General Information: Soils

The difference between dirt and soil can best be explained as follows: if you track soil onto a carpet then it is called dirt. There is an entire science devoted to the study of soils and its’ practitioners get upset when you call what they study “dirt”. There are six different soils found in the area of the trail. You may want to contact the Soil Conservation Service to see the Soil Survey of Somerset County, New Jersey, which contains aerial photographs of the county and information on all the soils.

Loam is a mixture of particle sizes and organic material.

Some soils experts, who may well be half a bubble off, are known to put a little soil between their front teeth to see if it feels gritty. If it does it is silt if not it is clay. Bridgewater Township does not recommend anyone taste dirt (sorry-soil).