LOCATION BONAIR TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, acid, mesic Humic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Bonair silt loam - forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 9 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam; few fine distinct mottles of dark grayish brown (2.5YR 4/2); moderate medium granular structure; very friable; many roots; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bg1--9 to 14 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) silt loam; common medium faint dark grayish brown (2.5YR 4/2) mottles; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many roots; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bg2--14 to 28 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) silt loam; common medium faint mottles of grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2); weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium angular and subangular blocky structure; friable; common roots; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bg3--28 to 36 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silt loam; common medium distinct mottles of light olive brown (2.5YR 5/4) and few fine distinct light gray (10YR 6/1) mottles; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium angular and subangular blocky structure; friable; few roots; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bg4--36 to 45 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) silt loam; common medium distinct mottles of light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4); weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bg horizon ranges from 24 to 44 inches.)
Cg1--45 to 54 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) loam; few medium mottles of grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) and light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6); massive; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Cg2--54 to 62 inches; gray (2.5Y 5/1) fine sandy loam with a few medium faint mottles of grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2); massive; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Van Buren County, Tennessee; 200 yards southeast of junction of Green Sea Branch and Rocky River.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 30 to 50 inches. Depth to bedrock, most commonly sandstone, ranges from 40 to 70 inches. The soil is strongly acid or very strongly acid except where limed. Some pedons have few coarse fragments in each horizon. The sand fraction is 95 to 99 percent quartz.
The A horizon, or Ap in plowed areas, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2 or it is neutral. It is silt loam or loam.
The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 or 2 or it is neutral. It is silt loam, loam, clay loam or, in a few pedons, fine sandy loam. In most pedons, the Bg horizon is mottled with colors of olive, yellow, brown and gray.
The C horizon has the range of colors given for the B horizon. It is fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Soils in similar families are the Elkins, Lickdale, and Sewanee series. Elkins and Lickdale soils have more than 10 percent weatherable minerals. In addition, Elkins soils do not have cambic horizons. Sewanee soils are better drained and do not have dark A horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bonair soils are mostly on the flood plains of small streams. They are level or nearly level. The soil formed in loamy alluvium from acid sandstones and shales. Near the type location, average annual air temperature is 55.6 degrees F., and average annual precipitation is 54 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Lily and Ramsey series on the uplands and the moderately well drained Sewanee series on the bottomlands. Lily soils have solum thickness of less than 40 inches. Ramsey soils are somewhat excessively drained and are less than 20 inches deep to rock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: About one-half of the acreage is in forest consisting chiefly of maples and gums. Cleared areas are used mostly for pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, and possibly in Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Van Buren County, Tennessee; 1975.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Umbric epipedon - 0 to 9 inches (A horizon).
Cambic horizon - 9 to 45 inches (Bg horizon)