LOCATION SANDHILL TN+VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, thermic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Sandhill channery loam--pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 20 percent flat fragments of siltstone up to 6 inches long; medium acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
BA--7 to 15 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) channery loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine and medium pores and voids; common worm casts; 25 percent flat fragments of siltstone up to 6 inches long; medium acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--15 to 27 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) channery clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; few faint clay films on faces of peds; friable; common fine roots; few fine and medium black concretions; common fine small pores or voids; 30 percent flat fragments of siltstone up to 6 inches long; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--27 to 35 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) flaggy clay loam, few fine faint reddish brown (5YR 4/4) and strong brown (7.5YR 4.6) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; few fine roots; few fine black concretions; 30 percent flat fragments of siltstone 3 to 12 inches long; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt3--35 to 43 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) flaggy clay loam, common fine and medium distinct reddish brown (5YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) mottles; weak medium angular blocky structure; friable; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 35 percent fragments of siltstone up 4 to 18 inches long; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 20 to 40 inches)
C--43 to 50 inches; Strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) very channery clay loam; massive; friable; 60 percent fragments of siltstone and fine grained sandstone 6 to 18 inches long; strongly acid. (0 to 15 inches thick)
Cr--50 to 65 inches; soft, weathered, interbedded siltstone and fine grained sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Rutherford County, Tennessee; 4 miles southwest of Eagleville; 1/2 mile north of Riggs crossroads; and 150 feet east of U.S. Highway 31A.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to weathered rippable bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Reaction in each horizon is medium acid or strongly acid. The content of soft rock fragments ranges from about 15 percent to 35 percent in the A and B horizons and up to 65 percent in the C horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Some severely eroded pedons also have chroma of 6. Texture of the fine earth fraction is loam or silt loam except some severely eroded areas are also clay loam or silty clay loam.
Most pedons have a transitional horizon between the A or E horizon and Bt horizons.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. In most pedons, the lower part of the Bt horizon contains few to many mottles in shades of brown, yellow, and red. Texture of the fine earth fraction is clay loam, silty clay loam or loam. Some pedons contain thin subhorizons of silty clay or clay.
The C or BC horizon has the same colors as the Bt horizon except, in some pedons, it is mottled with no distinct matrix color. Textures of the fine earth fraction are the same as the Bt horizon.
The Cr horizon consist of soft interbedded siltstone, fine grained sandstone, and shale and a few thin strata of hard limestone. It can be dug with a spade except for the hard strata.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Bolivar, Liddieville, Pamunkey, Stiversville, and Toine series in the same family and the Armour, Culleoka, and Hicks, series in similar families. Bolivar soils have a paralithic contact between 20 and 40 inches. Liddieville, Pamunkey and Toine soils formed in alluvium on stream terraces and are greater than 60 inches to bedrock. Stiversville soils have less than 15 percent rock fragments in the solum. Armour soils are fine-silty, are formed in alluvium, and are greater than 60 inches to bedrock. Culleoka soils have a mesic soil temperature regime. Hicks soils are fine-silty and have less than 15 percent rock fragments in the solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sandhill soils are on ridges and hills in uplands. Slopes range from 2 to 45 percent. These soils formed in residuum of siltstone that is interbedded with limestone, fine grained sandstone and shale. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 60 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 48 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Stiversville, Hicks, and Armour series and the Hampshire, Inman, Mimosa, and Talbott series. Hampshire, Inman, Mimosa, and Talbott soils have a fine control section. In addition, Hampshire and Mimosa soils have less than 15 percent rock fragments, Mimosa and Talbott soils are underlain by hard bedrock, and Inman soils are 20 to 40 inches to paralithic contact.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing pasture and hay or are in hardwood forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Nashville Basin of Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Rutherford County, Tennessee; 1974.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon - 15 to 43 inches (Bt horizon)
Paralithic contact - at 50 inches (top of the Cr horizon)