LOCATION GAINESBORO VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Gainesboro channery loam, on a 5 percent slope in a orchardgrass-clover hayfield. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) channery loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; many fine and very fine roots; 20 percent shale channers; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--8 to 17 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) channery silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 25 percent shale channers; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--17 to 26 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) very channery silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 50 percent shale channers; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 10 to 30 inches.)
C--26 to 32 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) extremely channery silty clay loam; few fine roots; 70 percent shale channers; moderately acid; abrupt irregular boundary.
R--32 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) hard sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Frederick County, Virginia; 550 yards northwest of VA-694, 500 yards northeast of US-522; 250 yards northeast of farm lane.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum and the depth to bedrock range from 20 to 40 inches. Shale, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone fragments in individual horizons range from 10 to 60 percent in the solum and from 50 to 90 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, with value and chroma of 3 through 6. It is loam, silt loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The BA or BE horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, with value and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture is loam, silt loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Croom, Elliber, Hartleton, Irondale, Lew, Mertz, Pattensburg, and Weaverton series in the same family. Calvin, Lehew, Penn and Ungers are related series in other families. Croom and Lew soils have a solum more than 40 inches thick. Elliber, Hartleton, and Irondale soils have hue of 7.5YR or yellower in the upper part of the Bt horizon. Mertz soils contain chert fragments. Pattensburg soils have rock fragments of quartz and sandstone. Weaverton soils are more than 40 inches to soft weathered quartz muscovite schist. Calvin and Lehew soils do not have an argillic horizon. Penn and Ungers soils are fine-loamy and average less than 35 percent rock fragments in the solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Gainesboro soils are on ridgetops and side slopes in the northern Piedmont and northern Appalachian Mountains. Slopes range from 2 to 65 percent. The soils formed in residuum of weathered red acid shale, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 42 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 56 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Lehew, Berks, and Weikert soils. Lehew soils developed in red acid sandstone. Berks and Weikert soils developed in gray acid shale, sandstone, and siltstone.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to very rapid. Permeability is moderate to moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largest acreage is in hardwood and pine forest. Small acreage is used for peach and apple orchards, corn, small grain, pasture and hay. Native vegetation consists mostly of oaks and pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia and possibly West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Frederick County, Virginia, 1983.
REMARKS: 1. This soil was previously included in the Calvin and Lehew series. 2. Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epidedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Argillic horizon - the zone from 8 to 26 inches (Bt horizon).