LOCATION BRASWELL GATentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Braswell loam on a 13 percent slope in an area of mixed hardwoods and pines. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine and common medium roots; 5 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
BE--6 to 11 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium and coarse roots; few very fine and fine flakes of mica; 2 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 21 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few very fine and fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; few very fine and fine flakes of mica; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--21 to 33 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay loam; common fine distinct red (2.5YR 4/6) mottles; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; common very fine and fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; few very fine and fine flakes of mica; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (10 to 35 inches thick)
BC--33 to 48 inches; red (2.5YR 5/6) loam; common medium distinct reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) mottles; weak fine subangular blocky structure; firm; common very fine to fine roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds; few very fine flakes of mica; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 25 inches thick)
C--48 to 80 inches; mottled light brown (7.5YR 6/4), light reddish brown (5YR 6/4), and pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) sandy loam; massive; firm; few very fine and medium roots; common very fine and few fine flakes of mica; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Paulding County, Georgia; approximately 25 feet east of HW 61 and 800 feet south of the Bartow County line; USGS Burnt Hickory Ridge topographic quadrangle; lat. 34 degrees 04 minutes 49 seconds N. and long. 84 degrees 50 minutes 2.5 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is from 20 to 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. The soil is very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout, except where limed. Content of mica flakes typically ranges from none to common in the A, BE and Bt horizons and few to many in the BC and C horizons. Content of rock fragments commonly is 0 to 35 percent throughout.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. The A horizon is loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or silt loam.
The BE or E horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. The BE or E horizon is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 4 to 8. The Bt horizon is clay loam, silty clay loam, sandy clay loam, loam, or silt loam with more than 30 percent silt in the control section.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. In some pedons it is mottled in shades of red, yellow, brown, or gray. The BC horizon is loam, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8. or is mottled in shades of red, yellow, brown, or gray. The gray or white colors are due to relic weathered rock material and not due to wetness. The C horizon is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cheaha, Chesapeake, Fruithurst, Kentwood, Montonia, Rion, Rome, Shady, Sherless, Sherwood, State, Sugargrove, Tidings, and Wickham series of the same family, and also the Buckhead and Rawlings series. Buckhead soils have more than 15 percent rock fragments throughout. Cheaha and Rawlings soils have a lithic contact at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Fruithurst, Montonia, and Sherless soils have a paralithic contact at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Rion soils formed in residuum from felsic, igneous, and metamorphic rocks. Rome, Shady, State, and Wickham soils formed in alluvium and are on low stream terraces. Sherwood soils have bedrock at depths of 30 to 60 inches. Sugargrove and Tidings soils have a paralithic contact at a depth of 40 to 60 inches, and in addition have a Cr horizon of weathered sedimentary rock. Chesapeake and Kentwood soils formed in alluvial parent materials and are on stream terraces.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Braswell soils are on gently sloping to steep Piedmont uplands. Slopes commonly are 2 to 25 percent. These soils developed in residuum weathered from serecite schist, phyllite or other fine-grained metamorphic rock. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 46 to 60 inches, the mean annual temperature ranges from 59 to 66 degrees F., and the frost-free season ranges from 200 to 230 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Fruithurst series and also the Tallapoosa, and Tatum series. Tallapoosa soils have a solum thickness of less than 20 inches. Tatum soils have paralithic contact at a depth of 40 to 60 inches, are in a fine family, have Bt horizons that have hues of 2.5YR or 10R, and contain less mica and more silt.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to rapid. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in forests of pine and mixed hardwoods. Cleared areas are used primarily for pasture and hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont of Georgia and possibly Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES PROPOSED: Paulding County, Georgia; 2010.
REMARKS: The Braswell series was formerly included with the Madison, Grover, and Rion series. Madison soils are fine. Grover soils have a micaceous mineralogy. Rion soils contain more quartz and less mica and do not have the greasy or slick feel. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to 6 inches (A horizon)
Argillic horizon - the zone from 6 to 33 inches (BE and Bt horizons)
MLRA = 136