LOCATION SKIDMORE KY+OH TN WV PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, mesic Dystric Fluventic Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Skidmore gravelly fine sandy loam--on a 1 percent slope in a cultivated area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; approximately 15 percent rounded gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bw--6 to 18 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; approximately 20 percent rounded gravel; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 25 inches thick)
BC--18 to 32 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very gravelly sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine roots; approximately 40 percent rounded gravel; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (10 to 30 inches thick)
2C--32 to 70 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) extremely channery sandy loam; few thin strata of loamy fine sand; single grain; loose; 80 percent channers of siltstone and rounded gravel; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
3R--70 inches; hard siltstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Menifee County, Kentucky; about 7.2 miles (airline) northeast of Frenchburg in the Daniel Boone National Forest west of Cave Run Lake on the flood plain of Skidmore Creek; about 3 miles north of the intersection of Skidmore Creek Road and Kentucky Highway 1274; 38 degrees, 00 minutes, 52 seconds N. Latitude and 83 degrees, 31 minutes, 14 seconds W. Longitude; NAD 1983.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches and depth to bedrock from 40 to more than 100 inches. The content of siltstone and sandstone fragments, commonly a mixture of gravels and cobbles or channers and flagstones, ranges from 0 to 50 percent in the upper solum and from 35 to 90 percent in the lower solum and substratum. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to slightly alkaline throughout.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Some pedons have slightly lower values in the upper 1 to 4 inches. Fine-earth texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, or less commonly, silt loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Some pedons are variegated without dominant hue or chroma. Fine-earth texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam or clay loam.
The BC and C horizons have colors and fine-earth textures similar to the Bw horizon. Some pedons have 1 to 2 inch thick strata of loamy sand or are dominantly loamy sand below 30 inches. Some pedons have iron depletions or depleted layers with chroma of 1 or 2 below 40 inches. A lithologic discontinuity is common, but not required.
The R horizon is unweathered siltstone, shale or limestone.
COMPETING SERIES: The Skidmore series is the only member of this family. The Gatchel series has less than 15 percent fragments in the A and Bw horizons and is in a superactive subgroup, otherwise it is a close competitor.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on flood plains with slopes of 0 to 4 percent and formed in alluvium weathered primarily from Mississippian aged sandstone, siltstone and limestone. They are subject to occasional or frequent flooding. Near the type location, average annual temperature is 55 degrees F. and the average annual precipitation is 51.2 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Clifty, Grigsby, Lindside, Morehead, Nolin, Orrville and Pope series on flood plains and stream terraces; the Cruze and Renox series on toe slopes and fans; and the Bledsoe, Carpenter, Helechawa, Rigley, Shelocta and Westbend series on surrounding uplands. Clifty, Orrville, Renox and Shelocta soils are fine-loamy. Grigsby, Helechawa, Rigley and Pope soils are coarse-loamy. Lindside, Nolin, Morehead and Westbend soils are fine-silty. Bledsoe and Cruze soils are fine. Bledsoe, Carpenter, Cruze, Morehead, Renox, Rigley, Shelocta and Westbend soils have argillic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well to somewhat excessively drained with moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for hay, pasture, corn, and tobacco. Native forests have oaks, yellow-poplar, sycamore, birch, beech, and hickory as the dominant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and possibly other areas weathered from limestone or calcareous shales. Extent is minor.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Menifee County, Kentucky; 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 6 inches (Ap)
Cambic horizon: 6 to 32 inches (Bw)(BC)
Lithologic discontinuity at 32 inches.