LOCATION FRONDORF KY+ILEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Frondorf silt loam - wooded. (Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 1 inches, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
E--1 to 4 inches, brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of A horizons is 4 to 12 inches.)
Bt1--4 to 15 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common faint clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
2Bt2--15 to 25 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) channery clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common medium distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) clay films on the faces of peds; 25 percent channers of sandstone 1 to 5 inches across; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)
2BC--25 to 30 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) very channery loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few small mica flakes; 50 percent channers of sandstone 1 to 5 inches across; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
2R--30 inches, hard fine-grained sandstone; contains noticeable mica flakes.
TYPE LOCATION: Hopkins County, Kentucky; 3.95 miles northwest of Madisonville, 0.7 mile northwest of the intersection of Kentucky Highway 1069 and Tucker Schoolhouse Road, 1035 north of the intersection of Tucker Schoolhouse Road and gravel lane, 100 feet west of gravel lane in woods. USGS Slaughters Quadrangle
(Latitude: 37 degrees, 23 minutes, 0.5 seconds N; Longitude: 87 degrees, 30 minutes, 38.4 seconds W).
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to sandstone, siltstone, or shale bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly to strongly acid. Coarse fragments ranges from 0 to 5 percent in the A, E, and Bt horizons and from 15 to 75 percent in the 2Bt and 2BC horizons. Coarse fragments consist of channers of sandstone, siltstone, or shale.
The A and Ap horizons have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or loam.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is silt loam or loam.
The Bt horizon horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The 2Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is loam, silt loam, clay loam, and silty clay loam.
The 2BC horizon, where present, has the same colors as the 2Bt. Texture of the fine-fraction is silt loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, clay loam, loam, or sandy clay loam.
When present, the 2C horizon has the same colors and textures as the 2BC horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Athol, Cateache, Culleoka, Door, Duffield, Dumfries, Ebbings, Grayford, Hayter, Kell, Lamotte, Legore, Loudonville, Manassas, Mechanicsburg, Morrison, Myersville, Oatlands, Panorama, Spriggs, Sudley, Westmoreland, Wheeling, and Williamsburg series. Of these only the Culleoka, Kell, Loudonville,Oatlands, and Spriggs series have bedrock at a depth of less than 4O inches. Culleoka soils lack the lithologic discontinuity in the series control section, otherwise they are close competitors. Kell soils formed in glacial drift material. Loudonville soils have an upper solum formed in glacial till and have less than 15 percent coarse fragments in the 2Bt horizon. Oatlands soils formed in Triassic age sediments of the Piedmont. Spriggs soils formed in mafic bedrock of the Piedmont.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on hillsides and narrow ridgetops with slopes ranging from 6 to 60 percent. The soil formed in 1.5 to 2 feet of loess over residuum from acid sandstone, siltstone and shale. Near the type location the average annual temperature is 57.9 degrees F, and the average annual precipitation is 48.13 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Sadler, Wellston, Zanesville, and Ramsey soils. Sadler and Zanesville soils have fragipans. Wellston soils are more than 40 inches deep to bedrock. Ramsey soils lack argillic horizons and are less than 20 inches deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; with medium or rapid runoff. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in forest or used for pasture and hay where cleared. Native forest are oak, hickory, poplar, dogwood, persimmon, sassafras, and Virginia pine as the dominant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky and Illinois and possibly southern Indiana. The series is extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hancock County, Kentucky, 1971.
REMARKS: The Frondorf soils were included in the Gilpin soils in the past and have less fragments in the upper solum.
Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 4 inches (A and E horizon).
Argillic horizon - the zone from 4 to 25 inches (Bt1, 2Bt2 horizons).
Lithic contact - hard bedrock at 30 inches.