LOCATION GLENELG MD+DE PA VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Glenelg loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes, located in a crop field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap1--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam; moderate medium subangular blocky parting to strong fine granular structure; friable; common fine, many fine and few medium roots; 5 percent schist channers; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Ap2--6 to 10 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky parting to strong coarse granular structure; friable; many fine and few medium roots; common fine and coarse tubular pores; 8 percent schist channers; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Bt1--10 to 18 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) clay loam; moderate coarse subangular blocky parting to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine and few medium roots; many fine and common coarse tubular and common medium vesicular pores; common distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) organic coatings; 3 percent schist channers; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--18 to 25 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay loam; weak coarse subangular blocky parting to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; many fine tubular and common fine vesicular pores; common distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) organic coatings on faces of peds and in pore linings; 8 percent schist channers; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt3--25 to 30 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay loam; moderate very thick platy parting to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few fine tubular pores; common prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) lithochromic mottles; 5 percent schist channers; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
BCt--30 to 42 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; moderate very thick platy parting to weak medium subangular blocky; friable; few fine roots; common fine tubular pores; 5 percent schist channers; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
CBt--42 to 54 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) and yellowish brown (10YR5/6) loam; moderate thick platy structure; friable; few fine roots; many fine, few medium and coarse tubular and common fine vesicular pores; 5 percent schist channers and 2 percent quartz gravels; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
C--54 to 76 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8), brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) and yellow (10YR 7/6) extremely channery sandy loam; weak thick platy structure inherited from the rock; friable; few fine roots; 50 percent schist channers; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Howard County, Maryland. 0.5 miles south of Route 144 on St. Michaels Road and 0.25 miles southeast of the intersection of St. Michaels Road and Hardy Road in Howard County. Lat. 39 degrees, 20 minutes, 09 seconds and Long. 77 degrees, 6 minutes, 12 seconds.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the base of the argillic horizon ranges from 18 to 35 inches. Depth to bedrock is 6 to 10 or more feet. Rock fragments range from 0 to 35 percent throughout the solum and 5 to 55 percent in the C horizon. Fragments are mostly hard white quartzite or schist and range from gravel or channers to stones in size. Stone content ranges from 0 to 5 percent. Mica content increases sharply in the lower part of the solum and substratum. Unlimed reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is loam, silt loam or clay loam in the fine earth fraction. Silt content is close to 50 percent.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam or silt loam in the fine earth fraction, with silt content close to 50 percent.
The Bt horizon and (BCt where present) has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 to 8. It is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam or clay loam in the fine earth fraction. The particle-size control section is 20 to 35 percent clay.
The C horizon and (CBt where present) has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8. It commonly is variegated due to variations in the saprolite. The C horizon is loam, sandy loam or loamy sand in the fine earth fraction. In some pedons, the C horizon has silt loam textures in the lower part where veins of quartz remain from weathering processes.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Albemarle, Allegheny, Allenwood, Arendtsville, Cades, Cardova, Chetwynd, Clifftop (T), Drapermill, Elsinboro, Eubanks, Ezel, Frankstown, Gilwood, Glenelg, Happyland, Leck Kill, Lonon, Meadowville, Milldraper, Murrill, Nixon, Queponco, Reybold, Rhodhiss, Shouns, Tate, Ungers, Whiteford series. Albemarle, Cardova, Clifftop (T), Drapermill, Gilwood, Milldraper and Ungers soils have bedrock at less than 60 inches. Allegheny, Ezel, and Meadowville soils lack coarse fragments dominated by mica schist and mica gneiss. Arendtsville, Eubanks, Frankstown, Leck Kill, Murrill, Nixon, Shouns, and Whiteford soils lack mica flakes. Allenwood soils are formed in glacial till. Cades and Elsinboro soils formed on old stream terraces and alluvial fans. Chester soils have an argillic horizon greater than 25 inches. Chetwynd soils formed from unconsolidated outwash sediments. Happyland soils have a moderately slow to slow hydraulic conductivity in the series control section. Queponco and Reybold soils are found in the mid-Atlantic coastal plain. Rhodhiss and Lonon soils have significantly lower silt content. Tate soils are formed in colluvium of the southern Blue Ridge.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Glenelg soils are nearly level to very steep soils in well dissected uplands of the Northern Piedmont Plateau and the Blue Ridge. Slope ranges from 0 to 55 percent. The soils formed in residuum (saprolite) from micaceous schist. The climate is temperate and humid with a mean annual temperature of 47 to 55 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation of about 40 inches near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Chester, Edgemont, Elsinboro, Meadowville and Whiteford series and the Baile, Brandywine, Codorus, Comus, Delanco, Elioak, Fairfax, Glenville, Hatboro, Linganore, Manor, Mt. Airy and Urbana soils. Baile soils are poorly drained and formed from local alluvium over residuum in upland depressions and on footslopes. Brandywine, Manor and Mt. Airy soils do not have a Bt horizon. Codorus, Comus and Hatboro soils formed from recent alluvium on flood plains. Delanco and Kinkora soils formed from alluvium and occur on terraces. Elioak soils have a Bt horizon averaging more than 35 percent clay. Fairfax soils have more clay and formed in alluvium and the underlying residuum. Glenville and Urbana soils have a fragipan. Linganore soils have more than 35 percent rock fragments and have base saturation greater than 35 percent. Chester soils have depths to the base of the argillic ranging from 31 to 55 inches.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the subsoil and moderately high to high in the substratum. Runoff class ranges from low on level slopes to very high on steep or very steep slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Glenelg soils are in crops including corn, soybeans, small grains, hay, and to a limited extent, pasture. Native vegetation is red oak, white oak, hickory, and tulip poplar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The series is of large extent, estimated to be greater than 500,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Howard County, (Middle Patuxent River Project), Maryland, 1940.
REMARKS: The 2/99 revision places Glenelg soils in an semiactive CEC activity class, but additional data from University of Maryland and NSSL show CEC class of active as well. Pedons S82MD-031-001 (semiactive) and S56PA-029-002 (active). The depth to the base of the argillic is change from 30 to 35 inches. The upper slope range was also expanded from 50 to 55 percent to facilitate the correlation of Grayson County, Virginia. The type location moved to Howard County, Maryland in 2004 to be more centered within MLRA 148. 7/2007 revisions were for updating competing and geographically associated soils also Ksat.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of approximately 6 inches. (Ap1 and Ap2 horizons)
b. Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 10 to 30 inches. (Bt1, Bt2, and Bt3 horizons)
MLRA 148, 147, 130
Revised 1/91-WDC; 2/99-DHK: 3/99-REP; 11/2004-MAV; 01/2006-MAV; 02/2007- JDC