HomeSoil seriesPacolet
Pacolet soil series
Pacolet soils cover 3,013,442 mapped acres, mostly in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. USDA rates shrink-swell a limit for houses without basements on 0% of that land, and a shallow water table a limit for basements on 0%.
It is the leading soil series by area in 20 of the counties and cities on this site, including Harris County, GA; Talbot County, GA; Pickens County, SC.
SSURGO survey versions to August 5, 2026 · series description revised 2008-08
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 Pacolet series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in residuum weathered mostly from felsic igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont uplands. Slopes commonly are 15 to 25 percent but range from 2 to 60 percent.
Source: USDA NRCS series description (OSD) for Pacolet, revised 2008-08. Read it.
Engineering properties
| Mapped area (SSURGO) | 3,013,442 acres |
| Shrink-swell limits houses without basements | 0.0% |
| Shallow water table limits basements | 0.0% |
| Very limited for septic absorption fields | 47.0% |
| Most common drainage class | Well drained |
| Most common hydrologic soil group | B |
| Taxonomic class | Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults |
| Type location | Chester County, South Carolina |
Where Pacolet is mapped
| State | Mapped acres |
|---|---|
| Georgia | 1,247,639 |
| North Carolina | 763,371 |
| South Carolina | 679,307 |
| Alabama | 207,545 |
| Virginia | 115,579 |
Places where Pacolet leads
Counties and cities where Pacolet covers more mapped land than any other series.
Other places where Pacolet is a main soil
Counties and cities where Pacolet is among the six soil series covering the most mapped land, but not the first. Share of the place's mapped land.
Counties
- Jackson County, GA 28%
- Jasper County, GA 27%
- Butts County, GA 24%
- Newton County, GA 22%
- Oglethorpe County, GA 18%
- Barrow County, GA 18%
- Heard County, GA 18%
- Oconee County, SC 17%
- Wilkes County, GA 16%
- Abbeville County, SC 16%
- Clayton County, GA 16%
- Henry County, GA 15%
- Goochland County, VA 15%
- Rowan County, NC 15%
- Banks County, GA 13%
- Anson County, NC 13%
- Lincoln County, GA 12%
- Stephens County, GA 12%
- Troup County, GA 12%
- Greenville County, SC 11%
- Coosa County, AL 11%
- Powhatan County, VA 10%
- Greene County, GA 10%
- Chester County, SC 10%
- Iredell County, NC 9%
- Fairfield County, SC 9%
- York County, SC 9%
- Paulding County, GA 9%
- Gaston County, NC 9%
- Laurens County, SC 8%
- Cherokee County, SC 8%
- Cobb County, GA 8%
- Monroe County, GA 8%
- Catawba County, NC 8%
- Crawford County, GA 7%
- Union County, SC 7%
- Spartanburg County, SC 7%
- Greenwood County, SC 7%
- Newberry County, SC 7%
- Coweta County, GA 6%
- Franklin County, GA 6%
- Elbert County, GA 6%
- Lancaster County, SC 5%
- Walton County, GA 5%
- Hanover County, VA 5%
- Anderson County, SC 5%
- Brunswick County, VA 5%
- Pike County, GA 5%
- Fulton County, GA 3%
- Spalding County, GA 3%
- Fayette County, GA 3%
- Morgan County, GA 3%
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.