LOCATION BETHLEHEM NC+AL GA SC
Established Series
Rev. RMB:RLM:HS:DTA
11/2025
BETHLEHEM SERIES
MLRA(s): 136 (thermic part)
Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Southeast
Depth Class: Moderately deep
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Medium
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high
Shrink-Swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Residuum weathered from high-grade metamorphic rocks such as sillimanite schist, phyllite schist, and mica schist
Slope: 2 to 45 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 14 degrees C (58 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1245 millimeters (49 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Bethlehem gravelly sandy clay loam - in an area of Pacolet-Bethlehem complex, 8 to 15 percent slopes, moderately eroded (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated).
Ap--0 to 18 centimeters (0 to 7 inches); brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly sandy clay loam; weak medium granular structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine flakes of mica; 23 percent, by volume, gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (10 to 20 centimeters (4 to 8 inches) thick)
Bt--18 to 61 centimeters (7 to 24 inches); red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, and plastic; few fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; common fine flakes of mica; 10 percent, by volume, gravel; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (30 to 61 centimeters (12 to 24 inches) thick)
BC--61 to 84 centimeters (24 to 33 inches); yellowish red (5YR 4/6) gravelly sandy clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; 20 percent, by volume, gravel; common fine and medium flakes of mica; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 23 centimeters (0 to 9 inches) thick)
Cr--84 to 152 centimeters (33 to 60 inches); soft, weathered sillimanite schist; few thin interlayers of hard bedrock; few tongues and thin coatings of material from Bt horizon in fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Rutherford County, N.C.; approximately 2.8 miles southeast of Hollis on Secondary Road 1753; approximately 0.7 mile west on Secondary Road 1757; approximately 200 feet north, in woodland; USGS Polksville, North Carolina topographic quadrangle.
Latitude--35.408056
Longitude-- -81.712778
Datum--WGS84
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum thickness: 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40)
Thickness of Bt horizon: 61 to 127 centimeters (24 to 50 inches)
Depth to soft bedrock: 51 to 102 centimetera (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to hard bedrock: Greater than 102 centimeters (40 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 152 centimeters (60 inches)
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 60 percent, by volume, in the A horizon, 0 to 35 percent, by volume, in the E, BA, BE, and Bt horizons, and 15 to 60 in the BC and C horizons
Mica Content: 2 to 20 percent, by volume, in the A and upper B horizons and 2 to greater than 20 percent in the lower B and C horizons
Soil Reaction: Very strongly acid to moderately acid, unless limed
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
A or Ap horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, chroma of 3 to 6. Horizons with a value of 3 are less than 6 inches thick.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, loam, or sandy clay loam
E horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 4 or 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam or loam
BA or BE horizon, (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 6 or 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy clay loam, clay loam, or loam
Bt horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 6 or 8. Subhorizons of the Bt range to 7.5YR in some pedons.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--clay, clay loam, or sandy clay
BC horizon:
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 6 or 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy clay loam or clay loam
C horizon (if it occurs):
Color--multicolored
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy clay loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam saprolite
Cr horizon:
Color--multicolored
Texture--weathered high-grade metamorphic rock such as sillimanite schist, phyllite schist, or mica schist
COMPETING SERIES:
Appling soils--have a yellow subsoil and do not have a paralithic contact within 102 centimeters (40 inches)
Cecil soils--do not have a paralithic contact within 102 centimeters (40 inches)
Madison soils--do not have a paralithic contact within 102 centimeters (40 inches)
Nankin soils--formed from marine sediments in the coastal plain and do not have a paralthic contact within 102 centimeters (40 inches)
Pacolet soils--do not have a paralithic contact within 102 centimeters (40 inches)
Saw soils--have lithic contact at depths of 51 to 102 centimeters (20 and 40 inches)
Tumbleton soils--do not have a paralithic contact within 102 centimeters (40 inches)
Wedowee soils--do not have a paralithic contact within 102 centimeters (40 inches)
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Ridges and hill slopes
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Residuum weathered from high-grade metamorphic rocks such as sillimanite schist, phyllite schist, and mica schist
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 14 to 17 degrees C (58 to 63 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1016 to 1524 millimeters (40 to 60 inches)
Frost Free Period: 180 to 230 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Louisburg soils--are coarse-loamy and very deep
Rawlings soils--are fine-loamy
Rion soils--are fine-loamy and very deep
Rolesville soils--have a sandy subsoil and have a lithic contact within 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches)
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Medium
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Cropland or pasture and woodland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, hay, and pasture. Where wooded--shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, scarlet oak, chestnut oak, white oak, and black oak. Common understory plants are sourwood, flowering dogwood, greenbrier, sassafras, grape, poison ivy, American holly, and blueberry.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
Extent: Moderate
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Alexander County, North Carolina; 1988.
REMARKS:
The July 2009 revision moves the type location from Alexander County, NC to Rutherford County, NC. This move was required due to the mesic/thermic break established in MLRA 136. Alexander County is mesic. The November 2025 revision changed the format. No data was changed.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--The zone from 0 to 18 centimeters (0 to 7 inches) (Ap horizon)
Argillic and kandic horizon--The zone from 18 to 61 centimeters (7 to 24 inches) has low activity clay in more than 50 percent of the horizon (Bt horizon)
Paralithic contact--Weathered bedrock at 84 centimeters (33 inches) the upper boundary of the Cr horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA:
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
NC0191 BETHLEHEM 2-45 58-63 180-230 40-60 700-1200
NC0281 BETHLEHEM 2-45 58-63 180-230 40-60 700-1200
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness
NC0191 NONE >6.0 - 20-40 SOFT
NC0281 NONE >6.0 - 20-40 SOFT
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC-
NC0191 0-7 GR-SL GRV-SL GR-SCL 0-20 35-76 7-35 2-10
NC0191 0-7 CB-SL 15-30 45-80 7-20 2-7
NC0191 7-24 C CL GR-C 0-10 60-100 35-60 7-12
NC0191 24-33 GR-SCL GRV-SCL 0-20 30-85 20-35 4-8
NC0191 33-60 WB - - - -
NC0281 0-7 SL L 0-5 80-100 7-20 2-7
NC0281 7-24 C CL GR-C 0-10 60-100 35-60 7-12
NC0281 24-33 GR-SCL GRV-SCL 0-20 30-85 20-35 4-8
NC0281 33-60 WB - - - -
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll
NC0191 0-7 4.5-5.5 1.-3. 0-0 2.0-6.0 LOW
NC0191 0-7 4.5-5.5 1.-3. 0-0 2.0-6.0 LOW
NC0191 7-24 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC0191 24-33 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC0191 33-60 - - - -
NC0281 0-7 4.5-5.5 1.-3. 0-0 2.0-6.0 LOW
NC0281 7-24 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC0281 24-33 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC0281 33-60 - - - -
________________________________________
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.