Chapter 11: The Agricultural Core

In the chapter covering the Agricultural Core, an important factor in this region’s ability to provide the country with much of its produce is its soil type, including alfisols, mollisols and alluvial soils.  In Mobile, located in the outer belt of the Coastal Plain, also called the Timber Belt, the soil is sandy and poor, but responds well to fertilization.  The majority of the soil in the coastal plains of Alabama comes from marine and fluvial sediments that eroded from the Appalachian and Piedmont plateaus. The subsoil in the coastal plains is either loam or clay and the surface soil is either sandy loam or loam. Smithdale, Luverne and Savannah soils dominate the tipper Coastal Plains, while Dothan and Orangeburg soils dominate the Lower Coastal Plains. 

The Agricultural Core’s natural network of waterways permits easy and inexpensive shipment of farm goods to markets and to the countries’ main international trade ports.  Mobile’s waterways have also been integral to its trading and key location as a port.  The Mobile Delta consists of approximately 20,323 acres of water just north of Mobile Bay. Second only to the Mississippi River Delta in size, the Mobile Delta is an environmental showplace that is 30 miles long and 12 miles wide. It covers more than 200,000 acres of swamps, river bottomlands and marshes. Congress named the Mobile Delta a National Natural Landmark in 1974; fewer than 600 sites have received that honor. The Alabama Environmental Council considers the Delta as one of "Alabama's Ten Natural Wonders." Formed by the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, the Mobile Delta is a complex network of tidally influenced rivers, creeks, bays, lakes, wetlands, and bayous.