This GIS package contains a pair of spatial data sets that have been generated for the purpose of studying the physiography of the Des Moines Lobe landform region. One is a surficial geology map of the Des Moines Lobe and surrounding areas. This raster was generated from the USDA-NRCS gSSURGO spatial database. The attributes were extracted from the NRCS official soil series descriptions (OSD), but at times some additional interpretation was needed based on typical soil profile properties and spatial relationships with better-defined soil series. The other data set delineates and divides the Des Moines Lobe by physiographic regions. These regions are based on major moraines denoting surfaces of notably different age as well as important changes in surficial geology and topography. Because of the close relationship between these maps and topography, digital elevation models from the USGS would be complementary to these data sets.
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Miller, B.A., C.L. Burras, W.G. Crumpton. 2008. Using soil surveys to map Quaternary parent materials and landforms across the Des Moines Lobe of Iowa and Minnesota. Soil Survey Horizons 49(4):91-95. doi:10.2136/sh2008.4.0091
Soil Survey Staff. 2014. Official Soil Series Descriptions (OSD). United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. https://soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/osdname.asp
Soil Survey Staff. 2014. Gridded Soil Survey Geographic (gSSURGO). United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov