LOCATION GRIFTON            NC+FL SC TN
Established Series
AG, Rev. MHC
07/1999

GRIFTON SERIES


The Grifton series consists of very deep, poorly drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands, stream terraces, and flood plains in the Coastal Plain. The soils formed in loamy marine sediments and are underlain by alluvial marly sands and clays. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual temperature is 62 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 49 inches near the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Endoaqualfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Grifton sandy loam--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 9 inches thick)

Eg--8 to 12 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) sandy loam; common medium faint grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and few medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) soft masses of iron accumulation; weak medium granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)

BEg--12 to 15 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) sandy loam; common medium faint gray (10YR 6/1) iron depletions and few medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) soft masses of iron accumulation; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 9 inches thick)

Btg1--15 to 32 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) sandy clay loam, with lenses of sandy loam; common fine prominent reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8) soft masses of iron accumulation; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and medium pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and on pores; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Btg2--32 to 40 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) sandy loam with lenses of sandy clay loam and loamy sand; common coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation and brown (10YR 5/3) iron depletions; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and medium pores; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Btg horizons is 18 to 50 inches.)

Cg--40 to 58 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) loamy sand with thin lenses of sandy clay loam; massive; friable; moderately alkaline; gradual boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)

2Cg--58 to 70 inches; greenish gray (5GY 5/1) marly sandy loam with thin lenses of clay; massive; friable; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Lenoir County, North Carolina; 7 miles southeast of Kinston; 1/4 mile southeast of intersection of State Road 1903 and State Road 1915 in cultivated field south of State Road 1915.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 70 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral in the A, E, and upper B horizons, unless limed, and from moderately acid to moderately alkaline in the lower B and C horizons. Soft to hard marl fragments and iron-manganese concretions range from none to common in the lower B and C horizons.

The Ap or A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y or is neutral, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.

The Eg horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Mottles with chroma of 3 or more and in shades of yellow or brown are few to common in Eg horizons that have dominant chroma of 2. Texture is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.

The BEg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Mottles in shades of yellow, brown, or red and with chroma of 3 or more are in BEg horizons that have dominant chroma of 2. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, or rarely loamy sand or loamy fine sand.

The Btg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y or it is neutral, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2. Mottles in shades of brown, yellow or red and with chroma of 3 or more are in Btg horizons that have dominant chroma of 2. Texture is dominantly sandy clay loam but may be sandy loam or clay loam. Some pedons have thin lenses of loamy sand or fine sandy loam in the Btg horizon.

The BCg horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y or it is neutral, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2. This horizon in many pedons has mottles in shades of brown, yellow, red, or gray. If any part of the BCg horizon is within a 30 inch depth and has dominant chroma of 2, there are few to common mottles with chroma of 3 or more and in shades of yellow, brown, or red. Texture is sandy loam or fine sandy loam, and there may be thin lenses of loamy sand, sandy clay loam, clay loam, sandy clay, or clay.

The Cg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5GY or it is neutral, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam, and may include thin lenses of sandy clay loam, clay loam, or sandy clay.

The 2Cg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5GY or is neutral, value of 4 to 8, and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is variable, ranging from fine sand to clay and the material is marly.

COMPETING SERIES: (This section not updated; 6/16/97) These are the Rigolette and Tooterville series. They differ from Grifton by not having a marly 2Cg horizon.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Grifton soils are on nearly level uplands, stream terraces, and flood plains in the Coastal Plain at elevations of generally less than 100 feet. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. The soils formed in loamy marine sediments and are underlain by alluvial marly sands and clays. Near the type location, mean temperature is 62 degrees F., and average annual precipitation is about 49 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Lumbee, Lynchburg, Meggett, Rains, Wadmalaw, and Woodington series. Lumbee, Lynchburg, Rains soils are more acid throughout and have less than 35 percent base saturation. Meggett soils contain more than 35 percent clay in the Btg horizon, and Wadmalaw soils have an umbric epipedon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability. The water table is within 10 inches of the soil surface for 2 to 6 months in most years.

USE AND VEGETATION: About one-third of the acreage is cleared and used for row crops or pasture, and the rest is mainly in forest. Chief crops grown are corn, soybeans, fescue, and ladino clover. Common trees include loblolly pine, water oak, southern red oak, white oak, yellow poplar, blackgum, baldcypress, American sycamore, water tupelo, red maple, sweetgum, and willow oak. Understory plants include American holly, sourwood, greenbrier, flowering dogwood, inkberry (bitter gallberry), switchcane, dwarf palmetto, southern bayberry (waxmyrtle), brackenfern, and poison ivy.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee, and possibly Georgia and Virginia. Extent of the series is small.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lenoir County, North Carolina; 1973.

REMARKS: The April 1993 revision places the Grifton series in fine-loamy, siliceous, thermic Typic Endoaqualfs.

Diagnostic horizons and and soil properties recognized in the typical pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - zone from the surface to a depth of 12 inches (Ap and E horizons)

Argillic horizon - zone between 15 and 40 inches (Btg horizon)

ADDITIONAL DATA: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina; 70NC-54-40-1 gives mineralogy and base [saturation data.

MLRA(S): 133A, 153A, 153B

TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
NC0034 GRIFTON 0- 2 59- 64 185-240 45- 55 30- 100

SOI-5  FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind   Months  Bedrock Hardness
NC0034 NONE   COMMON   0-1.0  APPARENT DEC-MAY  60-60        

SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- NC0034 0-15 SL FSL 0- 0 95-100 7-18 5- 20 NC0034 0-15 LS LFS 0- 0 95-100 2-10 5- 15 NC0034 15-40 SL SCL CL 0- 0 95-100 18-35 5- 25 NC0034 40-58 LS SL 0- 0 95-100 2-18 1- 10 NC0034 58-70 VAR - - - -

SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll NC0034 0-15 4.5- 6.5 2.-4. 0- 0 2.0- 6.0 LOW NC0034 0-15 4.5- 6.5 2.-4. 0- 0 6.0- 20 LOW NC0034 15-40 4.5- 7.3 0.-1. 0- 0 0.6- 2.0 LOW NC0034 40-58 5.6- 8.4 0.-.5 0- 0 2.0- 20 LOW NC0034 58-70 - - - -


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.