Texas Soil Surveys- revised 4/2011

County soil surveys are produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, formerly the Soil Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Single copies of county soil surveys are generally available free of charge from the county offices. Another source of local soils information is the County Agent or Agricultural Extension Service, usually located in the county seat.

Note that some counties have never been surveyed, or have not been surveyed since the early 1900's. The reasons for this may include urbanization and/or difficulties in obtaining access permissions. Some local offices may have revisions in preparation or completed and awaiting approval and budgeting for printing, which is why it may be useful to contact the agencies directly.

A further note is that soil surveys since the early 1950's are produced on an air-photo base. Earlier series of soil surveys do not include the air photography base, and thus may be more difficult to interpret.

The Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL) collection has a complete set of United States soil surveys; the Walter Geology Library has only Texas soil surveys.

Online Resources

Explore Texas Soil Surveys. Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas Libraries' Digital Projects Unit.
<http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/TXSS/browse/>

Library catalog. University of Texas at Austin. Perform searches with keywords such as: soil survey Texas [County name or Place of interest].
<http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/>

Soil Science Society of America. <https://www.soils.org/>

Texas Soil Database. Texas A&M University Soil Characterization Laboratory. <http://soildata.tamu.edu/>

Texas State Library Archives and Commission. Library Catalog of Texas State Agencies. For State and Federal Government documents.
<http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/webcat/index.html>

United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.

• Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory.
  <http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=62-06-00-00>

United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.

• Texas Online Soil Survey Manuscripts. <http://soils.usda.gov/survey/online_surveys/texas/>
• List of Soil Surveys by State. <http://soils.usda.gov/survey/printed_surveys/>
• Keys to Soil Taxonomy. <http://soils.usda.gov/technical/classification/tax_keys/>
• Official Soil Series Descriptions (OSD) with series extent mapping capabilities. <http://soils.usda.gov/technical/classification/osd/>

Explanation by Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection : United States Department of Agriculture Soil Surveys.
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/soil_surveys.html>

Reference Works:

Keys to Soil Taxonomy. 6th ed. 1994. United States. Department of Agriculture, Soil Survey Staff.
S 592.16 U65 1994 Geology Library

Methods of Soil Analysis. 2nd ed. 1982. American Society of Agronomy : Soil Science Society of America.
Geology Library Reference

S 593 M4453 1982 Part 1. Physical and mineralogical methods / Arnold Klute, editor. Agronomy ; no.9, pt.1.
S 593 M4453 1982 Part 2. Chemical and microbiological properties / A.L. Page, editor. Agronomy ; no.9, pt.2.
S 593 M4453 1995 Part 3. Chemical methods / J. M. Bartels, managing editor. Soil Science Society of America book series ; no. 5.
S 593 M4453 1995 Part 4. Physical methods / Jacob H. Dane and G. Clarke Topp, co-editors. Soil Science Society of America book series ; no. 5.
S 593 M4453 1995 Part 5. Mineralogical methods / April L. Ulery and Richard Drees, co-editors. Soil Science Society of America book series ; no. 5.

The Mineralogy and chemistry of High Plains playa lake soils and sediments : project completion report : prepared for Office of Water Resources Research, U.S. Dept. of the Interior. 1972. Allen, Bonnie L. WRC (Texas Tech University. Water Resources Center) ; 72-4.
S 599 T4 M563 Geology Library

Soil Characteristics of Two Locations in Swisher and Deaf Smith Counties, Palo Duro Basin, Texas. 1984. United States. Department of Energy; Battelle Memorial Institute. Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation; NUS Corporation.
S 599 T4 S644 1984 Geology Library

Soil Handbook for Soil Survey of the City of San Marcos, Texas. 1972. Lowther, A. C.
S 599 T4 A5581 1972 Geology Library

Soil Survey Laboratory Data and Descriptions for Some Soils of Texas.1976. United States. Soil Conservation Service. Soil Survey Investigations Report ; no.30.
S 599 T4 U548 1976 Geology Library Reference

Soil taxonomy : a basic system of soil classification for making and interpreting soil surveys. 1975. United States. Soil Conservation Service. Agriculture Handbook (United States. Dept. of Agriculture) ; no.436.
S 590 U468 1975 Geology Library

Type IV cooperative river basin survey, Texas coastal basins : appendix A: soils of the Texas coastal basins, their characteristics, uses, and problems. 1972. United States. Soil Conservation Service.
S 599 T4 U5 1972 Geology Library

Soil Surveys by County : Walter Geology Library

Search in the library catalog by using keywords such as: soil survey Texas [County name or Place of interest].

A keyword search for: soil survey texas travis
Results in: Soil Survey of Travis County, Texas
At this location: S 599 T4 T7 1974 Geology Library, PCL Stacks

Soil surveys may be located in Geology Library, PCL, Center for American History, or other libraries. Please check library catalog for call number and library location.

Texas Soil Surveys by Area or Region and Year:

Texas Soil Surveys by County and Year