LOCATION BOTETOURT VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Botetourt loam -- on a southeast facing slope of 2 percent in a fescue and white clover pasture. (Colors are for moist soil, unless otherwise indicated.)
Ap-- 0 to 7 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loam; moderate medium granular structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; 5 percent rounded gravel; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1-- 7 to 14 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; few fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of oxidized iron; 2 percent rounded gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2-- 14 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; common faint clay films on faces of peds; common medium distinct very pale brown (10YR 7/3) iron depletions and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of oxidized iron; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt3-- 24 to 44 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) clay loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many faint clay films on faces of peds; many coarse prominent light gray (10YR 7/1) iron depletions; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 30 to 60 inches)
BC-- 44 to 53 inches; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8) and light gray (N 7/) loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; 2 percent rounded gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
C-- 53 to 65 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), gray (10YR 6/1) and light gray (N 7/) gravelly sandy clay loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; 15 percent rounded gravel and 3 percent cobbles; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Botetourt County, Virginia; about 3 miles northwest of Fincastle, 1/2 mile southeast of the intersection of VA-606 and VA-666, 500 feet west of the North Fork of Catawba Creek. Elevation 1,180 feet.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rounded gravel and cobbles of sandstone, chert, and quartzite range from 0 to 15 percent in the A horizon, and 0 to 35 percent in the B horizon and 5 to 50 percent in the C horizon. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through neutral in the A horizon and strongly acid through slightly acid in the B and C horizons.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
The BA horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8. It is loam, silt loam, sandy clay loam, or clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 8. It is loam, clay loam, or sandy clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The BC horizon, where present, is multicolored in hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 8; or neutral with value of 4 through 7. It is loam, clay loam, or sandy clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The C horizon is multicolored in hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 8; or neutral with value of 4 through 7. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Botetourt soils are on second bottoms and low stream terraces along major streams and rivers subject to none to rare flooding. Slope gradients are most commonly 2 to 7 percent slopes, but range from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in alluvial materials from limestone, sandstone, siltstone, shale and quartzite of Cambrian, Ordivician, Silurian, and Devonian ages in the Appalachian Ridges and Valleys MLRAs. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 45 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 50 to 57 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Berks, Caverns, Carbo, Dekalb, Derroc, Frederick, Gladehill, Ingledove, Irongate, Shottower, and Wolfgap soils. The Berks, Carbo, and Dekalb soils are well drained, moderately deep to bedrock, have weathered from residuum, and are on uplands. Caverns soils are well drained and coarse-loamy. Derroc soils are loamy-skeletal and are well drained. The Frederick and Shottower soils are well drained, have redder and more clayey subsoils, in addition Frederick soils are on uplands, and Shottower soils are on high stream terraces. The Ingledove soils do not have gray iron depletions in the argillic horizon. The Irongate, Gladehill, and Wolfgap soils have a mollic epipedon and are on flood plains; in addition, Gladehill and Wolfgap soils are well drained.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Runoff is low to very high. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for row crops, hay and pasture. A few areas are in woodland consisting of White oak, yellow-poplar, and Virginia pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia and possibly West Virginia. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wythe County, Virginia, 1989.
REMARKS: Botetourt soils have been included in the Wheeling series in the past.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon, the part from 0 to 7 inches. (Ap horizon)
b. Argillic horizon, the part from 7 to 44 inches. (Bt horizon)
c. Depletions of chroma of 2 or less. (Bt3 horizon)
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg. (PSA, chemistry and mineralogy)
NASIS Data Mapunit ID = 343357 (Standard Component Data)
MLRA = 128, 147
REVISED = 4/2/93, MHC