may be needed to validate these interpretations and to confirm the identity of the soil on a given site.
- Type
- Geospatial Dataset
- Authors
- National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Resource Mangement and Science; National Park Service: Thomas Colson
- Date of Issue
- 2015-01-17
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, Blockhouse TN, Blount County, Bryson City NC, Bunches Bald NC, Cades Cove TN, Calderwood TN, Clingmans Dome NC, Cocke County, Cove Creek Gap NC, Dellwood NC, Environment, Fines Creek NC, Fontana Dam NC, Gatlinburg TN, Graham County, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GRSM, Hartford TN, Haywood County, Jones Cove TN, Kinzel Springs TN, Luftee Knob NC, Mount Guyot TN, Mount Le Conte TN, National Standards for Spatial Digital Accuracy (NSSDA), Natural Resource Inventory And Monitoring Program, NC, Noland Creek NC, None, North Carolina, NRIM, Pigeon Forge TN, Richardson Cove TN, road suitability, SERO, Sevier County, Silers Bald NC, Smokemont NC, Soil Survey, Soil Survey Geographic, Soils, Southeast Region, SSURGO, Swain County, Tallassee TN, Tapoco NC, Tennessee, Thunderhead Mountain NC, TN, Tuskeegee NC, U.S., United States, US, USA, Waterville TN, Wear Cove TN, Whittier NC
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Soil Quality | Soil Function and Dynamics