LOCATION CAVERNS VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Caverns sandy loam--in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap1--0 to 4 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine and medium roots; 5 percent rounded gravel; neutral; clear smooth boundary.
Ap2--4 to 10 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) sandy loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; common fine discontinuous pores; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of Ap horizon ranges from 0 to 10 inches.)
BA--10 to 18 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; many fine and medium discontinuous pores; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick.)
Bt--18 to 39 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and medium subangular blocky; friable, slightly sticky, nonplastic; many fine and medium discontinuous pores; few faint strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds and in pores; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) organic coatings on faces of peds; 1 percent rounded gravel; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (15 to 36 inches thick.)
C--39 to 72 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) and brown (7.5YR 4/3) sandy loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine discontinuous pores; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Shenandoah County, Virginia; 1 mile east of the intersection of US-11 and VA-675 at Edinburg, 2,000 feet north of VA-675 and 500 feet south of North Fork of Shenandoah River.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 30 to 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Gravel range from 0 to 15 percent in the solum and 0 to 30 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from moderately acid through neutral, unless limed.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam.
The BA horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is loamy sand, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction and is often stratified.
COMPETING SERIES: There are the similar Elevasil, Silverhill, and Zanoni soils. Elevasil, Silverhill, and Zanoni soils have an active CEC class
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Caverns soils are on low stream terraces and second bottom of flood plains. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. These soils formed in alluvium derived from limestones, sandstones, shales, siltstones, and quartzites. Climate is temperate and humid. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 50 to 57 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 45 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Alonzville, Berks, Botetourt, Broadway, Coursey, Derroc, Frederick, Gladehill, Groseclose, Gullion, Ingledove, Lehew, Moomaw, Newmarc, Nomberville, Shottower, Weikert, and Wolfgap soils. Alonzville, Coursey, and Ingledove soils contain more clay and are on similar landscapes. Berks, Lehew, and Weikert soils are shallower to bedrock, contain more rock fragments in the subsoil, and are on uplands. Broadway, Gladehill, Gullion, Newmarc, Nomberville, and Wolfgap soils have mollic epipedons and are on flood plains. Derroc soils contain more rock fragments in the subsoil and are on flood plains. Elevasil, Silverhill, and Zanoni soils have an active CEC class. Botetourt soils are moderately well drained and are on similar landscapes. Frederick and Groseclose soils contain more clay in the subsoil and are on uplands. Moomaw soils have fragipans and are on similar landscapes. Shottower soils contain more clay in the subsoil and are on high terraces.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium. Permeability is moderately rapid. Subject to flooding.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of these soils are cultivated. Corn, small grain, pasture, and hay are the principal crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Valley and Ridge physiographic province in Virginia, and possibly, West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The area is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Shenandoah County, Virginia, 1988.
REMARKS: CEC class from Shenandoah County, Virginia NASIS data.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 10 inches (the Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon - the zone from 18 to 39 inches (the Bt horizon).
Udic moisture regime.
Soils within the range of the Caverns series were correlated Chavies series in several published soil surveys.
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 similar soils and not on laboratory data. Class placement may be revised in the future when laboratory data are reviewed or become available.
Competing series, pedon description (including horizon nomenclature and/or descriptive terms), and other sections on the OSD were not revised.
Previous revision dates: 5/89
ADDITIONAL DATA: Morphological, chemical, textural, and mineralogical data are reported in:
Edmonds, W. J., D. D. Rector, D. A. Gall, D. R. Hatch, R. S. Joslyn, and J. C. Baker. 1987. Properties and classification of soils derived from stratified alluvium in the Valley and Ridge Province of Virginia. Va. Agric. Exp. Stn. Bull. 85-10.