Soils

Spring beauty blooms in red soil.

NPS Photo

The two major geologic units of the battlefield – siltstone and diabase – greatly influence soil development, texture, and chemistry.

In general, soils weathered from diabase are loamy, rich in clay minerals, and tend to have well developed subsoil hardpans that limit permeability. They also have significantly higher pH, calcium, magnesium, and manganese concentrations, along with significantly lower iron concentrations, than soils weathered from siltstone. Basic oak-hickory forest grows in diabase soils primarily on the west side of the park.

Although a few of the siltstone soils have moderate clay subsoils, most have silty upper horizons and loamy subsoils with good drainage. Most residual upland soils weathered from siltstone are strongly to extremely acidic, with relatively low base cation concentrations (except iron), which favors the growth of white oak forests. However, below the limit of surface leaching, calcareous soil material may be abundant and is frequently exposed on steep slopes and bluffs undercut by streams.

The soil survey for Prince William County (Elder 1989) indicates that approximately 79% of soils in the park are derived from siltstone or metasiltstone, with the remainder weathered from diabase (19%) or from alluvium (2%). The most common soil types, covering more than 40% of the park, belong to the arcola and nestoria series. These soils are moderately deep to shallow, well-drained silt loams with gravelly silt loam subsoils.

 

References

Fleming, G.P. and J.T. Weber. 2003. Inventory, classification, and map of forested ecological communities at Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia. Natural Heritage Tech. Rep. 03-7. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond. Unpublished report submitted to the National Park Service. 101 pp. plus appendix.

Elder, J.H. 1989. Soil survey of Prince William County, Virginia. U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service in cooperation with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 245 pp. plus maps.

 

Información en español

Los suelos
 

Las dos principales unidades geológicas del campo de batalla (Silestone y diabasa) influyen grandemente química, textura y desarrollo del suelo. En general, resistidos de diabasa suelos son arcillosos, ricos en minerales de la arcilla y Tilting un bien han desarrollado barreno subsuelo limitan la permeabilidad. Además, tienen significativamente mayor pH, calcio, magnesio y manganeso concentraciones, junto con concentraciones significativamente más bajas de hierro, soportó los suelos de Silestone.Aunque algunos de estos últimos tienen subsuelos arcilla moderada, la mayoría tienen horizontes superiores limosas y subsuelos arcillosos con buen drenaje. Soportó la mayoría de suelos residuales de las tierras altas de Silestone son fuertemente o extremadamente ácida, con concentraciones relativamente bajas (excepto el hierro). Sin embargo, por debajo del límite de la lixiviación de superficie, material calcáreo del suelo puede ser abundante y se expone con frecuencia en las laderas escarpadas y bluffs socavado por las corrientes. El estudio de suelos para Prince William County (Elder 1989) indica que aproximadamente el 79% de los suelos en el parque se derivan de Silestone o metasiltstone, con el resto resistido de diabasa (19%) o de aluvión (2%). Los tipos más comunes de suelo, cubriendo más del 40% del parque, pertenecen a la serie Arcola y Nestoria. Estos suelos son moderadamente profundos con sedimentos superficiales, bien drenados con franco limoso de grava subsuelos.