LOCATION CROSSNORE               NC

Established Series
Rev. JWT-JAK-DHK-MKC
03/2022

CROSSNORE SERIES

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, isotic, mesic Humic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Crossnore gravelly sandy loam on a 48 percent slope mountain side slope, elevation 4,260 feet--forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) gravelly sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine, and few medium roots; 20 percent by volume gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)

Bw--7 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium roots; 18 percent by volume gravel; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 29 inches thick)

BC--16 to 22 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) gravelly sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and few medium roots; 18 percent by volume gravel; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)

C--22 to 30 inches; multicolored gravelly loamy sand saprolite in shades of brown, yellow, and white; massive; friable; few very fine and fine roots; 20 percent by volume gravel; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)

Cr--30 to 61 inches; weathered, multicolored, partially consolidated low-grade metasandstone that can be dug with difficulty by spade.

TYPE LOCATION: Avery, North Carolina; about 0.2 miles east of Linville, North Carolina on U.S. Highway 221, 1.9 miles south on secondary road 1510, 50 feet northwest of road in woods; Grandfather Mountain USGS quadrangle: lat. 36 degrees 04 minutes 45 seconds N., and long. 81 degrees 51 minutes 09 seconds W., NAD 27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum thickness: 15 to 39 inches
Depth to soft bedrock: 20 to 40 inches to weathered bedrock (paralithic contact--Cr)
Depth to hard bedrock: More than 40 inches to unweathered bedrock (lithic contact--R)
Content of mica flakes: None to common
Content and size of rock fragments: Less than 35 percent in the A and B horizons and less than 50 percent in the C horizons; including pebbles, cobbles, channers or stones, but are dominantly gravel or channers Rock fragments on the surface: None to 15 percent; mostly stones or boulders
Soil reaction: Extremely acid to moderately acid unless limed

A or Ap horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 4
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam

AB or BA horizon (if it occurs):color--hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam

Bw horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8 Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam, or silt loam
Mottles (non-redoximorphic - if they occur)--shades of yellow or brown

BC horizon (if it occurs):
Color--matrix has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7 and chroma of 4 to 8, or is multicolored in shades of brown, yellow, black, or white Texture (fine-earth fraction)--coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam or silt loam

C horizon (if it occurs):
Color--matrix has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 8 or is multicolored in shades of brown, yellow, black, or white Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loamy coarse sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand, coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam or silt loam

Cr layer:
Type of bedrock--weathered, multicolored low-grade metasedimentary bedrock that is partially consolidated but can be dug with difficulty with a spade. Roots, where present, are in cracks or seams spaced more than 4 inches apart.

COMPETING SERIES:
Jeffrey soils - are moderately deep to hard bedrock.
Porters soils - are deep to hard bedrock and are formed in materials derived from high-grade metamorphic rock.
Unaka soils - are moderately deep to hard bedrock and are formed in materials derived from high-grade metamorphic rock.
Tusquitee soils - are formed in colluvial material and are very deep to bedrock
Brookshire soils - are formed in colluvial material and are deeper than 40 inches to bedrock.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
MLRA(s) using this series: 130B (Southern Blue Ridge).
Landscape: Summits, shoulder slopes, and back slopes.
Landform: Ridges and hill slopes.
Geomorphic component: Interfluve, nose slope, and side slopes.
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulder slopes, and back slopes.
Parent Material Origin: weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rocks.
Parent Material Kind: Residuum affected by soil creep in the upper part.
Slope: 8 to 95 percent
Mean Annual Precipitation: About 55 inches
Mean Annual Temperature: About 48 degrees F
Depth Class: Moderately deep
Surface Runoff Clas: Medium on strong and moderately steep slopes and high on steeper slopes-- Runoff is much lower where forest litter has little or no disturbance

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Jeffrey soils - are moderately deep to hard bedrock on similar landforms.
Pineola soils - have more crystalline clay in the particle-size control section on similar landforms.
Ditney soils - are moderately deep to hard bedrock and lack the umbric intergrade feature on similar landforms usually at lower elevations.
Soco soils - are moderately deep to soft bedrock and lack the umbric intergrade feature on similar landforms usually at lower elevations.
Whiteoak soils - are formed in colluvial material and are very deep to bedrock in small drains and coves.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Moderately rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Woodland and a few small areas are used for cropland, pasture or hayland, and urban development. Chestnut oak, white oak, scarlet oak, northern red oak, black oak, hickory, eastern white pine, with some Virginia pine and pitch pine dominate overstory. Rhododendron, mountain laurel, sourwood, blueberry, striped maple, greenbriar, red maple, black locust, flowering dogwood dominates understory.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Carolina and possibly Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Extent is small.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Avery County, North Carolina; 1997

REMARKS: Soils now included with the Crossnore series were previously mapped with Jeffrey soils. Jeffrey soils have hard bedrock at 20 to 40 inches.

The 1/98 revision places Crossnore soils in a fine-loamy, isotic, mesic Umbric Dystrochrepts family. This series was formerly placed in a coarse-loamy, mixed, mesic Umbric Dystrochrepts family. Laboratory PSA (pipette) method and corresponding field texture estimates (feel method) indicate control section clay contents of generally 12 to 24 percent, with most pedons marginally coarse-loamy. However, chemical lab data for similar competing series indicate that sufficient amorphous, clay-sized materials occur in the particle-size control section to place this soil in a fine-loamy family. Average clay contents are generally less than 25 percent. Additionally, depth to hard bedrock was changed from more than 60 inches to more than 40 inches.

Using the 7th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy (1996), Crossnore soils would classify as fine-loamy, isotic, mesic Andic Dystrochrepts. However, a proposal has been made to add a acid oxalate-extractable silicon requirement to Andic subgroups, which would exclude Crossnore soils, which lack volcanic glass.

The 2/99 revision updates classification to the 8th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy.

Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon (umbric-like feature) - the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 7 inches (A horizon)

Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 22 inches (Bw and BC horizons)

Paralithic contact - weathered bedrock contact at 30 inches (upper boundary of the Cr horizon)

Isotic mineralogy class - within the PSCS the soil generally has high amorphous materials (high pH-dependent charge) and a high moisture retention (at 1500 kPa) to clay ratio.

Properties that would place the soil in an Andic subgroup--a horizon or horizons with total thickness of 7 inches (18 cm) or more within 30 inches (75 cm) of the mineral soil surface with a fine-earth bulk density of 1.0 g/cm3 or less (at 33 kPa water retention) and ammonium oxalate extractable aluminum plus 1/2 iron percentages totaling more than 1.0.

MLRA: 130 SIR(s): NC0299

REVISED: 03/28/96-JAK; 1/98-JAK,DHK; 2/99-MKC

03/2022 revision: Oi layer was removed from the typical pedon description because /freshly fallen, or undecomposed leaf litter or simlar undeceomposed material should not be included as a surface layer in the soil description. The typical pedon originally had a top layer described as undecomposed leaf material or similar undecomposed material. WJN

ADDITIONAL DATA: Mineralogy data is available from the Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln NE; pedon number S95-NC-011-001.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.