LOCATION ELK KY+MD MO PA TN VA WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Elk silt loam--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick)
BA--9 to 14 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common roots; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--14 to 30 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common roots; thin patchy faint brown (7.5YR 4/3) clay films; few fine black (10YR 2/1) manganese concretions; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--30 to 42 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay loam; few fine faint pale brown (10YR 6/3) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few roots; thin patchy distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) clay films; few fine black (10YR 2/1) manganese concretions; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 10 to 40 inches or more)
C--42 to 69 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; common medium distinct pale brown (10YR 6/3) and common medium faint light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) mottles; massive; friable; few fine black (10YR 2/1) manganese concretions; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Madison County, Kentucky; 6.5 miles southwest of Richmond on north side of Curtis Pike about 3 miles south of Barnes Mill Road; on east side of house; 1/2 mile south of confluence of Silver Creek and Taylor Fork. USGS Richmond South Quad, (Latitude: 37 degrees, 42 minutes, 18 seconds N; Longitude: 84 degrees, 22 minutes, 26.6 seconds W)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is greater than 5 feet. Fragments range from 0 to 5 percent in the solumn and ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the C horizon. Reaction ranges from slightly acid through very strongly acid in the A and Bt horizons and from slightly acid through strongly acid in the C horizon.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. Some pedons have mottles in shades of gray in the lower part. Texture is mainly silt loam or silty clay loam, but ranges to silty clay in the lower part. The upper part has few to common mottles in shades of brown and the lower part has mottles in shades of brown or gray.
The C horizons have hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture of the fine earth fraction is silt loam or silty clay loam. Some pedons have C horizons with stratified layers of fine sandy loam, loam, clay loam, or silty clay. Some pedons have mottles in shades of gray.
A lithologic discontinuity is evident in some pedons below 50 inches, but it is not a requirement of the series.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Eilertsen, Elkinsville, Parke, Pike, Rosine, Stonehead, Vernonia, and Wellston series in the same family and the Armour, Ashton, and Wheeling series in related families. Eilertsen soils have dark colored surface layers. Elkinsville soils have more sand in the lower part of the sola. Parke soils are formed in loess capped outwash materials. Rosine and Stonehead soils have more clay in the lower part of the sola, and are underlain by interbedded shale siltstone, and sandstone. Vernonia soils are in a cooler climate. Wellston soils have 5 to 40 percent coarse fragments in the lower part of the solum and 20 to 80 percent in the C horizon. Armour soils have mean annual soil temperatures higher than 59 degrees F. Ashton soils have base saturation above 60 percent and a thicker darker surface horizon. Wheeling soils have more than 15 percent coarser than very fine sand within the control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Elk soils are on stream terraces. Slopes commonly range from 0 to 12 percent, but the range allows up to 40 percent. The soils have formed in mixed alluvium from soils developed in residuum from limestone, siltstone, shale, sandstone, or loess. Near the type location, the average annual temperature is 57 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is 46.3 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Ashton and Wheeling series and the Huntington, Nolin, Sciotoville, Otwood, and Weinbach series. Huntington and Nolin soils are on flood plains and lack argillic horizons. Sciotoville, Otwood, and Weinbach soils have fragipans.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is negligible to medium. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largely in cultivated crops, principally corn, tobacco, small grains, soybeans, and hay or pasture. Native forest has oaks, elms, walnut, hickory, and ash as the dominant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and possibly Missouri and Tennessee. Extent is moderate.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Coffee County, Tennessee; 1908.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 9 inches (Ap)
Argillic horizon: 14 to 42 inches (Bt1, Bt2)