LOCATION DRALL VA+WV
Established Series
RLG-DDR/Rev. JCB, CRS, JRT
03/2022
DRALL SERIES
Soils of the Drall series are deep and excessively drained. They have formed in residuum or colluvium from acid sandstone or quartzite. Drall soils are on mountain ridges and the upper parts of sideslopes. Slopes range from 0 to 70 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 55 degrees F, and average annual precipitation is about 38 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, siliceous, mesic Typic Udorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Drall channery sandy loam-forested, extremely stony (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch; fresh and partially decomposed leaves, pine needles, and twigs.
A1--1 to 3 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) channery sandy loam; weak coarse granular structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; 20 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
A2--3 to 11 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) channery sandy loam; weak coarse granular structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; 25 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of A horizons-6 to 15 inches)
Bw1--11 to 22 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very channery loamy sand; weak fine subangular blocky and weak medium granular structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; 50 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2--22 to 32 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) very channery loamy sand; weak fine subangular blocky and weak medium granular structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; 60 percent quartzite rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of B horizons-10 to 30 inches.)
C1--32 to 47 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) very channery sand; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; loose; few fine and medium roots; 70 percent quartzite rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
C2--47 to 53 inches; yellow (10YR 7/6) channery sand; common fine faint very pale brown (10YR7/3) mottles or streaks; weak very thick platy structure; friable; 35 percent quartzite rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
2C3--53 to 59 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sandy clay; common fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) and common fine faint brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles or streaks; moderate thin platy structure; firm; 10 percent quartzite rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of C horizons-20 to 40 inches.)
2R--59 inches; hard quartzite rock containing many Scolithus fossils.
TYPE LOCATION: Augusta County, Virginia; George Washington National Forest, on Stony Run Trail 1/2 mile southeast of Forest Service Road 42.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Content of quartzite and sandstone fragments 1/4 to 10 inches in size ranges from 15 to 65 percent by volume in the A horizons, and from 40 to 90 percent in individual subhorizons of the B and C horizons. These include channers and/or cobbles. Stones occupy 3 to 50 percent of the soil surface. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout the profile.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 through 7, and chroma of 1 through 4. A1 horizons with moist value of 3 are less than 6 inches thick. The A horizon is loamy sand, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction The E horizon, where present, has value of 5 through 7 and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loamy sand, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 4 through 8. It is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, or sand in the fine earth fraction. Thin layers or lenses of sandy loam are in some pedons.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 through 7, and chroma of 4 through 8, and may contain mottles. Textures are sand or loamy sand, in the fine earth fraction, except some pedons in colluvial positions have thin or discontinuous nonconforming horizons below a depth of 40 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series classified in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Drall soils are on moderately steep to very steep on relatively smooth long mountain ridges and sideslopes. Slopes range from 0 to 70 percent, commonly being between 45 and 70 percent. Elevation ranges from 1700 to 3200 feet above sea level. The soils formed in residuum weathered from yellowish and grayish acid quartzite and sandstone. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 degrees to 53 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Cataska,
Hartleton,
Laidig,
Leetonia, and
Sherando soils. The Cataska soils have slaty or very slaty loam or silt loam cambric horizons and are underlain by slate or phyllite. Hartleton soils have argillic horizons. Laidig soils have fragipans. Leetonia soils have spodic horizons. Sherando soils have gravelly or very gravelly sandy loam cambic horizons. Laidig and Sherando soils occupy colluvial positions below the Drall soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained with slow to medium runoff. Runoff is moderately rapid on slopes greater than 50 percent. Permeability is rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. Native vegetation is chestnut oak, table mountain pine, pitch pine, mountain laurel, and rhododendron. Forest sites are mostly non-commercial.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, possibly Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Augusta County, Virginia, 1977.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - The zone between the surface to 11 inches (A1 and A2 horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Particle-size data for samples from typifying pedon show decrease in clay from A horizon to B horizon. (U.S. Forest Service Profile No. 183, Hydrometer Method)
SIR = VA0023, VA0024 MLRA = 128, 130, 147
8/2021 revision: expands slope gradient range from '15 to 70' percent to '0 to 70'.
03/2022 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.