LOCATION EPLEY KY

Established Series
Rev. JCJ
06/2012

EPLEY SERIES

The Epley series consists of deep or very deep, moderately well drained soils on uplands and stream terraces. The soil formed in a silty mantle and the underlying clayey residuum weathered from shale or old alluvium. Slopes range from 0 to l2 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, semiactive, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Epley silt loam--cultivated.(Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise noted.)

Ap--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 8 inches thick)

Bt1--6 to 19 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 14 inches thick)

Bt2--19 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses as iron accumulations; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

2Bt/E1--24 to 28 inches; 90 percent brown (7.5YR 4/4) silty clay (2Bt); moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and medium angular blocky; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine faint brown (7.5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of prisms; many medium prominent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; 10 percent pale brown (10YR 6/3) and white (10YR 8/1) silty clay loam coatings as vertical seams 1/8 to 1 inch wide between prisms (E); friable; few fine roots between prisms; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)

2Bt/E2--28 to 37 inches; 90 percent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay (2Bt); moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium angular blocky; very firm, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; common medium prominent gray (10YR 5/1) clay films on faces of prisms; many fine prominent brown (10YR 5/3) and gray (10YR 5/1) clay films on secondary peds; many medium prominent gray (10YR 6/1) iron depletions; 10 percent pale brown (10YR 6/3) and white (10YR 8/1) silty clay loam coatings as vertical seams 1/8 to 1/5 inch wide (E); strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)

2BC--37 to 46 inches; 50 percent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and 50 percent gray (10YR 6/1) clay; weak fine and medium angular blocky structure; very firm, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; common fine faint brown (7.5YR 5/3) clay films on faces of peds; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)

2C--46 to 64 inches; 35 percent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), 35 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), and 30 percent light gray (10YR 7/2) clay; massive; very firm, very sticky, very plastic; slightly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Logan County, Kentucky; about 1.7 miles northeast of Lewisburg, 0.2 mile north of the intersection of Kentucky Highways 106 and 1153, 875 feet north of the intersection of Kentucky Highway 1153 and Iron Mountain Road in field. USGS Quad: Lewisburg; Latitude: 36 degrees, 59 minutes, 54.7 seconds; Longitude: 86 degrees, 55 minutes, 24.9 seconds

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to limestone or shale bedrock ranges from 5 feet to more than 10 feet. Fragments range from none to less than 5 percent above the discontinuity and from 0 to 50 percent in the 2C horizon Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid to a depth of about 3 or 4 feet, and from moderately acid to neutral below this depth.

The A and Ap horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

Some pedons can have transitional horizons with color and texture similar to the Bt horizon.

The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5Y to 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Redoximorphic features range from none to common in shades of red, brown, yellow, olive, and gray. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

The 2Bt and 2BC horizons have hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 8. Redoximorphic features range from few to many and are in shades of brown and gray. Texture is silty clay or clay. Most pedons have vertical seams of silty clay loam or silt loam averaging 1 inch thick or less, between prisms. These seams are redoximorphic depletions of iron and clay and are in various shades of gray.

The 2C horizons have the same range in colors as those of the 2Bt. Texture is silty clay or clay or their channery or flaggy analogs.

COMPETING SERIES: Epley series is the only member of this family.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Concave broad depressed areas, undulating stream terraces, or broad undulating ridgetops with slopes of 0 to 12 percent. Epley soils formed in 20 to 36 inches of silty material underlain by clayey residumm or old alluvium. Near the type location the mean annual precipitation is about 53.6 inches and mean annual temperature is about 56.2 degrees F.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Sadler, Nicholson, Caneyville, Frondorf, Otwood, and Lawrence series. Sadler, Nicholson, and Otwood soils have a fragipan in the subsoil. Caneyville soils have greater than 35 percent clay in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon and limestone bedrock between 20 and 40 inches. Frondorf soils have bedrock at 20 to 40 inches, and have 15 to 75 percent coarse fragments in the lower B horizons. Lawrence soils have a fragipan, and gray mottles in the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Runoff is low or medium. Permeability is slow to very slow.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is cleared and in crops, principally soybeans, hay, and pasture. Native forests consisted of oak, hickory, sweet gum, maple, and elm as the dominant species.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Pennroyal region of Kentucky. The series is of minor extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Logan County, Kentucky, 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epidepon - 0 to 6 inches. (Ap)

Argillic horizon - 6 to 37 inches. (Bt1, Bt2, 2Bt/E, 2Bt)

Redoximorphic features - 19 to 64 inches.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.