LOCATION ALANTHUS VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Alanthus silt loam (Colors are for moist soils)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine roots throughout; common fine low continuity tubular pores; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Bt1--7 to 18 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine roots; few fine low continuity tubular pores; common distinct discontinuous reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4), moist, clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent sub-rounded meta-basalt gravel; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--18 to 28 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; few fine low continuity tubular pores; many distinct discontinuous yellowish red (5YR 4/6), moist, clay films on faces of peds; 3 percent sub-rounded meta-basalt gravel; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt3--28 to 42 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) channery silty clay loam; moderate medium and coarse angular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; common distinct discontinuous yellowish red (5YR 5/6), moist, clay films on faces of peds; common fine plate-like black (10YR 2/1) soft masses of iron-manganese accumulation around stones; 2 percent subangular meta-basalt cobbles and 15 percent subangular meta-basalt channers; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
C1--42 to 61 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) silt loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine plate-like black (10YR 2/1) soft masses of iron-manganese accumulation around stones; 5 percent sub-rounded meta-basalt gravel and 1 percent sub-rounded quartzite gravel; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
C2--61 to 84 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silt loam; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine plate-like black (10YR 2/1) soft masses of iron-manganese accumulation around stones; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Culpeper County, Virginia. From Lakota, 1.1 mile west-southwest on Rt. 710. Continue west-southwest 2300 feet on private lane. Site is 350 feet north in hay field. USGS Brandy Station topographic quadrangle: latitude 38 degrees 34 minutes 31.7 seconds N. and longitude 77 degrees 54 minutes 7.3 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness: 19 to 52 inches, average 37 inches; 90 percent confidence level, average thickness is between 32 and 45 inches Argillic thickness: 14 to 44 inches, average 26 inches; 90 percent confidence level, average thickness is between 22 and 30 inches Depth to paralithic contact: greater than 60 inches. Depth to water table: greater than 60 inches. Reaction is very strongly to moderately acid unless limed.
Ap horizon:
Hue=2.5YR through 10YR
Value=2 through 5
Chroma=2 through 6
Texture=loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam
Coarse fragments=0 to 5 percent quartzite gravel's
A horizon: (where present)
Hue=2.5YR through 10YR
Value=2 through 5
Chroma=2 through 6
Texture=loam or silt loam
Coarse fragments=0 to 5 percent quartzite gravel's
E horizon: (where present)
Hue=5YR through 10YR
Value=4 or 5
Chroma=4 through 8
Texture=loam or silt loam
Coarse fragments=0 to 5 percent quartzite gravel's
Bt horizon:
Hue=2.5YR through 10YR
Value=4 through 6
Chroma=4 through 8
Texture=loam, silt loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, clay, or silty clay (clay and silty clay in subhorizons, particle size control section averages less than 35 percent clay).
Coarse fragments=0 to 35 percent meta-basalt and quartzite gravel's, channers, and cobbles
BC horizon: (where present)
Hue=5YR through 2.5Y
Value=4 through 6
Chroma=3 through 8
Texture=loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam
Coarse fragments=0 to 10 percent meta-basalt gravel's
C horizon:
Hue=2.5YR through 5Y or variegated
Value=3 through 7
Chroma=1 through 8
Texture=sandy loam, loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam
Coarse fragments=0 to 25 percent meta-basalt and quartzite gravel's
COMPETING SERIES:
Culleoka,
Door,
Dumfries,
Ebbing,
Frondorf,
Grayford,
Kell,
Lamotte,
Loudonville,
Mechanicsburg,
Spriggs,
Williamsburg are in the same family. Culleoka soils form in colluvium or residuum from siltstone or interbedded sedimentary rocks. Door soils form in glacial outwash. Dumfries soils form in Coastal Plain marine and fluvial sediments. Ebbing soils form in alluvium from sedimentary rocks. Frondorf, Kell, Loudonville, and Spriggs
soils are moderately deep to lithic or paralithic contact. Lamotte soils form in loess over sandstone residuum. Mechanicsburg soils form in glacial till over sandstone or siltstone residuum. Williamsburg soils form in loess over glacial outwash.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Summits and backslopes on ridges and hill in the Blue Ridge Foothills. Slope ranges from 0 to 45 percent. Soils form in residuum from metabasalt and greenstone schist. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 48 inches and mean annual temperature ranges 50 to 58 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Fauquier soils, which have red subsoils containing more clay, on similar landscape positions Aldino soils, which are shallower to a seasonal high water table and have a fragipan, on similar landscape positions. Catoctin soils, which are shallower to bedrock and contain more rock fragments, on steep sideslopes. Fletcherville soils, which are shallower to a seasonal high water table and contain more clay in the subsoil, on summits.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate to moderately high in the upper solum, moderate in the lower solum. Runoff is low through very high.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for cropland, hay, pasture, and woodland.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Fauquier County, Virginia. 2005.
REMARKS: Alanthus soils were previously included in Myersville and Fauquier map units.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1) Ochric epipedon - from the surface to 7 inches (Ap horizon).
2) Argillic horizon - from 7 to 42 inches.