LOCATION BILTMORE NC+VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Typic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Biltmore sand on the French Broad River flood plain at 2120 feet elevation--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) sand; few medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine, fine, and medium roots; few fine interstitial pores; common very fine and fine flakes of mica; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 17 inches thick)
C1--8 to 16 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) sand; few medium distinct very pale brown (10YR 7/3) mottles; single grained; loose; few fine interstitial and tubular pores; few charcoal stains; common very fine and fine flakes of mica; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C2--16 to 23 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 6/6) sand; few medium faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) mottles; single grained; loose; few fine interstitial and tubular pores; few charcoal stains; common very fine and fine flakes of mica; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C3--23 to 26 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) sand; single grained; loose; few fine interstitial and tubular pores; common very fine and fine flakes of mica; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
C4--26 to 41 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), dark yellowish brown, and light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) fine sand; few fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) mottles; single grained; loose; common very fine and fine flakes of mica; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C5--41 to 47 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) fine sand; few medium distinct light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) mottles; single grained; loose; few charcoal stains; common very fine and fine flakes of mica; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C6--47 to 53 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6), light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) sand; single grained; loose; common very fine and fine flakes of mica; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C7--53 to 80 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sand; few fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) mottles; single grained; loose; common very fine and fine flakes of mica; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Buncombe County, North Carolina; about 3.1 miles south of Asheville on the Biltmore Estate; 260 feet south-southwest of the French Broad River in a cultivated field.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The sandy sediments range from 40 to 80 inches or more in thickness. In some pedons below a depth of 40 inches, there are strata of loamy material, or deposits of cobbles and gravel that are stratified with sandy or loamy material. Thin loamy layers are within the upper 40 inches in some pedons, but have a combined thickness of less than 6 inches. Coarse fragments range from 0 to 10 percent by volume in the upper 40 inches. Underlying beds of gravel and cobbles are in many pedons within a 40 to 80 inch depth. Flakes of mica range from few to many throughout. The soil ranges from strongly acid through slightly alkaline.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 6. Where value is 3 and chroma of 1 to 3, the horizon is less than 10 inches thick. The A horizon is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loamy sand, sand, fine sand, or loamy fine sand. An Ab horizon is in some pedons. It has the same color and texture range as the A horizon.
The Bw horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 6 or 8. It is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sand, or sand.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. The C horizon to depths of at least 40 inches is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sand, or sand. Thin strata of sandy loam, loam, or silt loam are in some pedons but total less than 6 inches in the 10 to 40 inch particle size control section.
The C horizon below depths of 40 inches may have hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 6. Also, it may consist of cobbles and gravel stratified with sandy or loamy sediments.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Abscota, Caesar, Chute, Dabney, Hodge, Oakville, Penwood, Perks, Pinegrove, Plainfield, Sarpy, Spessard, Suncook, Tyner, Westport, and Windsor soils in the same family. Abscota, Oakville, Plainfield, and Tyner soils have a lower rainfall range. Caesar, Penwood, Plainfield, and Windsor soils are excessively drained, and Tyner soils are somewhat excessively drained. Also, Caesar, Oakville, Penwood, Plainfield, Tyner, and Windsor soils may occur on moderately steep, steep, or very steep side slopes. Chute, Hodge, and Sarpy soils are neutral to moderately alkaline throughout. Dabney and Westport soils receive more than 60 inches of precipitation annually. Perks soils have high chroma mottles within a depth of 40 inches. Pinegrove soils contain fragments of sandstone from surface mining operations. Spessard soils do not have mica flakes. Suncook soils are excessively drained.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Biltmore soils are on flood plains of the intermountain valleys adjacent to major streams. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. The soils formed in sandy alluvium. The mean annual air temperature is 56 degrees F., and the average annual rainfall is 39 inches near the type location. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 47 to 57 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Braddock, Brevard, Colvard, Elsinboro, Hatboro, Iotla, Rosman, Tate, Toxaway, and Transylvania series. These soils are all in coarse-loamy or finer-textured families. Braddock, Brevard, Elsinboro, and Tate soils have an argillic horizon and are on adjacent stream terraces, fans or benches. Colvard, Iotla, Rosman, and Transylvania soils are on flood plains further from the channel than Biltmore soils. Hatboro and Toxaway soils have poorer drainage and occupy the lower parts of the flood plain. Rosman and Transylvania soils have an umbric A or Ap horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow surface runoff and rapid permeability. Flooding is common.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage of this soil is cleared of forest and used for pasture and crops. Important crops grown are corn for grain and silage, small grains, truck crops, burley tobacco, and pasture. Native forest species include white pine, yellow-poplar, northern red oak, black oak, white oak, black walnut, American Sycamore, red maple, river birch, American beech, white ash, black locust, hickory, basswood, and blackgum. Rhododendron and blueberry are common understory plants.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia; mesic areas of the Southern Piedmont in North Carolina and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Buncombe and Madison Counties, North Carolina; 1982.
REMARKS: Biltmore soils were formerly mapped in Comus and Suncook series. Establishing the Biltmore series limits the Suncook series to MLRA's 143, 144, and 145. The 2/89 revision reclassified the Biltmore series to mixed, mesic Typic Udipsamments. The typical pedon and a dominance of soils mapped Biltmore do not have at least 6 inches of loamy strata between the A horizon and a depth of 40 inches. The distribution and extent of the Biltmore series has been broadened due to the recognition of a mesic soil temperature regime in some areas of the Southern Piedmont.
Selected data from the typical pedon - NSSL No. 92P0084:
Depth Percent Fine Sand Mineralogy
Horizon (in.) Sand Silt Clay % Resist. % Weath.
------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---------------------
Ap 0 - 8 91 9 0 66 34
C1 8 - 16 94 6 0 62 38
C2 16 - 23 96 4 0 57 43
C3 23 - 26 95 5 0
C4 26 - 41 95 5 0 64 36
C5 41 - 47 94 5 1
C6 47 - 53 91 8 1
C7 53 - 80 92 6 2 56 44
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of 8 inches (Ap horizon)
MLRA: 130 SIR: NC0139