LOCATION COLLEGEDALE        TN
Established Series
Rev. NTH; Rev. MKC
08/2001

COLLEGEDALE SERIES


The Collegedale series consists of very deep, well drained soils with moderately slow permeability. These soils formed in material weathered from limestone or limestone interbedded with shale on uplands. Mean annual temperature is 60 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 54 inches. Slopes range from 2 to 35 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Paleudults

TYPICAL PEDON: Collegedale silt loam--pastureland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 6 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many grass roots; few fine fragments of chert less than 1 inch across; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

Bt1--6 to 16 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; plastic; common grass roots; thin distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt2--16 to 22 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay, few fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very firm, plastic; few grass roots; thin distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt3--22 to 32 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) clay, common medium and coarse distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/6), olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6), and red (2.5YR 5/6) mottles; moderate medium angular blocky structure parting to moderate fine angular blocky; very firm, plastic; thin distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.

Bt4--32 to 53 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) clay, many medium and coarse faint and distinct mottles of red (2.5YR 5/6), light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), and olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6); moderate medium angular blocky structure parting to moderate fine angular blocky; very firm, plastic; thin faint clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (15 to 25 inches thick)

Bt5--53 to 80 inches; mottled yellowish red (5YR 5/6), light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), red (2.5YR 5/6), light gray (10YR 7/2), and olive yellow clay; weak medium angular blocky structure; very firm, plastic; thin faint clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid. (combined thickness of the Bt horizon is greater than 50 inches)

TYPE LOCATION: Hamilton County, Tennessee; from Collegedale 1.5 miles northeast on Tallant Road; left on private drive 200 yards to twin cedar trees; west 100 feet to bank behind farm structure.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to limestone bedrock exceed 60 inches. The soil is strongly acid or very strongly acid throughout except the surface layer where limed. Amount of chert gravel or shale channers ranges from none to about 10 percent by volume in each horizon. Most commonly, chert fragments are less than 2 inches across and are concentrated in the A horizon and the uppermost layer of the B horizon. Shale fragments occur in the lower parts of profiles where the soil formed in limestone interbedded with thin seams of shale.

The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is silt loam. Eroded pedons have hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is silt loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.

The BA horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5YR value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is silty clay loam or silt loam.

The Bt horizons have hue o 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 6 to 8. It commonly has mottles in shades of brown, yellow, and olive, or they are profusely mottled with red, yellow, brown, and olive mottles. Some pedons are mottled with gray in the lower part. Texture is clay or silty clay except the upper few inches is silty clay loam in some pedons. They are firm or very firm when moist and plastic or very plastic when wet.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the only series in this family. The Caroline and Shubuta series are in closely related families. These soils formed in coastal plain sediments and do not have fragments of chert or shale.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Collegedale soils are on uplands in valleys underlain by limestone. These soils have 2 to 35 percent slopes. The soil formed in clayey residuum weathered from limestone which, in some places, is layered with shale. Near the type location mean annual temperature is 60 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 53.6 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Carbo, Colbert, Enders, Fullerton, Gladeville and Talbott series. Colbert, Carbo, Enders and Talbott soils are on similar adjacent positions and are less than 40 inches to bedrock. Fullerton soils are on higher ridges and have more than 15 percent coarse fragments of chert in each horizon. Gladeville soils are on similar positions and are less than 12 inches to limestone rock.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium and rapid runoff; moderately slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: The principal use is pasture. A small acreage is used for producing hay crops, small grains, cotton, and corn. In Hamilton County a fairly large acreage has been used for urban development. The original vegetation was forest of mixed hardwoods

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The southern Appalachian and Valleys Province in eastern Tennessee, and possibly Alabama and Georgia. The series is of moderate extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Anderson County, Tennessee; 1978.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 6 inched (Ap horizon)

Argillic horizon - from 6 to 80 inches (Bt horizon)

Additional remarks - Previously in Tennessee, these soils have been classified in the Dewey, Fullerton, Talbott, and Enders series.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.