LOCATION GREENBRIAR         KY
Established Series
JAK:RAE:JMR
02/2006

GREENBRIAR SERIES


The Greenbriar series consists of deep, well drained soils formed in a thin mantle of silty material and residuum weathered from acid shales and siltstones. Permeability is moderate. These gently sloping to steep soils are on upland ridges, side slopes, and toeslopes. Slopes range from 2 to 30 percent. Average annual precipitation is about 46 inches and the average annual temperature is about 57 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults

TYPICAL PEDON: Greenbriar silt loam - on a 4 percent slightly convex upland ridge in pasture at 810 feet elevation. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated).

Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches th1ck)

Bt1--7 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt2--16 to 30 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few to common dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt3--30 to 42 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) silty clay loam; few fine faint mottles; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; firm; few to common brown (10YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 20 to 50 inches thick)

BC--42 to 51 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay loam; common medium distinct brown (7.5YR 5/2) mottles; weak fine and medium angular blocky structure and weak very fine platy structure; firm; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)

C--51 to 56 inches; mixed; yellowish red (5YR 4/6), dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) and brown (7.5YR 5/2) channery silty clay loam; massive; firm; 20 percent soft shale fragments; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)

Cr--56 to 59 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) weathered shale with very dark brown (10YR 2/2) interior; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

R--59 inches; hard block (10YR 2/1) fissile shale.

TYPE LOCATION: Marion County, Kentucky, about 9.5 miles southeast of Lebanon; 3,200 feet southeast of the junction of Ky Highway 49 and Old Lick Creek Road; on Bradfordsville USGS Ouadrangle, east about 2,182,000 feet and north about 415,875 feet by the Kentucky Coordinate Grid System.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 60 inches. Depth to hard bedrock ranges from 40 to 72 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 5 percent in the upper solum and from 0 to 35 percent in the lower solum and substratum. Rock fragments are mostly weathered and unweathered shale or siltstone. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to extremely acid throughout the profile, except where limed.

The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 4, but to a depth of 7 inches after mixing the Ap has value moist of 4 or more. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. It is silt loam or silty clay loam or their channery analogue in the lower part of the Bt horizon. In some pedons the Bt horizon is mottled horizon or has mottles or both in shades of brown, yellow, or red and in the lower part shades of gray.

The BC or CB horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8. Mottles are in shades of brown, yellow, red, or gray. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam, and their channery analogue.

The C horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8. Texture is silty clay loam or silty clay, and their channery analogue.

The Cr horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8. It is weathered shale.

The R horizon is hard fissile shale.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chillum, Fletcher, Jessietown, Kurtz, Talleyville, Wernock, and Whitley series. Chillum soils have a thinner solum, Fletcher so11s formed in residuum weathered in phyllite, and Jessietown soils formed in similar materials to the Greenbriar series but are less than 40 inches to hard bedrock. Kurtz soils formed over soft bedrock. Talleyville soils formed in a silty mantle underlain by residuum weathered from igneous rock. Wernock soils are less than 40 inches to a paralithic contact. Whitley soils occur on stream terraces, fans, and toe slopes and formed in old mixed alluvium or colluvium.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Greenbriar soils are on gently sloping to steep upland ridges, side slopes and toe slopes. Slopes range from 0 to 30 percent. They formed in a thin mantle of silty material and residuum weathered from acid shales and siltstones. Mean annual temperature ranges from 53 to 57 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 49 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Jessietown series and the Rohan, Colyer, Muse, Trappist, Tilsit, and Berea Series. Rohan and Colyer soils have 35 percent or more rock fragments in the particle-size control section and are shallow. Muse and Trappist soils have a clayey particle-size control section and Trappist soils are moderately deep. Tilsit soils have a fragipan. Berea soils are moderately deep and moderately well drained.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to rapid. Permeability is moderate.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for crops or pasture. Major crops grown are small grains, corn, soybeans, tobacco, and hay. Forests are mixed hardwoods of oak, maple, hickory, ash, gum, dogwood, beech, and pine.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Greenbriar soils are in the Knobs of Kentucky and possibly southern Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The area is estimated to be of moderate extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Marion County, Kentucky, 1986. Source of name is a small community in southern Marion County.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons in the pedon are:

Ochric epipedon: 0 to 7 inches, Ap

Argillic horizon: 7 to 42 inches, Bt

ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization sample S85KY-155-1-(1-6) by the University of Kentucky


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.