Figure 18.4 Serpentine soils. In areas where serpentine rocks emerge to the soil surface, the soils contain low concentrations of nutrients and high concentrations of metals such as nickel, chromium, and magnesium. At this site in northern California, the forest abruptly ends where the serpentine soils begin because the trees are not able to survive in the serpentine soils.
Photo by Julie Kierstead Nelson.