LOCATION CLARKRANGE              TN+KY

Established Series
Rev. DLN, JCJ
12/2021

CLARKRANGE SERIES


The Clarkrange series consists of very deep and deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in residuum weathered from shale and sandstone on uplands. These soils have a dense fragipan in the subsoil. Slopes are dominantly 2 to 8 percent, but range extends from 0 to 15 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Fragiudults

TYPICAL PEDON: Clarkrange silt loam, on a convex 3 percent slope, mixed hardwood and pine forest. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Oi--0 to 1 inch; partially decomposed leaves and pine needles.

A--1 to 2 inch; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; many fine and very fine discontinuous pores; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)

E--2 to 7 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; many fine discontinuous pores; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

BE--7 to 12 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; many fine discontinuous pores; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)

Bt1--12 to 19 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak fine and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few fine discontinuous pores; few fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick)

Bt2--19 to 25 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine discontinuous pores; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay films on faces of peds and in pores; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses as iron accumulations; common medium faint pale brown (10YR 6/3) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)

Btx1--25 to 33 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate thick platy and weak medium subangular blocky; very firm; few fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) clay films on faces of prisms; common medium and coarse light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and gray (10YR 6/1) silt and silt loam coatings as vertical seams 1/4 to 1 inch in width between prisms; many medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses as iron accumulations; many medium prominent light gray (10YR 7/1) and many medium faint pale brown (10YR 6/3) iron depletions; brittle in 60 percent of the mass; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (7 to 15 inches thick)

Btx2--33 to 46 inches; 34 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), 33 percent pale brown (10YR 6/3), and 33 percent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silt loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak thick platy structure and weak medium angular blocky; firm; few distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay films on faces of prisms; common medium and coarse light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and gray (10YR 6/1) silt and silt loam coatings as vertical seams 1/4 to 1 inch in width between prisms; brittle in 60 percent of the mass; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (12 to 19 inches thick)

BC--46 to 66 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses as iron accumulation; common medium prominent pale brown (10YR 6/3) iron depletions; approximately 10 percent by volume channers of shale; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)

R--66 inches; hard shale bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Fentress County, Tennessee; 4.3 miles east of Clarkrange, 4.4 miles east of the intersection U.S. Highway 127 and Tennessee Highway 62;0.8 mile west of the intersection of Tennessee Highway 62 and Lloyd Hall Loop, 1054 feet northwest of the intersection of Tennessee Highway 63 and Jonesville Road in woods. Jone Knob USGS Quad; Latitude: 36 degrees, 11 minutes, 8.7 seconds N; Longitude: 84 degrees, 56 minutes, 29.6 seconds W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to hard shale, siltstone, or sandstone bedrock ranges from 40 to 90 inches. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid in each horizon, except the surface is less acid where limed. Coarse fragments, mainly channers of shale, siltstone, or sandstone range from 0 to 10 percent from the surface to the bottom of the Btx horizon and from 10 to 70 percent in the BC horizon or C horizon where present.

The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or loam.

The E horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or loam.

The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma 4 to 8. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam

The Btx horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Redoximorphic features range from few to many in shades of gray, brown, red, and yellow. Texture is silt loam, loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam.

The BC horizon or C horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture of the fine earth fraction is clay loam, silt loam, loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay. A lithologic discontinuity is evident in most pedons, but is not a requirement of the series.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series recognized in this family at present. In closely related families are the Tilsit and Butlertown series. The Tilsit series differs only by having mixed mineralogy. The Butlertown series formed in Coastal Plain sediments and has mixed mineralogy.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Clarkrange soils are on broad plateaus, isolated hilltops, and undulating ridgetops. These soils formed in residuum weathered from shale, siltstone, sandstone, or interbedded sandstone and shale. In places, the upper part of the solum formed in a silty mantle of colluvium or loess. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. Near the type location the mean annual air temperature is 55.1 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation is 54.2 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gilpin, Lonewood, Muskingum, Ramsey, and Shelocta series. These soils do not have a fragipan and are better drained. Gilpin, Muskingum, Ramsey, and Shelocta soils are on adjacent sideslopes. Lonewood soils are on adjacent ridgetops and slightly lower sideslopes.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Clarkrange soils are moderately well drained. Runoff is low to medium. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan and slow to very slow in the fragipan.

USE AND VEGETATION: About half of the acreage is used for growing corn, small grain, tobacco, vegetable crops, hay, and pasture. The remainder is in forest. Native vegetation is chiefly oak, hickories, Virginia pine, yellow-poplar, blackgum, sweetgum, red maple, dogwood, beech, persimmon, and sassafras.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, Kentucky, and similar areas in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Fentress County, Tennessee; 1985.

REMARKS: These soils have been previously included in the Tilsit series in Tennessee.

Diagnostic horizons in this soil are:

Ochric epipedon- 1 to 7 inches (A, E horizons)

Argillic horizon- 12 to 25 inches (Bt and Btx horizons)

Fragipan- 25 to 46 inches (Btx1, Btx2 horizons)

12/2021 revision: Oi had 1 to 0 inch depths, corrected to be 0 to 1 in horizon depths then added 1 inch to all horizon depths throughout the typical pedon. WJN


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.