LOCATION HARTSELLS AL+AR GA KY NC OK PA TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Hartsells fine sandy loam--pasture. (Colors are for moist conditions.)
Ap--0 to 5 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots;10 percent by volume (1/4 inch to 1 inch) angular fragments of sandstone; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
AB--5 to 9 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 10 percent by volume (1/4 inch to 3 inch) angular fragments of sandstone; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--9 to 13 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few fine fragments of sandstone; most sand grains coated with clay; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bt2--13 to 20 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sandy clay loam; weak and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few fine fragments of sandstone; thin continuous clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
Bt3--20 to 30 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) sandy clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; 10 percent by volume (1/2 inch to 2 inch) angular fragments of sandstone; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
BC--30 to 36 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery sandy loam, texture coarsens with increasing depths; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; 30 percent by volume (1/2 inch to 2 inch) angular fragments of sandstone; sand grains coated with clay; very strongly acid; abrupt boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
R--36 inches; acid sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Marshall County, Alabama; Land Mountain NW Corner of NW1/4SE1/4sec. 24, T. 8 S., R. 3 E. Very near the center of the section.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock and solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The amount of coarse fragments, mostly sandstone, ranges from 0 to 15 percent in any horizon, except the BC and C horizons, where present, which range up to 35 percent. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid throughout, except surface layers that have been limed.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 8. Some pedons have a 1 to 4 inch A horizon that has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4, and chroma of 2 or 3.
The AB horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is fine sandy loam or loam.
The BE horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 7.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is sandy loam or loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is sandy loam, loam,
sandy clay loam, or clay loam. The average clay content of the upper 20 inches of the Bt horizon or to bedrock commonly is 18 to 24 percent, but ranges from to 35 percent. The lower part commonly displays lithochromic mottles in shades of red, brown, or yellow.
The BC, CB or C horizons are similar in color and texture to the Bt horizon, except that they commonly become coarser with depth.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Emporia, Kempsville, and Smithdale series in the same family and the Apison, Biffle, Cahaba, Durham, Euharlee, Granville, Linker, Murfreesboro (T), Nauvoo, Pikecity (T), Pirum, Sipsey, Stringtown, and Suffolk series in a closely related family. Apison, Biffle, and Sipsey soils have a paralithic contact within 40 inches of the soil surface. Cahaba, Durham, Euharlee, Granville, Murfreesboro, Pikecity, Stringtown, Spadra, and Suffolk soils are deep to bedrock or paralithic contact. Linker soils are in a semiactive family and have Bt horizons with hues of 5YR or 2.5YR. Pirum soils have an irregular lower boundary over tilted and folded sandstone bedrock at depths between 22 and 55 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Hartsells soils occur on broad smooth plateaus, mountaintops, or hilltops. Slopes are commonly between 3 and 8 percent, but range as low as 2 and as high as 25 percent. This soil formed in moderately coarse to medium textured residuum. The country rock consists of acid hard sandstone containing thin strata of shale or siltstone in places. Near the type location, the average annual air temperature is 61 degrees F. and the average rainfall is 56 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Linker series and the Albertville, Crossville, Enders, Hector, Townley, and Wynnville series. Albertville, Enders, and Townley soils have more than 35 percent clay in their control sections. Crossville and Hector soils lack argillic horizons. Wynnville soils have a fragipan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained with moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cotton and corn are the major crops; minor crops are oats, sorghum, cowpeas, soybeans, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, hay, orchards, and vegetables. Some acreage is in pasture. More than one-fourth of the soil is forested; second-growth white, red, post, black, and chestnut oaks, tulip poplar, blackgum, and hickory and some pines are on areas that have remained continuously in forest, but loblolly and shortleaf pines are the principal cover in abandoned cropland and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cumberland Plateau in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee; the Boston Mountains and adjoining ridges in Arkansas and possibly Oklahoma. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cherokee County, Alabama; 1924.