Red Clay Soils

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  Since the mid-1800s, the red soils revealed by erosion have been the predominant soil type in the Georgia Piedmont. They consist of kaolinite and halloysite, which are 1:1 aluminosilicate clay minerals and iron oxides. The clays came from the weathering of igneous and metamorphic rocks that are rich in feldspar. The red color is due to the iron oxides. P. W. Mayne and D. A. Brown characterized Georgia Piedmont soil in 2003 as being hard to categorize by the Unified Soil Classification System. They regarded the Piedmont residuum as a dual soil type that shows characteristics of both fine-grained and coarse-grained soils.

12 Soil Orders