LOCATION BRENTSVILLE VA+MDEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Brentsville sandy loam in hardwood forest on a side slope with 7 to 15 percent slopes. (Colors are for moist soils.)
A--0 to 2 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) sandy loam; weak, fine granular structure; very friable; many fine, medium and coarse roots; 3 percent quartz gravel up to 1/2 inch in diameter; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)
E--2 to 11 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine, medium and coarse roots; 3 percent rounded quartz gravel up to 1 inch in diameter, extremely acid; clear smooth boundary (0 to 12 inches thick)
Bt--11 to 26 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) sandy loam; weak, fine, and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable, slightly sticky; common fine and medium roots; 3 percent quartz gravel up to 1/2 inch in diameter; few thin patchy clay films; few fine pores; extremely acid; gradual wavy boundary (10 to 28 inches thick)
C--26 to 34 inches; dusky red (lOR 3/3) sandy loam; massive; very friable; few fine roots; 15 percent rounded quartz gravel up to 1/2 inch in diameter extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Cr--34 to 38 inches; dusky red (lOR 3/3) weathered medium-grain Triassic sandstone; compact and slightly brittle in place.
R--38 inches; hard medium-grain dusky red (lOR 3/3) Triassic sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Prince William County, Virginia, Barret Forest Subdivision, 250 feet west of County Route 649, 1/2 mile north of Broad Run.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum thickness and depth to hard bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments of rounded quartz gravel and sandstone fragments range from 2 to 35 percent in the A horizon, and from 2 to 40 percent in the Bt horizon. Rock fragments range from 15 to 35 percent in the C horizon. Soil reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid, unless limed.
The A horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, with value of 3 through 5 and chroma of 2 through 6. Texture is sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction.
Where present, the Ap horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 3 through 5 and chroma of 3 through 6. It is sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5 YR through 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR through lOR, value of 3 through 5 and chroma of 3 to 6. It is sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR through lOR, value of 3 through 5 and chroma of 3 to 6. It is sandy loam, or loam, in the fine earth fraction.
The Cr horizon is dense-in-place but well-weathered red acid sandstone that can be dug with hand tools.
The R horizon is hard red acid Triassic sandstone not removable with hand equipment.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Dunellen, Lansdale and Rigley. The Dunellen soils are more than 48 inches to bedrock and are developed in stratified materials on glacial outwash plains and stream terraces. The Lansdale soils have bedrock more than 40 inches deep and formed in residuum weathered from Arkosic sandstone and conglomerate. The Rigley soils have bedrock more than 60 inches deep and formed in colluvium from sandstone and siltstone.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Brentsville soils are on ridges and side slopes in dissected landscapes of the Culpeper Basin of the Northern part of the Piedmont Plateau. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. The soils are formed in residuum of weathered, red, acid sandstones and conglomerate sandstone. The mean annual temperature ranges from 53 to 57 degrees F.; the mean annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 44 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the moderately well to somewhat poorly drained Calverton, well to moderately well drained Manassas and the well drained Nestoria soils. Calverton soils are on side and foot slopes have a fragipan layer. Nestoria soils have a paralithic contact within 20 inches of the surface; Manassas soils are in concave positions on toe slopes and along drainageways and have fine-loamy control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to medium runoff; permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in forest or pasture. Native vegetation is oak-hickory forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Culpeper Basin of Virginia and possibly in the western part of the Gettysburg Basin of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Prince William County, Virginia, 1985.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Laboratory data for the typifying pedon and support pedons are available from the Soil Survey Lab, Virginia Tech. This soil was formerly included in the Lewisberry Series and as a Penn Sandy Loam. The Lewisberry Series has thicker sola and is deeper to rock, and the Penn Series is finer textured and has more than 35 percent base saturation in the chemical control section.