LOCATION LITZ VA+KY MD PA WV TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Ruptic-Ultic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Litz silt loam--in a pasture. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 5 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; 10 percent weathered shale channers; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bw/Bt--5 to 12 inches; 60 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery silt loam (Bw); 40 percent irregularly shaped areas of strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay loam (Bt); weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; many fine pores; 30 percent weathered shale channers; few thin patchy films of clay on faces of peds in the Bt part; strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (6 to 25 inches thick)
C--12 to 24 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2), yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) extremely channery silt loam and silty clay loam; massive, rock controlled structure; few fine roots; 75 percent weathered shale channers and flagstones; strongly acid; diffuse irregular boundary. (0 to 25 inches thick)
Cr--24 to 36 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2), gray (10YR 5/1), and weak red (2.5YR 5/2) slightly weathered shale that crushes to silt loam; few thin lenses of strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silt loam; strongly acid; diffuse irregular boundary. (0 to 25 inches thick)
R--36 inches; Hard olive gray, gray, and weak red tilted shale bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Smyth County, Virginia; 2100 feet northeast of intersection of VA-357 and VA-358, 4000 feet southeast of intersection of VA-357 and VA-660.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 10 to 30 inches. Depth to lithic contact ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Many pedons have paralithic contact between a depth of 20 inches and lithic contact. Rock fragments of shale range from 5 to 65 percent in the A, Ap, and E horizons, and 25 to 90 percent in the Bw/Bt and C horizons. A thin discontinuous argillic horizon is present in some part of the pedon. In unlimed soils, reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout.
The A horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6. Value of 2 or 3 is limited to horizons less than 6 inches thick. The A horizon is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6. It is loam, silt loam or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 8, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bw/Bt horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 through 8. Each pedon has a cambic horizon (Bw) and a discontinuous argillic horizon (Bt). The Bw part is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. The Bt part is clay loam or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The C horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 6. It is strongly weathered multicolored shale with thin lenses of loam, clay loam, silt loam or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. The shale fragments easily crush to fine earth material.
The Cr horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 6. It is slightly weathered shale that crushes to loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
COMPETING SERIES: The Ranger series is the only series in the same family. Ranger soils have rock fragments of phyllite, slate, or siltstone. The Catoctin series is in a closely related family. Catoctin soils have base saturation of more than 35 percent.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Litz soils are on uplands with narrow convex ridges and long slightly convex sideslopes. The relief is gently sloping through very steep with slope gradients ranging between 2 and 80 percent. The soils formed in material weathered from leached calcareous shale with, in some places, widely spaced thin strata of limestone, only about 20 to 25 percent of the parent rock being shale, only about 10 to 25 percent of the parent rock being calcareous. The mean annual temperature ranges from about 48 degrees to 59 degrees F and the mean annual precipitation ranges from about 36 to 48 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the competing Ranger series and the closely related Catoctin soils, these are the Berks, Caneyville, Chilhowie, Chiswell, Dandridge, Gilpin, Groseclose, Hayter, Lodi, Murrill, Muskingum, Newbern, Tumbling, Unicoi, Weikert, Wurno and Westmoreland soils. The Berks, Muskingum, and Wurno soils do not have a discontinuous argillic horizon. The Caneyville, Chilhowie, Gilpin, Groseclose, Lodi and Westmoreland soils have a continuous argillic horizon. The Chiswell and Dandridge soils have paralithic contact within a depth of 20 inches of the surface. The Newbern, Unicoi, and Weikert soils have a lithic contact within 20 inches of the surface. The Hayter, Murrill, and Tumbling soils are very deep to bedrock and have formed in colluvium.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low to very high runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: A large portion is cleared and used for permanent pasture. A small part is used for row crops consisting mainly of corn, small grain, and mixed hay. Native vegetation includes oaks, hickory, yellow poplar and locust.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils are most prevalent in the Appalachian Ridge and Valley areas of western Virginia, eastern Tennessee, central Pennsylvania, eastern West Virginia, and western Maryland. They are also found in the Shale Hills and Valley area of western Kentucky. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Russell County, Virginia 1940.
REMARKS: The shale fragments in the C horizon easily crush to fine earth fractions.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon-zone from the surface to 5 inches (Ap horizon)
2. Cambic horizon-major part of the zone from 5 to 12 inches (Bw/Bt horizon)
3. Argillic horizon-thin discontinuous part of the zone from 5 to 12 inches (Bw/Bt horizon)
Cation-exchange activity class assignment based on data from 3 pedons sampled by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment
Station. Data is published in: Edmonds, W.J., D.D. Rector, N.O. Wilson, and T.L. Arnold. 1986. Properties,
Classification, and Upland Oak Site Quality for Residual Soils Derived from Shales, Phyllites, Siltstones, and
Sandstones in Southwestern Virginia. VA Agri. Exp. Station Bulletin 86-5.
SIR = VA0025, VA0338 (CHANNERY)
MLRA = 120, 128, 147,
REVISED = 11/14/94, MHC;