LOCATION BREMO VA+NC
Established Series
Rev. DCH-JEW
10/2021
BREMO SERIES
The Bremo series consists of moderately deep, somewhat excessively drained soils formed in residuum from dark colored rocks. They are gently sloping to steep soils on narrow ridgetops and sideslopes of dissected uplands. Bremo soils have gravelly loam to very gravelly silt loam B horizons and bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Bremo gravelly silt loam-forested (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 2 inches, forest litter of leaves and twigs.
Oe--2 to 3 inches, dark gray (5Y 4/1) partially decomposed leaves, twigs, and roots of deciduous trees; moderately acid.
A--3 to 6 inches, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable; many fine roots; few dark colored fragments of schist; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
B--6 to 20 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) very gravelly silt loam; few fine and medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), black (10YR 2/1), and yellowish red (5YR 5/6) mottles and streaks; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few roots; few thin lenses of silty clay loam; 60 percent weathered fragments of hornblende schist; strongly acid; gradual irregular boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
C--20 to 28 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), yellowish red (5YR 5/6), and green silt loam in crevices between rock fragments; massive; few flakes of mica; few white crystals of feldspar; 80 fragments of hornblende schist; strongly acid; diffuse irregular boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
R--28 inches, hard, dark colored hornblende schist.
TYPE LOCATION: Fluvanna County, Virginia; 1/2 mile west of Shepherd's Store, 200 yards north of Highway 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 12 to 24 inches. Depth to hard bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Contents of coarse fragments average 5 to 40 percent in the A horizons, 20 to 60 percent in the B horizons and 40 to 80 percent in the C horizons. Most fragments are slightly weathered hornblende schist, gneiss, quartz, feldspar crystals, greenstone, or other dark colored rocks. The soil is strongly acid to medium acid throughout.
A horizons have hues of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, values of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 8 with value of 3 restricted to Al horizons. The A horizons are silt loam, loam, gravelly silt loam, or gravelly loam.
B horizons have hues of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, values of 3 through 5, and chroma of 4 through 8. They have mottles of various colors in most pedons. They ar gravelly loam, gravelly silt loam, very gravelly loam or very gravelly silt loam. Thin or discontinuous lenses or pockets of silty clay loam or clay loam are in the B horizon of some pedons, but there is no or little evidence of illuvial clay.
C horizons have colors that are inherited from the bedrock. These colors consist of various shades of gray, black, brown, red and green. C horizons are very gravelly or gravelly analogues of loam, silt loam or sandy loam.
COMPETING SERIES AND THEIR DIFFERENTIAE: Bremo is the only known series in this family. Other closely related series are the Brandywine, Goldston, Hazel, Louisburg, Manteo, Pinkston, Watt, and Wilkes series. Brandywine soils are in areas that have annual temperature of less than 59 degrees F. Goldston soils have coarse fragments dominated by slate and have siliceous mineralogy. Hazel, Louisburg, and Pinkston soils contain less than 35 percent of coarse fragments in the particle-size control section. Manteo soils have a lithic contact at less than 20 inches. Watt soils have moist values of 3 or less in the Ap horizon. Wilkes soils contain less than 35 percent coarse fragments in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bremo soils are on narrow ridgetops and sideslopes in strongly dissected uplands of the Piedmont Plateau. Slope gradients are mostly between 7 and 15 percent and the extreme range is 2 to 45 percent. The soil formed in residuum weathered from dark colored rocks. The underlying rocks are mostly hornblende schist and gneiss, amphibolite, and hornblende gabbro. Mean annual precipitation is 40 to 45 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Wilkes soils and the
Cullen,
Fluvanna,
Helena,
Iredell,
Mecklenburg,
Musella,
Orange, and
Zion series. All of these soils have argillic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; medium to high runoff; moderately rapid or moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: About 75 percent of the Bremo soils are forested, 15 percent in pasture land, and 10 percent in crop land. Principal crops are corn, small grain, dark tobacco, and mixed hay. The native vegetation is red, black, white and scarlet oaks, hickory, dogwood, Virginia and shortleaf pines, and redbud.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, Alabama, and possibly South Carolina, and Georgia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Fluvanna County, Virginia 1949.
REMARKS: The soil horizon depths were revised on 10/2021 to ensure the description began at the soil surface.
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
VA0041 BREMO 2- 45 59- 62 175-210 40- 45 200- 800
VA0236 BREMO 2- 45 59- 62 175-210 40- 45 200- 800
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness
VA0041 NONE 6.0-6.0 - 20-40 HARD
VA0236 NONE 6.0-6.0 - 20-40 HARD
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC-
VA0041 0-6 SIL L 0- 5 75- 90 5-15 -
VA0041 6-20 GRV-SIL GRV-L GR-SIL 0- 15 30- 75 5-18 -
VA0041 20-28 GRV-SIL GRV-L GR-SL 0- 25 25- 50 2-15 -
VA0041 28-38 UWB - - - -
VA0236 0-6 GR-SIL GR-L 0- 5 45- 75 5-15 -
VA0236 6-20 GRV-SIL GRV-L GR-SIL 0- 15 30- 75 5-18 -
VA0236 20-28 GRV-SIL GRV-L GR-SL 0- 25 25- 50 2-15 -
VA0236 28-38 UWB - - - -
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll
VA0041 0-6 5.1- 6.5 .5-1. 0- 0 0.6- 6.0 LOW
VA0041 6-20 5.1- 6.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.6- 6.0 LOW
VA0041 20-28 5.1- 6.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.6- 6.0 LOW
VA0041 28-38 - - - 0.00-0.01
VA0236 0-6 5.1- 6.5 .5-1. 0- 0 0.6- 6.0 LOW
VA0236 6-20 5.1- 6.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.6- 6.0 LOW
VA0236 20-28 5.1- 6.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.6- 6.0 LOW
VA0236 28-38 - - - 0.00-0.01
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.