Soil of the Ridge and Valley Province

A strong difference exists between soils formed on carbonate-rich rocks in valleys and those developed on siliciclastic rocks on ridges. Ultisols,which include Hapludults, Paleudults, and Fragiudults, dominate in the valleys underlain by carbonate and shale bedrock. Northeast of Knoxville, however, where sandstone ridges are more common, Inceptisols,which include Dystrochrepts and Haplumbrepts, dominate on the ridges. Rockland is another common mapping unit on these ridges (Buol, 1973; Clark et al, 1989).