LOCATION FARRAGUT TN+GAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, mixed, semiactive, thermic Humic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Farragut silt loam--pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 9 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) silty clay loam; few fine prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--9 to 27 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; common medium prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles; strong medium angular blocky structure; firm; many prominent clay films on faces of peds; few fine dark concretions; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt3--27 to 45 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; many coarse prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; common coarse prominent clay films on faces of peds; few weathered fragments of shale; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 30 to 55 inches.)
C--45 to 65 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) shaly silty clay; many medium distinct red (2.5YR 4/6) and many medium prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles; massive; 30 percent fragments of shale up to 3 inches in diameter; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
TYPE LOCATION: Blount County, Tennessee; University of Tennessee Blount Farm; about 250 feet east of junction of U.S. Highway 129 and black-top road entering farm.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 35 to 55 inches. Depth to shale bedrock ranges from 48 to 70 inches or more. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid except where lime has been added. Coarse fragments range from none to 10 percent in the solum and from 15 to 50 percent in the C horizon. Depth to shale bedrock ranges from 4 to greater than 5 feet.
The Ap and A horizons have hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 3, and chroma of 2 to 4 except severely eroded areas also have chroma of 6. Texture is silt loam except severely eroded areas are also silty clay loam, silty clay or clay.
Some pedons have a transitional horizon between the A horizon and the Bt horizon.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR, to 10R, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 6 or 8. Some pedons are mottled with shades of brown, yellow, and red. Texture is dominantly clay or silty clay but includes silty clay loam.
The BC and C horizons have hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 6 or 8 with mottled in shades of yellow, brown, and red. The fine earth texture is silty clay, silty clay loam or clay.
COMPETING SERIES: Gaston is the only series in the same family. Series in similar families are the Dewey, Dunmore, and Sequoia series. Gaston soils formed in acid and basic crystalline rocks and have a lower silt content. Dewey and Dunmore soils have sola more than 60 inches thick. Sequoia soils have an Ap horizon with moist color value of 4 or more and are mesic.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Farragut soils are on gently sloping to steep uplands. Slopes range from 2 to 40 percent. These soils formed in a thin layer of colluvium or alluvium and the underlying residuum of shale. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 58 degrees F., and mean annual rainfall is 47 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Dewey series, the Decatur series which have thicker sola, the Talbott series which are less than 40 inches to bedrock, and the Emory series which are fine-silty and are in depressions and along drainageways.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: The native vegetation was mixed hardwoods. Cleared areas are used chiefly for pasture or hay, but some are used for tobacco, corn, and small grain.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Appalachian Ridges and Valleys of Tennessee and Georgia. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Sevier County, Tennessee; 1948.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon - 7 to 45 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3 horizons)