LOCATION COILE TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, thermic, shallow Ruptic-Ultic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Coile silt loam on a 7 percent slope - pastured. (Colors are for moist soil; Horizon depths were averaged from a three feet wide profile)
Ap--0 to 3 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 10 percent soft shale channers; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 7 inches thick)
Bw/Bt--3 to 10 inches; (Bw part, about 60 percent of profile) dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) very channery silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; 60 percent soft shale channers with common prominent manganese coatings; strongly acid; (Bt part, about 40 percent of profile) strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) channery clay; common medium prominent light brownish yellow (2.5Y 6/4) relict mottles; friable; common fine roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 30 percent soft shale channers with common prominent manganese coatings; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
C--10 to 18 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) channery clay; many medium prominent light brownish yellow (2.5Y 6/4) relict mottles from soft shale; massive; friable; very few fine and very fine roots; common coarse prominent very dark brown (10YR 2/2) masses of manganese; 20 percent soft shale channers; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (0 to 13 inches thick)
Cr--18 to 24 inches; thinly bedded light olive brown and light yellowish brown tilted shale with many manganese coatings and common strong brown clay coatings on rock faces; dip of the bedrock ranges from about 15 to 40 degrees within the profile; a few 1 to 3 inch seams of C material extends between shale layers. (10 to more than 40 inches thick)
TYPE LOCATION: McMinn County, Tennessee; about 2.7 miles south of the intersection of State Route 30 on U.S. Highway 11, 1.9 miles west on County Road 114 (Coile Road), 875 feet southwest of county road 114 and 875 feet due north of Interstate 75 rest area in a pasture field. Riceville Quadrangle 35 degrees 25' 57" north latitude 84 degrees 41' 16" west longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Cycles of Bt and Bw horizons range from 3 to about 15 feet apart and the size of each pedon ranges from 3 to about 15 square feet. The argillic horizon is discontinuous and a shallow paralithic contact is in at least part of each pedon. In areas where the paralithic contact is within 20 inches, the argillic horizon is usually less than 10 inches thick, if present, and the C horizon may not be present. Depth to soft bedrock ranges from 8 to 30 inches but averages less than 20 inches in each pedon. Depth to hard bedrock is more than 60 inches. Channers of shale range from 5 to 50 percent in the A horizon, from 15 to 75 percent in the Bw/Bt horizon, and from 15 to 80 percent in the C horizon. The soil is very strongly acid to moderately acid unless limed.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam or loam. In eroded areas, texture of fine-earth fraction may be silty clay loam.
The Bw/Bt horizon; The Bw part has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, silty clay loam, or loam. The Bt part has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is clay, clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or loam. Relict mottles, mostly from decomposed shale channers, are in shades of yellow, brown or olive and range from none to many. Manganese masses, concretions, and coatings on rock fragments range from none to many. Some clayey areas may have hue of 2.5YR.
The C horizon, has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Relict mottles in shades of yellow, brown or olive, range from none to many. Manganese masses, concretions, and coatings on rock fragments range none to many. Some areas may have hue of 2.5YR. Intrusions of soft shale ranging from 1/4 inch to 2 inches thick are common and have the same dip as the Cr horizon. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is clay, clay loam, loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay.
The Cr horizon is thin-bedded, brown, yellow or olive soft shale that is tilted and folded. Many rock fragments have manganese, silt, or clay coatings.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Litz, Ranger, and Steekee series are in closely related families. Litz and Ranger soils are in a mesic family and do not have a paralithic contact within 20 inches. Steekee soils are in a loamy family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Coile soils are in broad valleys. They are on gently sloping to steep ridges and side slopes. Coile soils formed in residuum from tilted and folded acid shale of the Conasauga shale or group. Slopes range from 2 to 65 percent. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 58 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation is 56.5 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Albertville, Apison, Armuchee, Montevallo, and Townley series. Albertville, Apison, Armuchee, and Townley soils have continuous argillic horizons. Albertville soils are in a clayey family and are deep to a paralithic contact. Apison soils are in a fine-loamy family and are moderately deep to a paralithic contact. Armuchee soils are in a clayey family and have argillic horizons less than 10 inches thick. Montevallo soils do not have an argillic horizon. Townley soils have are in a clayey family and are moderately deep to a paralithic contact.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff is medium to rapid; permeability is moderate to moderately slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: About 60 percent of the area is cleared and used for pasture and hay. The remaining area is in forest consisting of upland oaks, hickory, and pines.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys (MLRA 128) in Tennessee and possibly Alabama and Georgia. The series is extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES PROPOSED: McMinn County, Tennessee, 1994.
REMARKS: Coile soils were included in the Litz Series in many older soil surveys and have been correlated as complexes of Montevallo and Townley soils in more recent soil surveys. The Ruptic feature is not easily observable in small excavations. A long trench or road cut is needed to determine distance between cycles, pedon size, and average horizon depths.
Diagnostic horizon and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 3 inches.
Ruptic feature: 3 to 10 inches.
Paralithic contact: 18 inches average, but ranges from about 8 to 28 inches in the typical pedon.
SIR Number: TN1302