LOCATION CHISWELL VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic, shallow Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Chiswell very channery silt loam - on a 29 percent convex south-facing slope in a hardwood forest. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 3 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) very channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many very fine, fine, and medium roots; 45 percent rock fragments; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bw--3 to 13 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) very channery silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; common faint silt coatings on rock fragments; 50 percent rock fragments; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 15 inches thick)
Cr--13 to 72 inches; mottled yellowish red (5YR 5/6) and reddish brown (5YR 4/4) weathered shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Wythe County, Virginia; about 0.5 mile southeast (137 degrees) of the junction of VA-619 and VA-629 and 1.5 miles east (88 degrees) of the junction of VA-627 and VA-628.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 5 to 19 inches. Depth to soft bedrock ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Rock fragments of shale, siltstone, or fine-grained sandstone range from 5 to 70 percent in the A horizon, from 20 to 80 percent in the Bw horizon, and from 45 to 90 percent in the C horizon. Rock fragments average more than 35 percent in the textural control section. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through moderately acid, unless limed.
The A horizon,where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 5. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 5. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bw horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is silt loam, loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The C horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 8. It is silt loam, loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Cr horizon is weathered shale, siltstone, or interbedded sandstone.
COMPETING SERIES: Cataska and Petros soils are in the same family. Cataska soils have slate or phyllite rock fragments and occur mostly in the Blue ridge physiographic province. Petros soils have hard bedrock within a depth of 20 to 40 inches, and occur mostly on high ridge tops in the Cumberland Plateau.
Klinesville, Nassau, Sylvatus, Unicoi, and Weikert soils are in closely related families. These soils have hard bedrock between depths of 10 and 20 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Chiswell soils formed in materials weathered from shale, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone. They are on gently sloping ridgetops and very steep convex sideslopes in the Ridge and Valley province. Slopes range from 2 to 80 percent. The climate is temperate and humid. The mean air temperature ranges from 53 to 56 degrees F. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 45 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Austinville, Frederick, Groseclose, Litz, Marbie, Rayne, and Shelocta series. The Austinville, Frederick, Groseclose, and Rayne soils are deeper to bedrock, have continuous argillic horizons, and occur on similar landscape positions. Litz soils are deeper to bedrock, have discontinuous argillic horizons, and occur on similar landscape positions. Marbie and Shelocta soils are deeper to bedrock, have continuous argillic horizons, and occur along drainageways and in upland depressions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate. Runoff is medium to very rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods and pines. Northern aspects of steeper slopes commonly are wooded. Southern aspects and lower slope gradients are usually cleared and used for pasture and hay crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia and possibly West Virginia, Maryland, and Tennessee. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wythe County, Virginia, 1989.
REMARKS: Soils now within the range of the Chiswell series were correlated in Berks, Klinesville, Webbtown, and Weikert in several published soil surveys. The Chiswell soils are mapped on the Rome- Waynesboro formation. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: 1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 3 inches (A horizon). 2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 3 to 13 inches (Bw horizon). 3. Paralithic contact - shallow depth to soft shale bedrock at 13 inches (Cr horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Ranges for morphology, chemistry, particle-size distribution, and sand and silt minerals are based on 21 pedons. Ranges for clay minerals are based on 12 pedons. Dominant minerals in the sand fraction are quartz, 11 to 89 percent, and feldspar, 8 to 36 percent. Dominant minerals in the silt fraction are quartz, 53 to 83 percent, and feldspar, 17 to 46 percent. Dominant minerals in the clay fraction are mica, 11 to 74 percent; quartz, 5 to 45 percent; vermiculite, 5 to 28 percent; and kaolinite, 2 to 7 percent. Some of these data are contained in: 1. Edmonds, W. J. l983. Grouping of soil profiles in three mapping units by conventional and numerical classifications. Ph. D. Thesis. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. Blacksburg. (Diss. Abstr. 83-16872). 2. Edmonds, W. J., D. D. Rector, N. O. Wilson, and T. L. Arnold. 1986. Properties, classification, and upland oak site quality for residual soils derived from shales, phyllites, siltstones and sandstones in southwestern Virginia. Va. Agric. Exp. Stn. 86-5. 3. Edmonds, W. J. and M. Lentner. 1987. Soil series differentiae selected by discriminant analysis based on ranks. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 51: in press.