This profile illustrates the typical morphology associated with soils formed under grassland vegetation in the central Great Plains region. The thick, dark A horizon has developed as a result of the proliferation and subsequent decompostion of fine and very fine roots. This process is known as melanization.

Mean annual precipitation is ~22", and secondary carbonates are clearly visible as the white nodules in the subsoil. Secondary carbonates are those that have been translocated in the profile and re-precipitated in discrete forms such as nodules, concretions, masses, and coatings on ped faces and pore linings. As CaCO3 has been leached from the upper part of the soil, clay movement and accumulation has resulted in the formation of an argillic Bt horizon.

(scale is in feet)