LOCATION LEHEW WV+MD PA TN VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Lehew channery fine sandy loam, wooded. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 1 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) channery fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; nonsticky; many roots; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
E--1 to 6 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) channery fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable, nonsticky; common roots; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bw1--6 to 9 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) channery fine sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky; common roots; 25 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (2 to 7 inches thick)
Bw2--9 to 20 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) very channery fine sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky; few faint clay films on faces of peds; few fine roots; 35 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 18 inches thick)
C--20 to 32 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) extremely channery fine sandy loam; massive with some tendency to platy cleavage; friable, slightly sticky; 60 percent rock fragments; strongly acid. (6 to 18 inches thick)
R--32 inches; slightly weathered reddish sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Hampshire County, West Virginia; about 3-3/4 air miles northeast of Augusta, along secondary road 45/13, 3/4 mile southeast of intersection with State Road 45.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 15 to 30 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The particle-size control section averages 35 to 80 percent rock fragments and 5 to 18 percent clay. Rock fragments consist of sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Rock fragments range from 0 to 40 percent in A, Ap, and E horizons and include channers, cobbles, flagstones, and stones; 20 to 40 percent in individual subhorizons of the Bw horizon; and 35 to 90 percent in the C horizon. Base saturation is less than 60 percent between a depth of 10 to 30 inches. The unlimed soil is extremely acid or strongly acid.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. Some pedons have an Ap horizon that has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak very fine granular or weak fine and medium granular. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 5 through 7, and chroma of 1 through 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam. It has weak fine or medium granular structure and very friable or friable consistence.
The B horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction with a weighted average clay content of 5 to 18 percent. Structure is weak or moderate very fine to medium subangular blocky. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is loamy sand, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is loose to firm.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Marbleyard(T) and Varilla series in the same family. Marbleyard soils have hues of 7.5YR and yellower in the Bw horizon and have rock fragment lithologies of quartzite and metasandstone. Varilla soils are more than 60 inches deep to bedrock and have hues of 7.5YR or yellower in the Bw horizon.
The Dekalb, Hazleton, Sherando, and Wallen series are in closely related families. Dekalb and Wallen soils have hues of 7.5YR or yellower Bw horizon. Hazleton and Sherando soils are deeper than 40 inches to bedrock and have yellower hues in the Bw horizon.
The Berks, Calvin, Dekalb, and Hazleton soils are similar soils in related families. The Berks, Calvin, Dekalb, and Hazleton soils have mixed mineralogy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lehew soils are on nearly level to very steep ridges and side slopes of mountains. Slopes range from 0 to 80 percent. Lehew soils formed in materials weathered from interbedded red sandstone, siltstone, and shale. The climate is humid and temperate with an average rainfall of 36 to 50 inches and average annual temperature of 47 to 59 degrees F, and a growing season of 130 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berks, Calvin, Dekalb, Klinesville, and Laidig soils. The Berks, Calvin, Dekalb, and Klinesville soils are on similar landscape positions. Berks soils have finer textures in the particle-size control section. Dekalb soils have hues yellower than 5YR in the B and C horizons. Klinesville soils have bedrock at depths less than 20 inches. Laidig soils are on footslopes and have a fragipan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well to excessively drained; slow to very rapid runoff; moderately rapid to rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Steeper slopes are mainly mixed hardwood forests. Row crops, small grain, and orchards are on gentle slopes. Virginia pine is common on abandoned fields.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern West Virginia, and western Virginia. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hampshire County, West Virginia, 1927.
REMARKS:
1. These soils were originally included in a mixed mineralogy family.
2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 6 inches (A and E horizons).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 6 to 20 inches (Bw horizon).
c. Lithic contact at 32 inches.