LOCATION LEW VA+MD
Established Series
Rev. ACB, RRD
02/2022
LEW SERIES
The Lew series consists of very deep, well drained, and moderately permeable soils. They formed in colluvial material weathered from greenstone or other basic rocks. Slopes range from 2 to 75 percent. Mean annual precipitation averages 40 inches. Mean annual temperature averages 55 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Lew extremely stony silt loam - forested. (Colors are for moist soil.)
0i--0 to 2 inches; undecomposed and partially decomposed leaves and twigs and black organic matter.
A--2 to 7 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) very channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many roots; 40 percent greenstone channers; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
E--7 to 13 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) very channery silt loam; moderate coarse granular structure; friable; many roots; 40 percent greenstone channers; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--13 to 23 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) very channery silty clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky, plastic; common roots; thin patchy clay films; 40 percent greenstone channers; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--23 to 34 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) very channery silty clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; sticky, slightly plastic; common roots; thin patchy clay films; 50 percent greenstone channers; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
2Bt3--34 to 74 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) very channery silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few roots; thin patchy clay films; 50 percent greenstone channers; strongly acid. (Combined thickness of the Bt is 40 to 60 or more inches)
TYPE LOCATION: Augusta County, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains; .2 miles west of mile post 18 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, 300 feet north of the road on National Forest land.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 80 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Content of rock fragments ranges from 5 to 50 percent in the A horizon and from 35 to 70 percent or more in the B horizon and in the C horizon, where present. Rock fragments consist of pebbles, channers, flags, and stones that are commonly greenstone. The soil is very strongly acid through moderately acid throughout, unless limed.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Where value is 2 or 3 and chroma is 2, the A horizon is less than 6 inches thick. It is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The BA or BE horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 8. It is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam in the fine earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 through 8. A lithologic discontinuity is evident in the lower part of the Bt horizon of most pedons. Texture of the fine earth fraction is loam, clay loam or silty clay loam.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 8. Texture of the fine earth fraction is sandy loam, loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam.
The C horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 8. Texture of the fine earth fraction is sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Bendavis,
Blackthorn,
Croom,
Elliber,
Gainesboro,
Hartleton,
Irondale,
Macove,
Mertz,
Pattenburg,
Trevlac, and
Weverton series. Bendavis, Blackthorn, Elliber, Gainesboro, Irondale, Macove, Mertz, Trevlac, and Weverton soils do not have greenstone fragments. Croom soils have very firm, sticky, very gravelly sandy clay loam Bt horizons. Hartleton and Pattenburg soils have sola less than 40 inches thick; in addition Pattenburg soils have Bt horizons with hue of 2.5YR or redder.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lew soils are primarily on moderately steep to very steep sideslopes, but also on gently sloping to steep colluvial and alluvial foot slopes and fans, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Slopes range from 2 to 75 percent, commonly being between 15 to 25 percent. These soils are generally stony, very stony, or extremely stony. Lew soils formed mainly in colluvium weathered from greenstone. It formed in local alluvial material in some areas. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 46 to 59 degrees F. Precipitation ranges from 35 to 45 inches. Elevations range from 1800 to 3000 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing
Hartleton soils and the
Braddock,
Cardiff,
Cataska,
Catoctin,
Laidig,
Myersville, and
Porters soils. Braddock and Myersville soils have less than 35 percent coarse fragments in the textural control section. Cardiff and Porters soils have thinner sola. Cataska soils have a cambic horizon. Catoctin soils have a discontinuous argillic horizon and are less than 40 inches to bedrock. Laidig soils have a fragipan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff, moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forest. Native vegetation is red maple, basswood, ash, yellow-poplar, black gum, white oak, northern red oak, shag bark hickory, yellow birch, hemlock, and dogwood; understory of witch hazel and viburnum.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia; possibly Maryland. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Augusta County, Virginia, 1977.
REMARKS: Lew soils were formerly included with the Clifton, Catoctin, Myersville, and Unison series; also miscellaneous land types of Stony colluvial land and Stony land.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 13 inches (A and E horizons)
Argillic horizon - zone from 13 to 74 or more inches (Bt horizons)
SIR = VA0015, VA0016 (STONY), VA0247 (FLAGGY), VA0248 (CHANNERY)
MLRA = 130
REVISED = 9/97, 2/2022
2/2022 revision: Oi had 2 to 0 inch depths, corrected to be 0 to 2 in horizon depths then added 2 inches to all horizon depths throughout the typical pedon. WJN
ADDITIONAL DATA: Mechanical analysis of samples from typifying pedon by hydrometer method show 19 percent sand, 49 percent silt, and 32 percent clay in the fine earth fraction in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon; content of coarse fragments is about 45 percent. The pH determinations are shown as reaction for each horizon in typifying pedon -- data from V.P.I. Laboratory, profile 176. Base saturation is 4.79 percent and pH 5.5 in lower part of 2Bt3 horizon (V.P.I. and State University Soil Survey Laboratory sample 72-053, February, 1972).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.