LOCATION HIGHFIELD PA+MD
Established Series
Rev. GDM-EAW
12/2021
HIGHFIELD SERIES
The Highfield series consists of deep and very deep, well drained soils formed in material weathered from metabasalt, metarhyolite, metaandesite, greenstone schist, and other light colored rocks. Slopes range from 2 to 50 percent. Permeability is moderate. Mean annual precipitation is 42 inches. Mean annual temperature is 52 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Highfield channery silt loam - woodland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--0 to 1 inches; mat of leaves in various stages of decomposition.
A--1 to 4 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
E--4 to 11 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 21 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) channery silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, nonsticky, slightly plastic; few faint clay films on faces of ped; 30 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
Bt2--21 to 35 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; 30 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
C--35 to 61 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) extremely channery silt loam; thin streaks of light gray (2.5Y 6/1) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) in lower part; weak fine subangular blocky structure grading to massive; friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 60 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (15 to 32 inches thick)
R--61 inches; light reddish brown (2.5YR 6/4) rhyolite and schist bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Cumberland County, Pennsylvania; South Middleton Township, Old Town Run Gun Club; 2.5 miles south of Mt. Holly Springs on PA Route 94 and 0.5 mile east.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is 40 to 80 inches. Rock fragments of metarhyolite, schist, rhyolite or sandstone range from 5 to 25 percent by volume in the surface horizons, from 15 to 40 percent in subhorizons of the B horizon and from 20 to 80 percent in the C horizons. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid in the solum and strongly acid or moderately acid in the C horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. Fine-earth textures are silt loam or loam.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 through 4. Fine-earth textures are silt loam or loam.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 through 6. Fine-earth textures are silt loam or loam. It has fine or medium subangular blocky structure. Some pedons have a BC horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 through 6. Inherited variegated colors are common. Fine earth texture is silt loam or loam.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Chavies,
Cranston,
Lewisberry,
Tracy, and
Watertown soils are in the same family. Chavies and Watertown soils have rounded rock fragments of acid sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Cranston soils have rock fragments of primarily siltstone. Lewisberry soils have a B horizon that is 5YR or redder. Tracy soils formed in glacial outwash and contain a high portion of shale fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Highfield soils are on mountain crests, slopes and intermountain valleys. Slope gradients range from 2 to 50 percent or more. The regolith is material weathered form metabasalt, metarhyolite, metaandesite, greenstone schist, and other light colored rocks. The climate is humid temperate with mean annual temperature of 48 to 56 degrees F., mean annual precipitation of 35 to 48 inches, and a growing season of 150 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the
Ashe,
Catoctin,
Myersville, Potters,
Baile,
Clifton,
Dekalb,
Edgemont,
Fauquier, and
Glenville soils. Baile and Glenville soils have mottled subsoils. Glenville soils have a fragipan. The Clifton and Fauquier soils have more than 35 percent clay in the particle-size control sections. Dekalb soils do not have an argillic horizon and have more than 35 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section. Edgemont soils have more than 18 percent clay and a higher sand component in the particle- size control section than the Highfield soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Internal drainage is moderate and permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: About half of the acreage has been cleared for orchards and general farm crops. Wooded areas are in oak type mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The South Mountain area of south central Pennsylvania and west central Maryland. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washington County, Maryland, 1938.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 4 inches (A horizon).
b. Albic horizon - the zone from 4 to 11 inches (E horizon).
c. Argillic horizon - the zone from 11 to 35 inches (Bt horizon).
11/2021 revision: Oi had 1 to 0 inch depths, corrected to be 0 to 1 in horizon depths then added 1 inch to all horizon depths throughout the typical pedon.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.