LOCATION CAROLINE                VA+NC SC

Established Series
DDR-EPE, Rev MHC
10/2021

CAROLINE SERIES


Soils of the Caroline series are very deep, well drained, and have moderately slow or slow permeability. They formed in clayey fluvial and marine sediments on the upper and middle part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 41 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 58 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, subactive, thermic Typic Paleudults

TYPICAL PEDON: Caroline fine sandy loam - pine woodland. (Colors are for moist soils.)

0i--0 to 2 inches; partially decayed pine needles and twigs mixed with very dark grayish brown highly decomposed organic matter.

A--2 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; common fine pores; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)

E--6 to 11 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) fine sandy loam; weak fine and very fine granular structure; very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine medium and coarse roots; few fine pores; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

Bt1--11 to 15 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky, plastic; common fine and medium roots; few fine and very fine pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent quartz gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt2--15 to 24 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; few fine and medium roots; few fine and very fine pores; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent quartz gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt3--24 to 37 inches; mottled yellowish red (5YR 4/6) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay loam; moderate medium platy structure parting to moderate fine and medium angular and subangular blocky; firm, sticky, plastic; moderately compact in place; few fine roots; few fine pores; common distinct yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.

Bt4--37 to 67 inches; mottled yellowish red (5YR 4/6), gray (10YR 6/1), and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay loam; very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak coarse subangular blocky; firm, sticky, plastic; slightly compact in place; few fine roots; few fine pores; few faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; thin and moderately thick yellowish brown clay flows on surfaces of prisms; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.

Bt5--67 to 86 inches; mottled strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), brownish yellow (10YR 6/8), and gray (10YR 6/1) clay loam; weak very coarse angular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; few distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; 3 percent quartz gravel; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combine thickness of the Bt horizon ranches from 40 to 90 inches.)

C--86 to 101 inches; mottled light gray (light gray, 10YR 7/1; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8); and yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay loam; massive; very firm, sticky, plastic; 3 percent quartz gravel; very strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Stafford County, Virginia; White Oak Crossroads on west side of VA-603, 300 yards south of VA-218.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum thickness ranges from 45 to 84 inches or more. Rock fragments of ironstone or quartz gravel make up 0 to 10 percent of the solum and 0 to 20 percent of the C horizon. Depth to stratified layers of sandy, clayey, or gravelly soil materials is over 5 feet. The soil ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid unless limed.

The A horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8. Where value of 2 or 3, it is less than 6 inches thick. It is loamy sand, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam. Eroded areas include clay loam or sandy clay loam.

The Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam. Eroded areas include clay loam or sandy clay loam.

The E horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam or silt loam.

The BE or BA horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. It is silt loam, loam, clay loam, or sandy clay loam.

The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 6 or 8. High or low chroma mottles are few to many in the middle and lower part of the Bt horizon (see remarks). The lower part of the Bt horizon is variegated or mottled without dominant matrix hue in some pedons. The Bt horizon is clay loam, sandy clay, or clay. Some pedons have subhorizons of sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay. The Bt horizon has moderate subangular blocky structure in the upper part and grades to platy or prismatic in the lower part of some pedons.

The BC horizon, where present, is variegated or mottled without dominant matrix hue and with high and low value and chroma. It is clay loam, sandy clay loam, or clay.

The C horizon has colors and mottles similar to those of the lower part of the Bt horizon. It commonly is stratified and includes fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam, sandy clay, or clay in the fine earth fraction.

COMPETING SERIES: ( Section not checked this revision; particle-size and activity class changed) These are the Collegedale and Shubuta series in the same family. The Collegedale soils have mean annual precipitation of 54 inches. The Shubuta soils do not have mottles in the lower Bt horizons.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Caroline soils are in the upper and middle parts of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The relief is nearly level to moderately steep and gradients range from 0 to 25 percent. The soils formed in clayey marine and fluvial sediments. They have a perched water table ranging from 40 to 60 inches deep. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 46 inches and mean annual temperature ranges from 58 to 62 degrees F.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the competing Craven, Faceville, and Norfolk series these are the Bourne, Emporia, Kempsville, Lenoir, Rumford, Slagle, and Suffolk soils. Bourne soils have a fragipan. Emporia, Kempsville, Slagle, and Suffolk soils are fine-loamy. Lenoir soils are somewhat poorly drained. Rumford soils are coarse-loamy.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to very rapid surface runoff; moderately slow or slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for growing corn, small grain, clover, soybeans, truck crops, and pasture. Large areas of this soil are in Virginia pine. Natural vegetation includes white, red, and black oak, hickory, sweetgum, blackgum, dogwood, holly, red maple, black cherry, sassafras, and Virginia, shortleaf and loblolly pine.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and southern Maryland. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Duplin County, North Carolina, 1955.

REMARKS: 1. Mottles with chroma of two or less that are within 30 inches of the soil surface are inherited. 2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

a. Ochric epipedon from 0 to 11 inches (O, A and E horizons).
b. Argillic horizon from 11 to 86 inches.

The soil horizon depths were revised on 10/2021 to ensure the description began at the soil surface.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Petrographic analysis (Beltsville Lab, sample #6719) indicates 2 percent weatherable minerals (feldspars) in the 20-200 micron fraction of the control section and mixed mineralogy in the clay fraction. VPI samples P653-654 indicate 52 percent clay in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon.

TABULAR SERIES DATA:

SOI-5  Soil Name   Slope  Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip  Elevation
VA0029 CAROLINE    0- 25   58- 62  195-240  38- 46    25- 250 

SOI-5  FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind   Months  Bedrock Hardness
VA0029 NONE          3.5-5.0  PERCHED  JAN-APR  60-60        

SOI-5  Depth  Texture                3-Inch  No-10  Clay%   -CEC-
VA0029  0- 11  FSL SL                  0-  0  85-100 10-20    -   
VA0029  0- 11  L SIL VFSL              0-  0  85-100 15-25    -   
VA0029  0- 11  CL SCL                  0-  0  85-100 30-40    -   
VA0029  11-86  CL C SIC                0-  0  85-100 35-55    -   
VA0029 86-101  CL C GR-FSL             0-  0  70-100 15-45    -   

SOI-5  Depth    -pH-     O.M.  Salin  Permeab   Shnk-Swll
VA0029  0- 11  3.6- 5.5  .5-2.  0- 0   0.6- 6.0  LOW      
VA0029  0- 11  3.6- 5.5  .5-2.  0- 0   0.6- 2.0  LOW      
VA0029  0- 11  3.6- 5.5  .5-1.  0- 0   0.6- 2.0  MODERATE 
VA0029  11-86  3.6- 5.5  0.-.5  0- 0  0.06- 0.6  MODERATE 
VA0029 86-101  3.6- 5.5  0.-.5  0- 0  0.06- 0.6  MODERATE  



National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.