LOCATION CHESTNUT                NC+GA TN VA

Established Series
MLS, MSH, BPS/ Rev. MDJ
05/2013

CHESTNUT SERIES

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Chestnut gravelly loam--forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated).

Oe--0 to 5 cm (0 to 2 inch); moderately decomposed leaves, twigs, and root mat; abrupt smooth boundary

A--5 to 20 cm (2 to 8 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; few fine flakes of mica; 20 percent granite gneiss gravel by volume; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 25 cm, 1 to 10 inches thick)

Bw--20 to 81 cm (8 to 32) inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; few fine flakes of mica; 20 percent granite gneiss gravel by volume; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (25 to 76 cm, 10 to 30 inches thick)

Cr--81 to 188 cm (32 to 74 inches); weathered, multicolored granite gneiss; rock structure; partly consolidated in place; excavation difficulty is high with hand tools; few fine roots in cracks; cracks are more than 10 cm (4 inches) apart; few fine flakes of mica; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (25 to127 cm, 10 to 50 inches thick)

R--188 cm (74 inches); unweathered, hard granite gneiss.

TYPE LOCATION:
County: Caldwell
State: North Carolina
USGS Quadrangle: Globe
Latitude: 36.09938783 N (NAD 27)
Longitude: 81.6912058 W (NAD 27) Directions to the pedon: 2.5 miles south of Blowing Rock on Globe Road (State Road 1367); 0.6 mile north of Tolbert Cemetery; 500 feet northwest of USFS trail; on north side of trail.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum Thickness: 38 to 99 cm (15 to 39 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches) to weathered bedrock (paralithic); greater than 152 cm (60 inches) to unweathered bedrock (lithic).
Depth Class: Moderately Deep
Rock Fragment content: 0 to 35 percent, by volume, but typically less than 20 percent throughout the profile.
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to moderately acid, except where limed
Content of Mica: 0 to 20 percent, by volume mica flakes throughout

Range of Individual Horizons:
A or Ap horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 6. Where value and chroma is 3 or less, surface horizons are less than 7 inches thick.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam.

AB or BA horizon (if they occur):
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 or 4.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam.

Bw horizon; BC horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 8.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam. Some pedons have thin subhorizons of sandy clay loam.

C horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 or 8; or is multicolored in shades of yellow, brown, red or gray.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand saprolite.
Non-redoximorphic mottles (if they occur)--shades of shades red, brown, yellow, or gray mottles of relic rock material are in some pedons.

Cr horizon:
Bedrock kind--felsic or mafic igneous or high-grade metamorphic rocks such as granite gneiss, granodiorite, biotite gneiss, and high-grade metagraywacke.
Bedrock hardness--moderately cemented
Fracture interval--greater than 10 cm (4 inches)
Excavation difficulty--moderate or high

R horizon:
Bedrock kind--felsic or mafic igneous or high-grade metamorphic rocks such as granite gneiss, granodiorite, biotite gneiss, and high-grade metagraywacke.
Bedrock hardness--Very strongly cemented to indurated
Fracture interval--greater than 10 cm (4 inches)
Excavation difficulty--Very high or extremely high

COMPETING SERIES:
Ashe soils--have lithic contact.
Buladean soils--have paralithic contact, depths of 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches).
Ditney soils--have lithic contact; formed in materials weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rocks.
Edneyville soils--very deep, more than 152 cm (60 inches).
Soco soils--formed in materials weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rocks.
Stecoah soils--have paralithic contact, depths of 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches); formed in materials weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rocks.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
MLRA(s) using this series: Southern Blue Ridge--130B
Landscape: Low and intermediate mountains and occasionally intermountain hills
Landform: Mountain slope, hillslopes, and ridges
Geomorphic Component: Mountain top, mountain flank, side slope, and interfluves
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, and backslope
Parent Material Origin: Felsic or mafic igneous or high-grade metamorphic rocks such as granite gneiss, granodiorite, biotite gneiss, and high-grade metagraywacke.
Parent Material Kind: Residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper solum.
Slope: Typically 15 to 95 percent, but range from 2 to 95 percent.
Elevation: 427 to 1524 meters; (1,400 to 5,000 feet)
Frost-free period: 1 30 to 210 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 8 to 14 degrees C (46 to 57 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1143 to 2286 millimeters (45 to 90 inches)

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
In addition to the competing Ashe, Buladean, and Edneyville series, these are:
Cowee, Edneytown, Evard, and Pigeonroost soils--with an argillic horizon, on related landscapes.
Brownwood, Cashiers, Chandler, Fannin, Micaville, and Watauga soils--are in a micaceous family on related landscapes. In addition Cashiers soils have thicker darker surface layers, on ridges and side slopes of cool north to east aspects.
Cleveland and Saluda soils--have bedrock within a depth of 51 cm (20 inches) on related landscapes.
Brevard, Cullasaja, Greenlee, Haywood, Saunook, Tate, Thunder, Tuckasegee, and Tusquitee soils--are on colluvial benches, toe slopes, and fans. In addition Cullasaja, Haywood, Saunook, Thunder, Tuckasegee, and Tusquitee soils have thicker, darker surface layers.
Huntdale, Plott, Porters, Trimont, and Unaka soils--with thicker darker surface layers, on ridges and side slopes of cool north to east aspects.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class: Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep
Index Surface Runoff: Very low or low runoff where forest litter has not been disturbed or only partially removed; low to medium runoff where litter has been removed.
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: High
Permeability Class (obsolete): Moderate rapid
Shrink-swell Class: Low
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland, less often pasture, hayland, and rarely cultivated crops.
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--scarlet oak, chestnut oak, white oak, black oak, hickory, eastern white pine, and Virginia pine. Yellow poplar and northern red oak occur in the north central mountains of MLRA 130-B. Understory species are dominantly mountain laurel, flowering dogwood, sourwood, chestnut sprouts, and buffalo nut. Where cleared--used for pasture and hay.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130-B) of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Extent: Large--more than 100,000 acres.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Caldwell County, North Carolina, 1983.

REMARKS:
Chestnut soils were previously mapped with the Ashe series. Field studies indicate that Chestnut soils have significantly higher forest productivity than Ashe soils.
The 12/97 revision changes the family placement to coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrochrepts per the 7th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy (1996). The CEC activity class placement is based on three pedons; S88-NC-121-005; S91-NC-111-002; and S77-TN-171-004. All three pedons have control section clay contents over 18%. Two of the three are in the active family while one is in the semiactive family. Since these soils may best fit Pigeonroost, additional future lab data may place Chestnut soils in a semiactive family. Horizon depths and runoff class were also revised at this time. The 2/99 revision updates classification to 8th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 20 cm, 0 to 8 inches (Oe and A horizons)
b. Cambic horizon--the zone from 20 to 81 cm, 8 to 32 inches (Bw horizons)
c. Paralithic contact - the contact with weathered rock at 81 cm, 32 inches (upper boundary of the Cr horizon).
d. Series control section--the zone from 25 to 102 cm, 10 to 40 inches

ADDITIONAL DATA:
Soil Characterization Data is available from the Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory (KSSL) website: http://ncsslabdatamart.sc.egov.usda.gov/querypage.aspx
SIR(s) (obsolete): NC0166, NC0242 (Stony)

Revised: 10/92-JMO, AG; 12/97-DHK; 2/99, 6/00, 8/01-MKC; 5/13-Semi tab format and minor changes to Range in Characteristics, MLRA 130B.
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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.