LOCATION FARMERSTOWN OH

Established Series
CER-JES-DRM
09/2016

FARMERSTOWN SERIES

The Farmerstown series consists of deep, well drained soils on surface mined areas. The soils formed in a blanket of loamy natural soil material 20 to 40 inches thick that has been excavated prior to surface mine operations, stockpiled and later reconstructed over acid unconsolidated regolith from surface mining for coal. Permeability is moderately slow or slow. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches and mean annual temperature is about 52 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, acid, mesic Typic Udorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Farmerstown silt loam - on a 11 percent convex slope in a hay field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated).

Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; weak medium granular structure in upper 4 inches and massive below; friable; many fine and medium roots; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)

C1--9 to 14 inches; variegated yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 10YR 5/6), 90 percent, and grayish brown (10YR 5/2), 10 percent, loam; massive; firm; common fine and few medium roots; 12 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

C2--14 to 23 inches; variegated yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 10YR 5/6), 90 percent, and grayish brown (10YR 5/2), 10 percent, loam; massive; very firm, compacted; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the C horizons is 10 to 35 inches.)

2C3--23 to 32 inches; variegated dark gray (10YR 4/1), 80 percent, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), 15 percent, and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), 5 percent, very shaly silt loam; massive; very firm, compacted; 40 percent rock fragments (35 percent shale and 5 percent sandstone); extremely acid; gradual wavy boundary.

2 C4--32 to 48 inches; variegated dark gray (10YR 4/1), 85 percent, and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), 15 percent, very shaly silt loam; massive; very firm; 50 percent rock fragments (40 percent shale, 5 percent coal, and 5 percent sandstone); very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

2C5--48 to 80 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very shaly silt loam; massive; firm; 45 percent rock fragments (shale); very strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION:
Holmes County, Ohio; Clark Township; about 0.9 miles north-northwest of Farmerstown; 2,245 feet south and 290 feet west of the northeast corner of section 9, T. 8 N., R. 5 W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the reconstructed soil ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments make up 0 to 15
percent of the volume of the A or Ap horizon, 0 to 25 percent of the C horizon, and 15 to 80 percent of individual subhorizons of the 2C horizon. They range mostly from 2 mm to 25 cm but include stones and boulders in the 2C horizon. Rock fragments include shale, siltstone, medium and fine-grained sandstone, and coal.

The Ap and C horizons (in topsoil from reconstructed soil material) have hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y; value of 4 or 6; and chromas of 2 to 6. They commonly are loam or silt loam and less commonly sandy loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam; or channery or shaly analogues of these textures in the lower part of the C horizon. The Ap horizon is very strongly acid to neutral and the C horizon is strongly acid or very strongly acid.

The 2C horizons have hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, or are neutral; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 0 to 6. They are shaly to extremely shaly, or channery to extremely channery analogues of silty clay loam, clay loam, silt loam, or loam. They are strongly acid to extremely acid.

COMPETING SERIES:
There are no other series in the same family. Competing series in other families are the Bethesda, Fairpoint, Lenzburg, Schuline, Steinauer and Storden series. Bethesda and Fairpoint soils are loamy-skeletal, and in addition Fairpoint soils are nonacid. Lenzburg, Schuline, Steinauer, and Storden soils are calcareous.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Farmerstown soils are on convex summits and slopes of reconstructed landscapes. Slope ranges from 0 to 20 percent. The soils formed in a blanket of loamy "topsoil" 20 to 40 inches thick and are underlain by acid unconsolidated regolith (non-toxic mixture of rock fragments and fine earth material) from surface mine operations. The topsoil consists of a mixture of layers of pre-mined soils excavated prior to surface mining, and typically has compacted layers or traffic pans that formed during hauling and grading of the soil material. Mean annual precipitation ranges from about 37 to 43 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 50 to 54 degrees F.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
These are the Coshocton, Gilpin, Rigley, and Westmoreland soils on unmined upland landscapes. The deep, moderately well drained Coshocton soils; and the deep, well drained Westmoreland soils have a fine-loamy argillic horizon and are formed in residuum from shale, sandstone, and siltstone. Coshocton and Westmoreland soils are on summits, side slopes, benches, and foot slopes. The
moderately deep, well drained Gilpin soils have a fine-loamy argillic horizon and are formed in residuum weathered from interbedded siltstone, shale, and sandstone. The deep, well drained Rigley soils have a coarse-loamy argillic horizon and are formed in residuum from sandstone. Gilpin and Rigley soils are on summits, shoulders, and side slopes.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Farmerstown soils are well drained. Runoff is slow to rapid. Permeability is moderately slow or
slow.

USE AND VEGETATION:
The dominant use is hay and pasture. Most areas have been seeded to grasses and legumes. Some areas are used for cropland. Principal crops on cropped areas are corn
and small grains.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
East-central Ohio, and possibly Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The series is of small extent with 5,000 acres mapped in one project soil survey.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA

SERIES PROPOSED: Holmes County, Ohio, 1987.

REMARKS:
Not prime farmland because of low available water capacity. Farmerstown soils were formerly included with reclaimed Bethesda soils. The only diagnostic horizon is an ochric epipedon, from the surface to a depth of about 9 inches (Ap).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.