LOCATION GRASMERE ALEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Fluventic Humic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Grasmere silty clay--cultivated field.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise
stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) silty clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) dry; moderate fine granular structure; friable, sticky; few fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
B2--8 to 20 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) silty clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) dry; weak medium subangular blocky
structure; friable, sticky; few fine roots; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (8 to 23 inches thick)
Ab--20 to 31 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) silty clay loam, dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2) dry; weak fine granular
structure; friable, sticky; few fine roots; very strongly acid;
clear wavy boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
B21tb--31 to 40 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) clay; common
fine faint dark reddish brown mottles; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; few fine black concretions; few very thin patchy clay films on ped faces; few
fine chert fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
(0 to 10 inches thick)
B22tb--40 to 66 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) clay; moderate medium blocky structure; firm, sticky, slightly plastic; few fine chert fragments; few fine black concretions; common very thin
patchy clay films on ped faces; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Talladega County, Alabama; 2.5 miles south of Talladega on Alabama Highway 21; 1/2 mile west on gravel road and
200 feet south of road; NE1/4NE1/4 sec. 7, T. 19 S., R. 5 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock and solum thickness is more than 60 inches. Depth to the Ab horizon is 20 to 30 inches. The Ab horizon is within 36 inches of the surface. Reaction
ranges from medium acid to very strongly, except where limed. The control section averages from 35 to 45 percent clay and has more
than 40 percent silt. Coarse fragments range from 0 to 5 percent
in the solum.
The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3, and chroma
of 2 or 3. Texture is silty clay loam or silty clay.
The B2 horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 3, and
chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is silty clay loam or silty clay.
The Ab horizon has the same hue, value, and chroma as the Ap
horizon. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The B1b horizon, where present, and the B2tb horizon have hues of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 4 through
8. Texture is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known series in the same family. Competing series in related families are the
Egam,
Emory, and
Starr series. Egam soils have mollic epipedons. Emory soils have umbric horizons less than 20 inches thick. Starr soils have A horizons with chromas of 4 through 8.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on slight depressions or on
the upper part of small upland drainageways. The slope is
commonly 0 to 3 percent. The lower lying areas are subject to frequent brief flooding. The soil formed in clayey materials of
old valley fill or alluvium from adjacent uplands. The mean
annual temperature is about 63 degrees F. at the type location.
Mean annual precipitation is about 52 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Anniston, Decatur, Dewey, Greenville, and Lucedale series. All these soils have thick argillic horizons and lack buried A horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is in cultivation.
Common crops are cotton, soybeans, corn, and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Talladega County, Alabama; 1969.