LOCATION BRATTON OHEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Bratton silt loam - on a 4 percent convex slope on a ridgetop in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam, very pale brown (10YR 7/4) dry; weak medium and fine granular structure; friable; common fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--8 to 13 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few faint dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; medium acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
2Bt2--13 to 21 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) silty clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; common faint yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; few dark soft accumulations (iron and manganese oxides); medium acid; clear wavy boundary.
2Bt3--21 to 28 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; many faint yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay films on faces of peds; common dark soft accumulations (iron and manganese oxides); strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
2Bt4--28 to 33 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; common faint strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay films on faces of peds; common soft dark accumulations (iron and manganese oxides); strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of the 2Bt horizons is 8 to 26 inches.)
2C--33 to 35 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) and light reddish brown (2.5YR 6/4) sandy loam; massive; friable; strong effervescence; mildly alkaline; clear irregular boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
2R--35 inches; hard limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Adams County, Ohio; Tiffin Township; about 5 miles east of West Union; 3035 feet east of junction of County Road 5 and County Road 26, along County Road 5 then 130 feet north.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The thickness of the loess capping ranges from 10 to 22 inches. Fragments of chert or limestone typically are less than 5 percent in the solum but range from 0 to 20 percent in the C horizon.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 (6 or 7 dry), and chroma of 2 to 4. Some pedons have an A horizon 1 to 4 inches thick that has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. The Ap horizon or A horizon is silt loam, except on eroded areas that range to silty clay loam. It is neutral to medium acid.
Some pedons have a BE or BA horizon that is silt loam or silty clay loam. It is slightly acid or medium acid.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is silt loam or silty clay loam. It is slightly acid to strongly acid.
The 2Bt horizon commonly has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. Subhorizons range to hue of 7.5YR. The 2Bt horizon is clay or silty clay. It is medium acid or strongly acid in the upper part and strongly acid to neutral in the lower part. Some pedons have BC horizons that range to mildly alkaline.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 2.5YR; value of 5 to 7; and chroma of 3 to 8. It is sandy loam, loamy sand, or their gravelly or channery analogs. It is mildly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
Bedrock is hard limestone or dolomite.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Beasley, Bland, Bledsoe, Bonnell, Brashear, Briggsville, Brookside, Bucklick, Caneyville, Chrome, Derinda, Donahue, Eden, Edenton, Elba, Eldean, Estate, Faywood, Fredonia, Gunlock, Hagerstown, Heitt, Jessup, Kewaunee, Lamoille, Losantville, Lowell, Markland, Medary, Miamian, Milton, Newnata, Ozaukee, Shrouts, Upshur, Vandalia, Vincent, Woodsfield, and Wynn series. Beasley, Bledsoe, Bonnell, Brashear, Briggsville, Brookside, Bucklick, Elba, Eldean, Estate, Gunlock, Hagerstown, Heitt, Jessup, Kewaunee, Lamoille, Losantville, Lowell, Markland, Medary, Miamian, Newnata, Ozaukee, Upshur, Vandalia, Vincent, and Woodsfield lack a lithic or paralithic contact within a depth of 40 inches. Bland soils have chroma of 2 or 3 throughout the B horizon. Caneyville and Fredonia soils do not have a lithologic discontinuity within a depth of 10 to 22 inches. Chrome soils have rock fragments dominated by serpentine and do not have reddish hue. Derinda, Eden, Edenton, Faywood, Milton, and Shrouts soils do not have reddish hue. Derinda, Eden, Edenton, Faywood, Milton, and Shrouts soils do not have reddish hue and all except Faywood and Milton have a paralithic contact within a depth of 40 inches. Donahue soils contain more sand in the upper part of the solum. Wynn soils have two discontinuities within a depth of 40 inches and have rock fragments of mixed lithology including some crystalline rocks.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bratton soils typically are on summits of loess mantled uplands. The slope gradient commonly is 2 to 8 percent but ranges up to 25 percent on some dissected areas along drainageways. The soils formed in 10 to 22 inches of loess and the underlying clayey residuum weathered from limestone or dolomite. The mean annual temperature ranges from about 53 to 55 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation ranges from about 38 to 43 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Boston, Crider, Gasconade, Lowell, Nicholson, and Opequon soils. Boston soils have a mantle of loess and glacial till over bedrock, have a fragipan, and occur in a complex with Bratton soils in places. Crider soils have a thicker mantle of loess and are deeper to bedrock but are on similar topographic positions. Gasconade and Opequon soils are on steeper slopes along drainageways that are shallow to bedrock. Lowell soils are in similar topographic positions but have thin layers of shale interbedded with the limestone. Nicholson soils are on similar topographic positions as Bratton soils but have a thicker mantle of loess, are moderately well drained, and have a fragipan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to very rapid. Permeability is moderately slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas having gentle slopes were used for general farming. Principal crops include corn, forages, wheat, and some soybeans and tobacco. In some areas, the original cropland is reverting back to woodland and abandoned pasture fields. The original vegetation was hardwood forest of beech, oaks, hickory, and hard maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Ohio. The series is of moderate extent, about 15,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Adams County, Ohio, 1932.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this series are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 8 inches (Ap horizon); argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 8 inches to 33 inches (Bt1, 2Bt2, 2Bt3, 2Bt4 horizons); lithic contact - at a depth of 35 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to AD-35 for laboratory characterization data on the typical pedon.