LOCATION CROSSVILLE KY+TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Humic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Crossville loam--on a 5 percent convex slope in pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam; brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 1 percent gravel; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 9 inches thick)
BA--7 to 11 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam; moderate very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; 1 percent gravel; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bw--11 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; 1 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick)
Cr--24 to 37 inches; weakly cemented; very strongly acid; sandstone bedrock. (0 to 5 inches thick)
R--37 inches; hard sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Bell County, Kentucky on Brush Mountain; 400 feet north west of a house in the Hensley Settlement area of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park at Hensley Flats; about 2.4 miles south-southwest of the community of Cubage; 36 degrees, 40 minutes, 13 seconds N. Latitude and 83 degrees, 32 minutes, 08 seconds W. Longitudes; USGS Varilla Quadrangle; NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Most pedons have a few angular sandstone fragments in the solum, but range from a few to about 30 percent in the substratum. Reaction is very strongly or strongly acid, except where limed.
The A or Ap horizons have hues of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 3 or less. Fine-earth texture is loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or rarely silt loam.
The BA horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 to 6. Fine-earth texture is clay loam, loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
The Bw horizon has colors and textures similar to those of the BA horizon. Some pedons have BC or CB horizons overlying a C horizon or bedrock.
The C horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10 YR, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 4 to 8. Fine-earth texture is sandy loam, loamy sand, or sand.
The Cr horizon is commonly weakly demented sandstone, but grades laterally to rippable siltstone or shale in some areas.
The R horizon is hard sandstone bedrock, but is more fractured on some exposures.
COMPETING SERIES: The Zenith series is the only other member of this family. Zenith soils are similar to Crossville soils, but more than 40 inches deep to bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Crossville soils are on gently sloping to moderately steep summits and crests. The soil formed in residuum weathered from acid sandstone. Near the OSD site, mean annual air temperature is 54.8 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 49.36 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Alticrest, Hartsells, Helechawa, Jefferson, Ramsey, Totz and Varilla series. Alticrest and Helechawa soils are coarse-loamy. Ramsey soils are loamy. Varilla soils are loamy-skeletal. Hartsells and Jefferson soils have argillic horizons. Helechawa, Jefferson and Varilla soils are deeper than 40 inches to bedrock. Ramsey and Totz soils are shallow. Hartsells soils are thermic. None of these soils have an umbric epipedon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained with moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: The few cleared areas are used for growing vegetables, corn, hay, and pasture. Most areas are in forests consisting chiefly of oaks, hickories, black gum, elm, and Virginia pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Cumberland plateau in Tennessee and Alabama and the Cumberland Mountains in Kentucky. The series extent is small.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cumberland County, Tennessee; 1938.
REMARKS: The Crossville series was classified in the Sols Bruns Acides great soil group.
2005 revision moves the OSD from Tennessee to Kentucky.
2008 revision corrects Lat/Long, geographic setting, and removes runoff from drainage and permeability.