LOCATION BRUSHY VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Brushy on a 28 percent slope, forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated)
Oe--0 to 2 inches; partially decomposed hardwood litter.
A--2 to 7 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) extremely gravelly loam; weak fine granular structure; friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; 75 percent chert gravel; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
E--7 to 13 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, non sticky, non plastic; common very fine and fine roots; 55 percent chert gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--13 to 27 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very gravelly clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 45 percent chert gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--27 to 34 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very gravelly clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 40 percent chert gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (combined thickness of Bt horizon is 15 to 30 inches)
R--34 inches; hard cherty limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Smyth County, Virginia; on Walker Mountain, about 1.75 miles northeast of the intersection of VA-617 and VA-659; 1.25 miles west northwest of Grove Church; about .2 mile north of Old Shannon Gap Road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum thickness and depth to hard bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Chert gravel ranges from 25 to 80 percent with more than 35 percent by volume in the particle size control section. Reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid throughout.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Horizons with value of 3 are less than 6 inches thick. It is loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. It is loam, clay loam, or sandy clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: The Pocono series is in the same family. The Grimsley, Joppa and Oriskany soils are in a related family and may become competitors as their classification is updated to the ninth edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy. The Pocono, Joppa and Oriskany soils are all very deep to a lithic contact. The Grimsley soils are deep to a lithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Brushy soils formed in residuum from cherty limestone, and some areas have been influenced by colluvial action/soil creep. They are on mountain summits, shoulders, and side slopes. Slope gradients range from 2 to 70 percent. Climate is humid continental. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 50 to 56 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 45 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Berks, Calvin, Drypond, Laidig, Lily, and Murrill soils. Berks, Calvin, and Drypond soils have cambic horizons and are on similar landscape positions. Laidig, Lily, and Murrill soils contain less than 35 percent rock fragments by volume in the particle size control section and are on the lower side slope and footslope positions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff potential is medium to very high. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Soils are used to grow trees consisting of oaks, hickories, and yellow-poplar. Dogwood, hemlock, and mountain laurel are in the understory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 128, Virginia and possibly West Virginia and Tennessee. The soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Smyth County, Virginia, 1992.
REMARKS: Soils now within the range of the Brushy series were correlated Clarksville and Elliber in previous soil surveys.
Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon, the surface from 0 to 13 inches. (A and E horizons)
b. Argillic horizon, the horizons from 13 to 34 inches. (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons)
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. (PSA, chemical, and mineralogical)