Soil Gallery

Photographs (in the attached photomosaic) taken at 18 UT on 12 August 2000, at coordinates 36° 12.94' N Lat 092°17.16' W Long , inside the city limits of Norfork, Arkansas and along the right descending bank (upper levee floodplain) of the North Fork of the White River near its confluence with the White River in North Central Arkansas.

Soil exposed in a 1.3 meter deep dozer cut parallel to roadway (Arkansas Highway 5) and approx 50 feet north of power line along that ROW, adjacent to new construction of resort vacation cabins. A spade was used to support a meter stick to approximate one meter in depth for analysis purposes. A soil characterization sample made of the white material from the 3rd horizon indicated that it was about identical to the other red and yellow components of that strata. Its location and distribution suggest the discoloration to be the result of select leaching of certain minerals by roots from surrounding soil at that depth. Evidence of possible decayed root material in this strata also support this hypothesis. Previous MUC was as agricultural pasture land subsequent to the completion (in 1944) of Norfork Dam which lies approximately five miles upstream.

Surrounding Site Information: Amateur archeological exploration of surrounding bottomland adjacent to this river site has unearthed artifacts such as arrowhead points and partially worked flint implements from as deep as ten feet below existing land surface along the right descending cutbanks of the North Fork of the White River. The left descending side of the river at this site is a bluff extending to the waters edge. The bluff extends all the way (westward) to the mouth of the North Fork of the White River from the vicinity of this site.