LOCATION CRANSTON KYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Cranston gravelly silt loam--forest. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oi--1-1/2 inches to 1/2 inch; hardwood leaves and
twigs.
Oe--1/2 inch to 0; partially decomposed leaves and
twigs.
A--0 to 5 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 53 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
BE--5 to 13 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) gravelly silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure parting to weak coarse granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; 20 percent gravel; few small pores; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--13 to 23 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly silt loam; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few roots; common thin clay films on peds; 30 percent gravel; few small pores; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 14 inches thick)
Bt2--23 to 31 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly silt loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; common thin clay films on peds; 15 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)
Bt3--31 to 50 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) gravelly silt loam; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few medium roots; few thin clay films on peds; 15 percent gravel; common small cavities; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (15 to 30 inches thick)
C--50 to 76 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly silt loam; massive; friable; few medium roots; 25 percent gravel and channers; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Rowan County, Kentucky; three miles north of the Poppin Rock Tunnel, at Paragon, on Kentucky Highway 519, about 7 miles south of Morehead; thence 500 yards eastward up the hollow. The site is on the lower third of the north facing slope.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches. The depth to acid siltstone or shale bedrock ranges from 4 to 20 feet. Coarse fragments are pebbles or channers of acid siltstone and range from 5 to 60 percent by volume in the A horizons, from 15 to 45 percent in subhorizons of the B horizon, and from 15 to 60 percent in the C horizon; weighted average in the control section is less than 35 percent. The fine earth fraction throughout the soil is silt loam. Soil reaction ranges from strongly acid through extremely acid, except where limed; the Ap horizon ranges to neutral.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, values of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 or 3.
Some pedons have Ap or E horizons with hue of 10R or 2.5Y, values of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 or 4.
The BE horizons has hues of 10YR or 2.5Y, values and chroma of 4 through 6.
The Bt horizons have hues of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, values of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 through 6.
The C horizon has hues of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, values of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 to 6. In some pedons the BC and C horizons have few to common grayish mottles.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chavies, Highfield, Lewisberry, Tracy and Watertown series. Chavies soils have fine sandy loam or loam B horizons and less than 15 percent coarse fragments in the solum. Highfield soils have sola less than 40 inches thick and coarse fragments are metorhyolte, schist, rhyolite, or sandstone. Lewisberry soils have hue of 5YR or redder. Tracy and Watertown soils have formed in glacial outwash and Tracy soils have a high content of shale fragments. Rigley and Shelocta are similar soils which have less than 35 percent base saturation; in addition, in Rigley soils the fine earth fraction of the B horizon is sandy loam or loam, and Shelocta soils have particle-size control sections with more than 18 percent clay.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Side slopes, foot slopes, and fans with slopes of 2 to 60 percent. Cranston soils formed in colluvium from dominantly acid siltstone origin. Near the type location the average annual precipitation is about 46 inches, and the average annual temperature is about 56 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Shelocta series, and the Berks, Cuba, Gilpin, Morehead, and Whitley series. Berks soils have more than 35 percent coarse fragments, are 20 to 40 inches to bedrock, and lack an argillic horizon. Cuba soils lack an argillic horizon and coarse fragments. Gilpin soils have an argillic horizon with more than 18 percent clay, and bedrock at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Morehead soils have less than 15 percent coarse fragments, and grayish mottles in the B horizons. Whitley soils have less than 6 percent coarse fragments and more than 18 percent clay in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained with medium runoff and moderately rapid permeability. Depth to the water table is more than 6 feet.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested mainly with white oak, scarlet oak, and hickories, with some beech, cucumber, yellow-poplar, and shortleaf pine. Some of the less steep areas are used for growing corn, tobacco, and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Mountains and Knobs regions of Kentucky and possibly similar areas in Ohio, and West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Rowan County, Kentucky; 1971.
REMARKS:The 1975 revision changes the classification of the Cranston soils from Typic Hapludalfs to Ultic Hapludalfs. Base saturation on six widely scattered samples in Greenup County, Kentucky, ranged from 40 to 70 percent; only one was more that 60 percent. Cranston soils were fromerly included with the Shelocta series.
Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon-the zone from 0 to 5 inches (A).
Argillic horizon-the zone from 13 to 50 inches (Bt1,Bt2,Bt3).
Additional Data: Characterization data: S92KY-205-4 -University of Kentucky.