Soil texture is the percent sand, silt and clay in any given sample. It describes how gritty, smooth or sticky the soil is…
We will practice this a lot in the field, but on the exam you will need to know how to describe each of the textural classes. Below is the most common terminology:
SAND: Will not form a ball or a ribbon; very gritty.
LOAMY SAND: Will form a weak ball, but no ribbon; very gritty.
SANDY LOAM: Will form a weak ribbon (< 1”); very gritty.
LOAM: Will form a weak (<1”) ribbon; intermediate (some) grittiness.
SILT LOAM: Will form a weak (<1”) ribbon; very smooth (little grit).
SANDY CLAY LOAM: Will form a moderate (1-2”) ribbon; very gritty.
CLAY LOAM: Will form a moderate (1-2”) ribbon; intermediate (some) grittiness.
SILTY CLAY LOAM: Will form a moderate ribbon (1-2”); very smooth (little grit).
CLAY: Will form a strong ribbon (>2”); very plastic; can make little animals out of it, etc.
*Technically SANDY CLAY and SILTY CLAY also exist but we will not cover them in this class.
| VERY GRITTY | INTERMEDIATE | VERY SMOOTH | |
| NO RIBBON | sand / loamy sand | X | X |
| <1” RIBBON | sandy loam | loam | silt loam |
| 1-2” RIBBON | sandy clay loam | clay loam | silty clay loam |
| >2” RIBBON | [sandy] clay | clay | [silty] clay |