LOCATION BAYS TN
Established Series
Rev. HCD:NTH:DLN
02/2022
BAYS SERIES
The Bays series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum from calcareous shale bedrock. They are on shale uplands with narrow convex ridges and long convex side slopes in the Ridge and Valley portion of the Southern Appalachians. Slopes range from 5 to 75 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, thermic, shallow Ruptic-Alfic Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Bays silty clay loam on a 60 percent northeast facing sideslope at an elevation of 2000 feet--pasture. (Colors are for moist soil)
Ap--0 to 3 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silty clay loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; 10 percent fragments of shale up to 1/2 inch across; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
Bw/Bt--3 to 16 inches; (Bw part) strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) channery silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; common fine discontinuous tubular pores; 25 percent channers of shale up to 2 inches across; medium acid; (Bt part) intermittent pockets of strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) channery silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; common fine discontinuous tubular pores; few faint clay films; 25 percent channers of shale up to 2 inches across; medium acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)
C--16 to 19 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) very channery silty clay loam; massive; friable; 50 percent channers of shale up to 2 inches across; strongly acid; clear irregular boundary.
Cr--19 inches; tilted and fractured, soft, partially weathered shale in shades of yellow and brown with thin lenses of yellowish brown silt loam between fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Sullivan County, Tennessee. From the intersection of Lone Star Road, go south on State Highway 81 1.5 miles, then 2000 feet west of road in field. Latitude: 36 degrees, 27 minutes, 33 seconds north. Longitude: 82 degrees, 40 minutes, 48 seconds west.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Rippable shale bedrock is at a depth between 10 and 20 inches. Rock fragments of shale range from 5 to 30 percent in the solum and 5 to 50 percent in the C horizon. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to moderately alkaline.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam, silty clay loam, silty clay or their channery analogues.
The BA horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 4 and chroma of 4 or 6. Texture is silt loam, silty clay loam, silty clay or their channery analogues.
The Bw/Bt horizon has hue of 2.5Y to 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is silty clay loam, silt loam, silty clay, or their channery analogues. The B horizon is dominantly a cambic horizon, but in some part, but less than 50 percent, there is in each pedon enough clay increase for and argillic horizon or has other evidence of clay eluviation.
The C horizon has colors similar to the Bw/Bt horizon with increasing rock fragment content..
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Similar soils in other families include the
Catoctin,
Dandridge,
Montevallo and
Webbtown series. All these soils have more than 35 percent fragments in the control section. In addition, Catoctin and Webbtown soils are greater than 20 inches deep to bedrock. Dandridge soils have a lithic contact at less than 20 inches. Montevallo soils have base saturation less than 35 percent.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bays soils are on strongly sloping to very steep shale uplands with narrow convex ridgetops and long convex side slopes. Slopes commonly are 12 to 65 percent but range from 5 to 75 percent. These soils formed in residuum from calcareous shale. Mean annual air temperature is 62 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 44 inches near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the tentative
Bellamy,
Bloomingdale and
Steadman series. Bellamy soils, on stream terraces, are moderately well drained and have a brittle layer in the subsoil. Bloomingdale soils, on flood plains, are poorly drained. Steadman soils, on low terraces, are moderately well drained.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: About 70 percent of this soil is cleared. Pasture and hay are the main crops. Wooded areas consist of upland oaks.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Appalachian Ridge and Valleys of Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Sullivan County, Tennessee; 1991.
REMARKS: These soils were formerly included in the Dandridge series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface of the mineral soil to approximately 3 inches. (Ap horizon)
Cambic horizon - The zone from approximately 3 to 16 inches.
(Bw part)
Ruptic-Alfic feature - The zone from approximately 3 to 16 inches with a cambic horizon in more than 50 percent and argillic horizon in less than 50 percent. (Bw/Bt horizon)
Shallow feature - The zone at 19 inches with paralithic contact.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.