1994-10-19_PERMIT FILE - M1994093

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I ' SOILS DESCRIPTION ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO TERRACE ESCARPMENTS (Tc) occur as breaks or steep side slopes adjacent to the channels of present or former streams. They also occur as the steep faces of terraces that border bottomlands and flood plains. This land type consists of alluvium of variable materials and is very shallow over gravel and sand. These materials have a loamy sand • or sandy loam surface layer. In many areas this layer is 50 to 20 percent gravel . Shale and sandstone outcrops are in some areas. Included in mapping are very small areas of a Vona loamy sand, a Vona sandy loam, and a Dacono loam, all good soils for farming. The surface layer varies in reaction from place to place and in places is calcareous. Slopes differ widely within short distances and • range from 1 to 80 per cent. Some areas are used for grazing , but the soils are too steep , too shallow, or too unstable for cultivation or good grass management. Much of this land type is rapidly being mined for sand and gravel , and thereafter is not usable for farming. Such areas are used as a dumping ground or are back filled with better soil material in places. Many areas of this land type are well suited to housing or industrial developments or highway location . Prior to use for these purposes , however , the stability of the soils should be determined because of slope or lack of binder soil particles. The soils normally have good bearing capacity for foundations , low shrink-swell properties , good natural drainage, and a low hazard of hydrolysis for • buried metal pipe . Open ditches for transporting water are not suited because of rapid seepage. In some areas lawns and garden would have to be built up , using better soil materials from other areas. In some areas , old gravel pits have been used as dump areas , then packed and filled with outside soil materials , and then , developed for homesites. Capability unit VIIe-3 , nonirrigated; Gravel Breaks range site; tree planting suitability group 4 . SOIL SURVEY OF ADAtIS COUNTY, COLORADO; USDA, Soil Conservation Service in cooperation with Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station October 1974 .