LOCATION CATHARPIN               VA

Established Series
DDR
10/2021

CATHARPIN SERIES


Soils of the Catharpin series are very deep and well drained. They formed in moderately fine and fine textured overlay material and residuum from gneiss and schist bedrock. Permeability is moderate. They are on ridgetops and sideslopes of the uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual temperature is above 58 degrees F and mean annual precipitation is about 42 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults

TYPICAL PEDON: Catharpin silt loam - on a convex 4 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap--0 to 9 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 3 percent rounded reddish quartzite gravel moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)

Bt1--9 to 17 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky, plastic; common fine roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 3 percent rounded reddish quartzite; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Bt2--17 to 26 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, very sticky, plastic; common fine roots; many faint and distinct clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent rounded reddish quartzite gravel; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Bt3--26 to 37 inches; red (2.5YR 4/8) clay; common fine faint yellowish red (5YR 4/6) mottles; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; firm, very sticky, plastic; few fine roots; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent rounded reddish quartzite; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 18 to 48 inches.)

2Bt4--37 to 54 inches; red (2.5YR 4/8) clay; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; common distinct clay films; 2 percent strongly weathered fragments of schist; common flakes of mica; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.

2Bt5--54 to 76 inches; red (2.5YR 4/8) channery clay; many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), and very pale brown (10YR 8/2) mottles; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 25 percent strongly weathered fragments of schist; many flakes of mica; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the 2Bt horizon is 12 to 44 inches.)

2C--76 to 100 inches; brown, yellow, red and white silt loam; massive; friable; highly weathered; micaceous, schist; few distinct clay flows between rock structural planes; very strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Spotsylvania County, Virginia; about 11 miles northwest of Spotsylvania, Virginia; 60 feet north of State Highway 611 and about 1 mile west of Parker, Virginia.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thicknesses range from about 45 to 90 inches. Depths to lithologic discontinuity range from 24 to 50 inches. Depths to paralithic contact range from 5 to 10 feet and depths to lithic contact are estimated to range from 7 to 40 feet or more. Contents of rock fragments range from 2 to 15 percent in horizons above the lithologic discontinuity. These consists of rounded and subrounded reddish quartz gravel. Rock fragments below the discontinuity consist mostly of weathered fragments of schist and angular vein quartz. These commonly increase in quantity with depth and in some pedons range up to 50 percent in the 2BC and 2C horizons. The sand fractions are dominantly quartz in the horizons above the lithologic discontinuity and dominantly mica in the lower parts of the solum. Thin or discontinuous stone lines are present at the contact between the Bt and 2Bt horizons in some pedons. Reactions are strongly acid or very strongly acid in all horizons unless limed.

The horizon has hue of lOYR or 7.5YR, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 2 through 4. Textures are silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam or silty clay loam.

The B and 2 horizons have hue of 2.5YR or lOR, value of 4 or 5, and chromas of 6 or 8. Some pedons have mottles of high value and chroma. The B2t and IIB2t horizons are dominantly clay or silty clay. In some pedons, individual subhorizons are silty clay loam, or clay loam. The upper Bt horizons are sticky or very sticky. 2B3 horizons are commonly mottled in shades of brown, yellow, or red. Textures are clay, silty clay loam, or silt loam, in the fine earth fraction. 2B horizons contain few to many flakes of mica.

2C horizons usually are multicolored, strongly weathered saprolite that crushes easily to silt loam, loam, or sandy loam.

COMPETING SERIES AND THEIR DIFFERENTIAE: These are the Albertville, Brockroad, Carnasaw, Cullen, Cunningham, Cuthbert, Enders, Endshaw, Fluvanna, Galilee, Gritney, Kirvin, Luverne, Masada, McQueen, Nason, Remlap, Sweatman, Tatum, Townley, Vance and Williamsville series. Albertville, Cunningham, Cuthbert, Galilee, Sweatman and Townley soils have sola less than 40 inches thick. Brockroad, Fluvanna and Nason soils have hues of 5YR or yellower throughout the Bt horizon. Carnasaw and Enders soils have coarse fragments dominated by shale, siltstone or sandstone. Cullen soils do not have a lithologic discontinuity in the solum. Endsaw soils have sandstone fragments in the upper part of the solum. Gritney, Luverne, Masada and Vance soils have less than 30 percent silt in the particle size control section. Kirvin soils have rock fragments dominated by ironstone. McQueen soils either lack rock fragments or the coarse fragments are dominated by quartz or chert. Tatum soils have a solum less than 50 inches thick. Williamsville soils are sandy clay loam, loam or sandy loam in the lower part of the Bt horizon and developed from glauconitic marine sediments.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Catharpin soils are on slightly convex upland, ridges and sideslopes. Slope gradients commonly are 2 to 7 percent but range from 0 to 15 percent. These soils formed in a mantel of silty and clayey material containing reddish quartz gravel and clayey underlying material commonly weathered from mica schist and gneiss. Mean annual temperature is above 59 degrees F and the mean annual precipitation is about 42 inches.

PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Brockroad, Nason and Tatum soils and the Fluvanna, Georgeville, Herndon, Lignum, and Manteo soils. Fluvanna soils have oxidic minerology. Georgeville soils have kaolinitic minerology. Herndon soils have Bt horizons with hues yellower than 2.5YR and lack lithologic discontinuities. Lignum soils have low chroma mottles in the Bt horizons. Menteo soils lack argillic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff and internal drainage; moderate permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils are in mixed hardwoods and pine forest. The remainder is mostly cropland and pasture cultivation. Crops are corn, mixed hay, alfalfa, soybeans, and small grain.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia; possibly North Carolina. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Spotsylvania County, Virginia, 1980.

REMARKS: Data on particle size and chemical analysis for typifying pedon are available VPI & SU Soil Survey Laboratory 1970 (field name of soil: Chancellorsville 187BI, Spotsylvania County, Virginia).

NOTES: Diagnostic horizons and features recogized in this pedon.
Ochric Epipedon - The Ap horizon from 0 to 9 inches.
Argillic horizon - from 9 to 76 inches
Clayey feature - more than 35 percent clay in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon.

Papers on these soils: (1) Elder, J.H. and D.E. Pettry. 1969. Morphology of Soils Developed in Western Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Agronomy Abstracts 1969 Annual Meetings, Detroit, Michigan, p. 106.

(2) Elder, J. H. and D. E. Pettry. 1969. Field Observations of Soils Developed in Unconsolidated Sediments in Western Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Virginia Journal of Science, Vol. 20, #3, p. 96.

TABULAR SERIES DATA:

SOI-5  Soil Name   Slope  Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip  Elevation
VA0076 CATHARPIN   0- 15   59- 64  185-220  35- 45   250- 800 

SOI-5  FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind   Months  Bedrock Hardness
VA0076 NONE          6.0-6.0              -     60-60        

SOI-5  Depth  Texture                3-Inch  No-10  Clay%   -CEC-
VA0076  0- 9  SIL SICL SL             0-  5  75- 95 18-30    -   
VA0076  9-37  C SICL CL               0-  5  75- 95 35-75    -   
VA0076 37-54  C CL SICL               0- 10  75- 90 30-70    -   
VA0076 54-76  C CN-C CN-SIL           5- 15  50- 85 15-60    -   
VA0076 76-86  WB                       -       -     0- 0    -   

SOI-5  Depth    -pH-     O.M.  Salin  Permeab   Shnk-Swll
VA0076  0- 9  4.5- 6.0  .5-3.  0- 0   0.6- 6.0  LOW      
VA0076  9-37  4.5- 5.5  0.-.5  0- 0   0.6- 2.0  MODERATE 
VA0076 37-54  4.5- 5.5  0.-.5  0- 0   0.6- 2.0  MODERATE 
VA0076 54-76  4.5- 5.5  0.-.5  0- 0   0.6- 2.0  MODERATE 
VA0076 76-86     -        -     -    0.00-0.06            


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.