HomeSoil seriesGara
Gara soil series
Gara soils cover 1,200,416 mapped acres, mostly in Missouri and Iowa. USDA rates shrink-swell a limit for houses without basements on 65% of that land, and a shallow water table a limit for basements on 5%.
It is the leading soil series by area in 9 of the counties and cities on this site, including Mercer County, MO; Sullivan County, MO; Schuyler County, MO.
SSURGO survey versions to August 5, 2026 · series description revised 2009-04
of its land: shrink-swell limits houses without basements
of its land: a shallow water table limits basements
median highest linear extensibility (6% and up is high)
median highest clay content in the top 150 cm
USDA's description
The Gara series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in till. These soils are on interfluves, side slopes, and nose slopes on dissected uplands. Slope ranges from 5 to 40 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 11 degrees C. Mean annual precipitation is about 915 millimeters.
Source: USDA NRCS series description (OSD) for Gara, revised 2009-04. Read it.
Engineering properties
| Mapped area (SSURGO) | 1,200,416 acres |
| Shrink-swell limits houses without basements | 65.0% |
| Shallow water table limits basements | 4.8% |
| Very limited for septic absorption fields | 99.9% |
| Most common drainage class | Well drained |
| Most common hydrologic soil group | C |
| Taxonomic class | Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Mollic Hapludalfs |
| Type location | Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) 109-Iowa and Missouri Heavy Till Plain, Wayne County, Iowa subset |
Where Gara is mapped
| State | Mapped acres |
|---|---|
| Missouri | 623,232 |
| Iowa | 577,184 |
Places where Gara leads
Counties and cities where Gara covers more mapped land than any other series.
| Place | Share of mapped land |
|---|---|
| Mercer County, MO | 31% |
| Sullivan County, MO | 28% |
| Schuyler County, MO | 23% |
| Putnam County, MO | 18% |
| Ringgold County, IA | 15% |
| Lucas County, IA | 12% |
| Decatur County, IA | 10% |
| Clarke County, IA | 10% |
| Davis County, IA | 9% |
Other places where Gara is a main soil
Counties and cities where Gara is among the six soil series covering the most mapped land, but not the first. Share of the place's mapped land.
Counties
- Adair County, MO 14%
- Scotland County, MO 13%
- Harrison County, MO 12%
- Monroe County, IA 11%
- Worth County, MO 11%
- Grundy County, MO 10%
- Madison County, IA 10%
- Wayne County, IA 8%
- Guthrie County, IA 8%
- Appanoose County, IA 8%
- Warren County, IA 7%
- Clinton County, MO 7%
- Union County, IA 7%
- Poweshiek County, IA 7%
- Gentry County, MO 6%
- Andrew County, MO 6%
- Taylor County, IA 5%
Sources
Shares and properties: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access, weighted by each component's share of its map units. Description: the USDA NRCS series description. How we count.