LOCATION BUCKHALL VA
Established Series
Rev. RE, JWB
02/2022
BUCKHALL SERIES
Soils of the Buckhall series are very deep, well drained with moderate permeability. They formed in residuum that weathered from granite gneiss and schist of the Northern Piedmont Plateau. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches and mean annual temperature is about 57 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Buckhall loam on a 2 percent slope in a mixed hardwood and pine forest.(Colors are for moist soil).
Oi--0 to 1 inch; partially decomposed hardwood leaves, pine needles and twigs.
A--1 to 2 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam; moderate fine and very fine granular structure; very friable; many fine medium and coarse roots; 2 percent angular quartz gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick.)
E--2 to 8 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) loam; moderate fine and very fine granular structure; very friable; many fine medium and coarse roots; 2 percent angular quartz gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick.)
BE--8 to 13 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) clay loam; moderate fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; very few faint clay films on faces of peds; 1 percent angular quartz gravel; few fine flakes of mica; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt1--13 to 31 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, plastic; common fine roots; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; 1 percent angular quartz gravel; common fine flakes of mica; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--31 to 44 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay; many fine and medium brownish yellow (10YR 6/8), reddish yellow (5YR 6/8), and pale brown (10YR 6/3) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly plastic; few fine roots; many faint and distinct clay films on faces of peds; 1 percent angular quartz gravel; common fine flakes of mica; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combine thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 20 to 40 inches.)
C--44 to 73 inches; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8) sandy loam; strongly weathered granite gneiss saprolite; many fine medium distinct yellowish red (5YR 5/8), white (10YR 8/1), red (2.5YR 5/8), and brown (7.5YR 5/4) mottles; massive; very friable; few fine roots; many fine flakes of mica; 1 percent angular quartz gravel; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Prince William County, Virginia; in Prince William Forest Park about 600 feet north of Park Central Road and about 85 feet east of Burma Road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness, ranges from 25 to more than 50 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. The C horizon is saprolite from granite gneiss or schist commonly many feet thick. Rock fragments of angular vein quartz gravel up to 3 inches range from 0 to 15 percent. Some pedons have up to 5 percent angular cobbles up to 10 inches in diameter. This soil is very strongly acid or strongly acid, unless limed.
The thin A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y or is neutral, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 0 through 3. It is loam, sandy loam or sandy clay loam. The Ap horizon, where present, includes clay and sandy clay loam in eroded areas, value of 5 through 7, and chroma of 4 or 6.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 through 7 and chroma of 3 through 6. It is loam, sandy loam or coarse sandy loam.
The BE horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 through 8. It is loam, clay loam, or sandy clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 4 through 8. It is clay loam or clay. Some pedons have a BC horizon which has similar colors as the Bt horizon. It is loam, sandy clay loam or clay. Mottles in shades of brown, red, yellow and white are in the lower horizon.
The C horizon is commonly multicolored in shades of red, yellow, brown and white. Texture is loam, sandy loam, sandy clay loam or clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Boden,
Braddock,
Buffstat,
Casville,
Christian,
Clifton,
Clover,
Danripple,
Flagspring,
Goresville,
Groseclose,
Howell, Mount
Rush,
Muse,
Sequoia,
Spears Mountain,
Totier,
Unison,
Warminster, and
Yellowbottom soils. Boden, soils have a lithic contact at 40 to 60 inches. Braddock soils have a solum 40 to 60 inches deep to saprolite. Buffstat, Totier, and Warminster soils are 40 to 60 inches deep to a paralithic contact. Casville, Christian, Danripple, Flagspring, Goresville, Howell, Muse, Unison, and Yellowbottom soils have no saprolite layer within 60 inches. Clifton soils formed in residuum from acid rocks high in ferromagnesium minerals and have Bt horizons with hue centered on 2.5YR. Clover soils formed in residuum weathered from Triassic age materials. Groseclose soils have more than 30 percent parachanners in the lower part of the series control section. Mount Rush, Sequoia, and Spears Mountain soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to a paralithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Buckhall soils are on ridgetops and side slopes of the Northern Piedmont Plateau. Slope gradients range from 0 to 25 percent. These soils developed in residuum that weathered from granite, gneiss and schist. Mean
annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 44 inches and mean annual temperature ranges from 52 to 57 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the competing
Fairfax soils, these are the
Baile,
Chester, Hoadley,
Meadowville and
Occoquan soils. The Baile and Hoadley soils have a water table less than 18 inches deep and are on lower landscape positions. The Meadowville soils have a seasonal high water table between 36 and 60 inches. The Chester soils have less than 35 percent clay in the control section and a higher content of mica in the lower part of the B horizon
and in the C horizon. The
Occoquan soils have thinner sola and are 40 to 60 inches to soft bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium surface runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largest acreage is in pine and hardwood forest. Many areas are used for residential and commercial development. Some acreage is used for general crops such as corn, soybeans, small grains, pasture and hay. Woodland vegetation is mostly northern red oak, yellow-poplar, loblolly pine, Virginia pine and white oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Virginia and Maryland. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Greene County, Virginia, 1983.
REMARKS: The Buckhall series has previously been included in Appling and Wedowee series, both of which are in thermic
temperature zones and have kaolinitic mineralogy.
The 12/2005 revision updates this soil to the 9th Edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy (2003). The CEC activity class placement is based on NASIS data from Prince William County, Virginia. Class placement may be revised in the future when laboratory data are reviewed or become available. In addition, the typical pedon description and the Competing Series section were revised. Other sections on the OSD were not revised.
2/2022 revision: Oi had 2 to 0 inch depths, corrected to be 0 to 2 in horizon depths then added 2 inches to all horizon depths throughout the typical pedon. WJN
Previous revision dates: 1/83--DLK, JHE, DDR
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.