LOCATION GUNSTON VA
Tentative Series
Rev. DNS-JDH-DHK
11/2015
GUNSTON SERIES
MLRA(s): 149A
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): somewhat poorly drained
Landscape: Coastal Plain
Parent Material: Marine sediments
Slope: 0 to 2 percent slopes
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 12.4 degrees C. (54 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1062 mm (42 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aeric Paleaquults
TYPICAL PEDON: Gunston silt loam in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)
A--0 to 10 cm (0 to 4 inches), very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine and common medium roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
E--10 to 30 cm (4 to 12 inches), yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; weak fine granular structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many very fine, fine and many medium roots; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt--30 to 46 cm (12 to 18 inches), brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) silty clay loam; common fine distinct pale brown (10YR 6/3) and few fine distinct gray (10YR6/1) iron depletions; moderate medium sub-angular blocky structure; friable, moderately sticky, slightly plastic; few distinct continuous clay films on all faces of peds; very strongly acid; grandual wavy boundary.
Btg1--46 to 76 cm (18 to 30 inches), gray (10YR 5/1) clay loam; moderate medium sub-angular blocky structure; firm, very sticky, very plastic; few distinct contiuous clay films on all faces of peds; many medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR6/6) masses of oxidized iron; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Btg2--76 to 102 cm (30 to 40 inches), gray (10YR 6/1) clay loam; moderate medium sub-angular blocky structure; firm, very sticky, very plastic; few distinct contiuous clay films on all faces of peds; common medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) masses of oxidized iron; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary
Btg3--102 to 127 cm (40 to 50 inches), gray (10YR 6/1) clay; moderate medium sub-angular blocky structure; firm, very sticky, very plastic; few distinct continuous clay films on all faces of peds; few fine distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) masses of oxidized iron; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
BCg--127 to 152 cm (50 to 60 inches), light gray (10YR 7/1) clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, very sticky, very plastic; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Fairfax County, Virginia; located in a wooded area on Mason Neck National WIldlife Refuge, in the woods 60ft west of Potomac View Blvd and 530ft south southeast of the small parking lot on the western edge of route 600 (Gunston Road) just before if forks into Hallowing Dr. and Potomac View Blvd. Latitiude 38degrees, 38 minutes, 18 seconds north, and longitude 77 degrees, 8 minutes, and 43 seconds, on the Fort Belvoir topoquadrangle. NAD 83
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to the top of the Argillic horizon: 15 cm (6 inches)
Depth to the base of the Argillic horizon: 183 cm (72 inches)
Solum Thickness: 25 to 183 cm (10 to 72 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 183 cm (72 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 183 cm (72 inches), November to May
Rock Fragment content: 0 to 35 percent, by volume, throughout.
Soil Reaction: moderately acid to extremely acid, except where limed
Note: The clayey Btg horizon or clayey part of the BCg horizon extends to 60 to 90 inches below the surface.
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2, or it is neutral with value of 3 to 6. Texture is loam, fine sandy loam, or silt loam.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loam, fine sandy loam, or silt loam.
The BE or BA horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 to 8, and has few to common iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less. It is loam, silt loam, fine sandy loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam.
The Bt horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 3 to 8, has few to many iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less. In some pedons this horizon does not have a dominant matrix color but has redoximorphic features in shades of gray, yellow, brown, or red. The Btg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Redoximorphic features in shades of yellow, brown, or red are common to many. Clay content in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon is 35 to 60 percent and silt content is more than 30 percent. The Bt and Btg horizons are clay, clay loam, silty clay, or silty clay loam.
The BCg horizon colors are similar to the Btg horizon. It is clay, sandy clay, clay loam, silty clay loam, sandy clay loam, or sandy loam.
The Cg horizon, in addition to the colors of the Btg and BCg horizons, may have hue of 5Y, with value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2, or it is neutral, with value of 5 to 7. It is stratified sandy, loamy, or clayey sediment.
COMPETING SERIES:
There are no other series in this family
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Coastal Plain
Landform: Uplands
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits and shoulders
Geomorphic Component: interfluves
Parent Material: Marine sediment
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Frost-free period: 150 to 194 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 6.2 to 18.7 degrees C. (43 to 65 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 904 to 1202 mm (37 to 47 inches)
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Elkton soils--are poorly drained and fine-silty
Matapeake soils--are well drained and fine-silty
Mattapex soils--are moderately well drained and fine-silty
Grist Mill soils-are fine-loamy and do not have diagnostic horizons other than an ochric epipedon
Woodstown soils--moderately well drained and fine-loamy
Sassafras soils--are well drained and fine-loamy
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class (Agricultural): Somewhat poorly drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: 30 cm to 61 cm (12 to 25 inches)
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible to slow
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high to slow
Permeability (obsolete): Slow
Shrink-swell Potential: Low
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Cropland, woodland, and urban development
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--black oak, pin oak, hickory, yellow popular, red maple, shortleaf pine and Virginia pine.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
Distribution: Virginia
Extent: Small
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES PROPOSED: Fairfax County, Virginia, 2006.
REMARKS:
This series was previously mapped as Lenoir. Lenoir is currently thermic. Gunston is the mesic counterpart.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon from a depth of 0 to 30 cm (0 to 12 inches; A and E horizons)
Argillic horizon - from a depth of 30 to 127 cm (12 to 50 inches; Bt and Btg horizons).
OSD Data Map Unit ID: To be developed
Typical Pedon Data Mapunit ID: To be developed
OSD User Pedon ID: Manor-OSD
Revised: 10/2006-DNS, JDH; 10/2007-DNS, JDH, DHK
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.