Bama Soil Series

The Bama soil series is Alabama's official state soil. It sits on high terraces and uplands along major river systems in the Southern Coastal Plain — level to gently sloping land that is well drained and easy to farm.

Bama soil is very deep, which means plant roots can grow far down without hitting rock or hardpan. That depth, combined with good drainage, makes it one of the most productive soils in Alabama.

The push to name an official state soil started in 1996 with the Professional Soil Classifiers Association of Alabama. The group included soil scientists from Auburn University, Alabama A&M University, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, and private consultants.

They evaluated every major soil series in Alabama using five criteria: how much land it covers, how productive it is, how distinctive it looks, how well known its name is, and how many different uses it supports. The Bama series came out on top.

The Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee and the Alabama Association of Conservation Districts both added their support. The Alabama Legislature officially designated the Bama series as the state soil on April 22, 1997.

Bama soil has four main layers called horizons. Each horizon has a different color, texture, and role. The most striking feature is the deep red subsoil — that color comes from iron oxides that built up over thousands of years of weathering.

Bama soil covers more than 360,000 acres across 26 Alabama counties, mainly in the western and central parts of the state. It sits on high stream terraces that run alongside major river systems — the same rivers shown on Alabama's state seal.

Near Tuscaloosa alone, there are almost 40,000 acres of Bama soil. The series also appears in small areas of Florida, Mississippi, and Virginia, but Alabama has by far the largest concentration.

No single soil series covers all 67 Alabama counties — the state has too many different geographic regions for that. Bama was chosen because it best represents Alabama's dominant landscape: the flat, well-drained uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain.

Bama soil supports cultivated crops, pasture, hay, woodland, and most urban uses. The main crops are cotton and corn. Farmers also grow soybeans, wheat, and pecans.

Cotton has the deepest connection to this soil. For most of Alabama's history, the Coastal Plain uplands where Bama soil sits were the heart of the state's cotton economy. The soil's depth and drainage made it reliable farmland even in years of heavy rainfall.

Where land is not farmed, Bama soil supports stands of longleaf pine, loblolly pine, and slash pine, with scattered oak, sweetgum, hickory, and dogwood — the same forest types that covered much of Alabama before European settlement.