LOCATION KIRKSEY SC+NCEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, subactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Kirksey silt loam on a 4 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--6 to 15 inches; yellow (2.5Y 7/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; few fine pores; few faint clay films on faces of some peds; common medium faint pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) iron depletions; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 22 inches thick)
Bt2--15 to 29 inches; yellow (2.5Y 7/8) silty clay loam; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; common fine pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds; few medium prominent red (2.5YR 4/8) masses of iron accumulation and common medium distinct very pale brown (10YR 7/3) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 18 inches thick)
BCt--29 to 38 inches; mottled light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4), light brown (7.5YR 6/4), and gray (10YR 6/1) clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; few fine pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent slate fragments 1 to 3 inches in length; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (3 to 12 inches thick)
C--38 to 45 inches; mottled olive yellow (2.5Y 6/8), light gray (10YR 7/2), and brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) silt loam; structureless; firm; 5 percent slate fragments 1 to 3 inches in length; very strongly acid. (3 to 20 inches thick)
R--45 inches; hard unweathered slate bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Greenwood County, South Carolina; 15 miles southeast of Greenwood, 300 feet north of SC Secondary Highway 62, 3 miles east of its intersection with U.S. 25 and 1/2 mile northwest of Saluda County line.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to hard bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. The B horizon is very strongly or strongly acid, and the C horizon ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid. Content of rock fragments, commonly slate channers or quartz gravel, ranges from 0 to 10 percent in the A and Bt horizons, and 0 to 30 percent in the C horizon. Content of feldspar crystals in the lower part of the subsoil ranges from 0 to about 6 percent.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, chroma of 2 to 4. It is very fine sandy loam, silt loam, or loam.
The AB or BA horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 4 to 8, commonly with mottles of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 6 to 8, and chroma of 3 to 8. It is silt loam, silty clay loam, loam, or very fine sandy loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 3 to 8, commonly with mottles of 2.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 8. It is silty clay loam, silt loam, or clay loam. Iron depletions of chroma 1 or 2 are within 24 inches of the top of the argillic horizon of all pedons.
The BCt horizon commonly is mottled in hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 2 to 8. It is loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, or silt loam.
The C horizon commonly is mottled in hue of 2.5YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 2 to 8. It is loam, silt loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam saprolite in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have as much as 90 percent highly weathered soft slate or fine grained schist.
COMPETING SERIES: The Docena and Secrest series are the only other known series in this family. Alamance, Callison, Cid, Lignum, Mandale (T), and Pageland series are similar soils in related families. Docena soils formed in alluvial, colluvial, and shaly residual sediments on low areas of the Appalachian Plateau and have a depth to bedrock of more than 60 inches. Secrest soils have a depth to soft bedrock of 40 to 60 inches. Alamance soils are well drained. Callison soils have a depth to soft bedrock of 20 to 40 inches and a depth to hard bedrock of 40 to 60 inches. Cid, Lignum, and Mandale (T) soils have a clayey particle-size control section. Pageland soils have a Cr horizon at 20 to 40 inches and are Alfisols.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kirksey soils occur on saddles and lower slopes in uplands in the Piedmont. The soils formed in materials weathered from Carolina slate or other fine-grained rock. Slopes commonly are 2 to 6 percent but range from 0 to 10 percent. The mean annual temperature ranges from 59 to 64 degrees F., the mean annual precipitation ranges from 37 to 60 inches, and the frost-free season ranges from 190 to 230 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the closely related Alamance, Callison, Cid, Lignum, and Mandale (T) series, and the Badin, Georgeville, Goldston, Gundy, Herndon, Montonia, Nanford, and Tarrus series. Badin, Georgeville, Gundy, Herndon, Nanford, and Tarrus soils are well drained and have more than 35 percent clay in the control section. Goldston and Misenheimer soils have more than 35 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section and have a depth to soft bedrock of less than 20 inches. Montonia soils are well drained, fine-loamy, and have a depth to soft bedrock of 20 to 40 inches and a depth to hard bedrock of 40 to 60 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; moderate runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in woodlands of loblolly pine or mixed hardwood and pine. Cleared areas are primarily in pasture. A small acreage is primarily used for small grain, corn, soybeans, grain sorghum, or cotton.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The slate belt of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia and possibly Alabama and Georgia. The series is inextensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Greenwood County, South Carolina; 1973.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to 6 inches (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon - the zone from 6 to 38 inches (Bt1, Bt2 and BCt horizons)
MLRA = 136
SIR = SC0004
ADDITIONAL DATA:
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation SC0004 KIRKSEY 0-10 59-64 190-230 37-60 350-550SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness SC0004 NONE 1.5-3.0 PERCHED DEC-MAR 40-60 HARD
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- SC0004 0- 6 SIL L VFSL 0-2 88-100 4-20 5-15 SC0004 6-38 SICL CL SIL 0-1 90-100 18-35 8-22 SC0004 38-45 SIL FSL L 0-10 90-100 5-25 6-22 SC0004 45-55 UWB - - - -
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll SC0004 0- 6 5.1-6.5 .5-2. 0-0 0.6- 2.0 LOW SC0004 6-38 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.2- 0.6 LOW SC0004 38-45 3.6-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6- 2.0 LOW SC0004 45-55 - 0.-.5 - -