LOCATION CAPSHAW TN+AL GAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Capshaw silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; common fine and medium black (10YR 2/1) manganese concretions; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 12 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; common fine black (10YR 2/1) concretions; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--12 to 19 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular and angular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; common fine and medium black (10YR 2/1) manganese concretions; few fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses as iron accumulations; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt3--19 to 32 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; many distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) clay films on faces of peds; common fine and medium black (10YR 2/1) manganese concretions; many fine and medium prominent red (2.5YR 4/6) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses as iron accumulations; many fine and medium distinct grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt4--32 to 46 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) clay; weak medium and coarse angular blocky structure; very firm; common distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3)clay films on faces of peds; common fine and medium black (10YR 2/1) and dark brown (10YR 3/3) manganese and iron concretions; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) soft masses as iron accumulations; many medium distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 22 to 54 inches.)
C--46 to 60 inches; 25 percent grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2), 25 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), 25 percent gray (N 6/0), and 25 percent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) clay; massive; very firm; many medium and large black (10YR 2/1) manganese concretions; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Rutherford County, Tennessee; 1 mile east from Sharpsville on Halls Hill Pike, then south 1 mile on gravel road, 300 feet west of gravel road and 250 feet north of private drive to abandoned house site.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Depth to limestone or interbedded limestone and calcareous shale bedrock ranges from 40 to about 80 inches. Fragments of chert or gravel range from 0 to 10 percent in each horizon. Reaction is moderately acid or strongly acid in the Ap and Bt horizons and ranges from moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the C horizon and the subhorizons just above bedrock.
The A and Ap horizons have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is silt loam or rarely loam.
Some pedons have a BE transitional horizon with colors similar to the Bt horizon. Texture is silt loam
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8, or hue of 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 or 6. Below depths of 10 inches from its upper boundary there are few to many redox depletions of 2 or lower chroma, and most pedons have few to many yellowish red or red redox accumulations below that depth. In some pedons the Bt4 horizon is a combination of gray, brown, and yellow colors representing redox depletions and accumulations without a dominant matrix color. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 10YR, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 1 to 4, or is neutral. Redoximorphic features range from common to many in shades of yellow, brown, and gray or is a combination of these colors representing redox accumulations and depletions without a dominant matrix color. Texture is commonly silty clay or clay and rarely silty clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: The Carbonton series is the only competing series in this family. Carbonton soils formed in residuum of the Triassic Basin of the Southern Piedmont.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Capshaw soils are on stream terraces, in slight depressions, and on broad nearly level uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 12 percent. The soil formed in old clayey alluvium, or partly in a thin mantle of loess or old alluvium and partly in underlying clayey residuum. Near the type location the average annual precipitation is 53.1 inches, and the average annual air temperature is 58.1 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Colbert, Lylerly, Conasauga, Mimosa, Tupelo, Egam, Arrington, Byler, Bradyville, and Talbott series. Talbott and Bradyville soils have reddish subsoils and are well-drained soils on uplands. Conasauga, Colbert, Lyerly, and Mimosa soils are on footslopes and hillsides. Byler soils are on stream terraces and have a fragipan. Tupelo soils are in slightly lower terrace positions and are somewhat poorly drained. Egam and Arrington soils have mollic epipedons and are on floodplains.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; low to medium runoff; slow or very slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the soil is cleared and used for corn, small grain, tobacco, hay, and pasture. A few areas are in woodland consisting of oak, hickory, maple, elm, hackberry, beech, dogwood, and red cedar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Nashville Basin, Highland Rim, and the Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys in Tennessee, northwestern Georgia, northern Alabama, and possibly Arkansas and Kentucky. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Norris Area (Union County), Tennessee; 1943.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon: 7 to 46 inches (Bt horizon).