LOCATION LOWELL KY+MO OH PA VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Lowell silt loam--on a 4 percent slope in pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots throughout; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--8 to 16 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common fine roots throughout; 5 percent discontinuous faint brown (10YR 4/3) silt coats on surfaces along pores and root channels; 40 percent discontinuous distinct clay films on vertical faces of peds; 1 percent fine prominent spherical moderately cemented black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese nodules with sharp boundaries in matrix; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--16 to 23 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; very firm; few fine roots between peds; 60 percent discontinuous distinct clay films on vertical faces of peds; 1 percent fine prominent spherical moderately cemented black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese nodules with sharp boundaries in matrix and 1 percent fine prominent irregular black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese masses with clear boundaries in matrix; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt3--23 to 41 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay; 5 percent medium distinct irregular brown (10YR 5/3) and 5 percent medium prominent irregular light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and 5 percent medium faint irregular yellowish red (5YR 4/6) mottles; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; very firm; few fine roots between peds; 60 percent discontinuous distinct clay films on vertical faces of peds; 1 percent fine prominent spherical moderately cemented black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese nodules with sharp boundaries in matrix and 15 percent medium prominent irregular black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese masses with clear boundaries in matrix; 5 percent flat subangular indurated limestone fragments up to 3 inches across in lower part; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (combined thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 25 to 40 inches thick)
BC--41 to 53 inches; mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay; 5 percent prominent irregular light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and 5 percent medium faint irregular strong brown (7.5YR 5/6)and 5 percent medium distinct irregular light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) mottles; weak medium angular blocky structure; very firm; few fine roots between peds; 5 percent fine prominent irregular black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese nodules with sharp boundaries in matrix and 10 percent medium prominent irregular black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese masses with clear boundaries in matrix; 5 percent medium faint spherical moderately cemented carbonate nodules in matrix; 5 percent flat subangular indurated limestone fragments up to 6 inches across; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
R--53 inches; hard light gray limestone and interbedded thin layers of shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Jessamine County, Kentucky; 0.5 miles west of intersection of Park Lane and U.S. Highway 68; 4.5 miles northwest of Nicholasville. USGS Nicholasville Quadrangle (Latitude: 37 degrees, 56 minutes, 30 seconds North; Longitude: 84 degrees, 36 minutes, 46 seconds East; UTM Easting 709751 UTM Northing 4202060)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 60 inches. Depth to limestone or interbedded limestone, shale and siltstone bedrock ranges from 40 to 80 inches or more. Flagstones and channers range from 0 to 5 percent in the upper part of the solum, from 0 to 15 percent in the lower part of the solum and 1 to 50 percent in the substratum. The reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid to a depth of 30 inches and from strongly acid to mildly alkaline below 30 inches.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam. Some pedons have coatings of peds in the A horizons less than 6 inches thick that are very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2).
An AB or BA horizon, where present, have hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The upper part of the Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is silt loam to silty clay. The lower part of the Bt horizon has hue of 2.5Y, 10YR, or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8 with mottles in shades of brown, red, olive, or gray. Texture is silty clay or clay.
The BC horizon, has hue of 2.5Y, 10YR, or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8, with mottles in shades of brown, olive, or gray. Texture is silty clay loam to clay.
The C horizon, when present, has hue of 2.5Y, 10YR, or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 4 to 8 with mottles in shades of brown, olive or gray or is a variegation of these colors. Texture ranges from silty clay loam to clay.
The Cr horizon, where present, is 5 to 20 inches thick, and has soft interbedded shale, siltstone and limestone. Below this is hard light gray limestone.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Beasley, Brashear, Bratton, Caneyville, Donahue, Eden, Faywood, Fredonia, Haggatt, Heitt, Markland, Shrouts, and Solway Series. Beasley, Eden, Shrouts, and Solway soils have paralithic contact at 20 to 40 inches. Brashear soils can be moderately well drained. Bratton soils have a lithologic discontinuity at 10 to 22 inches. Caneyville, Fredonia, and Heitt, soils have hue redder than 7.5YR in at least some part of the B horizon. Donahue soils have more than 20 percent sand in the upper part of the solum. Faywood soils have lithic contact between depths of 20 to 40 inches. Markland soils have stratified lacustrine C horizons below 20 to 44 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lowell soils are on upland ridgetops and sideslopes or footslopes and benches. Slopes range from 2 to 65 percent. These soils formed in residuum, mantled with up to 18 inches of loess in some areas, or slope creep from soils formed in residuum from limestone or interbedded limestone, shale, and siltstone. The mean annual precipitation is about 45 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 54 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ashton, Bluegrass, Caleast, Cynthiana, Donerail, Elk, Fairmount, Faywood, Loradale, McAfee, and Nicholson series. Ashton soils are located on low stream terraces and alluvial fans, have a dark colored surface layer, and have less than 35 percent clay in the particle size control section. Bluegrass soils have less than 35 percent clay in the particle size control section. Caleast soils have a dark colored surface layer. Cynthiana and Fairmount soils have a solum thickness and depth to bedrock from 10 to 20 inches. Donerail soils have a dark colored surface layer, are moderately well drained, and have hues of 10YR or yellower in the substratum. Elk soils are located on stream terraces, and are typically more acid, and have less than 35 percent clay in the particle size control section. Faywood soils have a solum thickness and depth to bedrock from 20 to 40 inches. Loradale soils have a dark colored surface layer and have hues of 10YR or yellower in the substratum. McAfee soils have a solum thickness and depth to bedrock from 20 to 40 inches, have a dark colored surface layer, and have at least one subsoil horizon a hue of 5YR. Nicholson soils are moderately well drained with a slowly permeable fragipan in the subsoil.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, with moderate or rapid runoff. Permeability is moderately slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing corn, tobacco, hay, or pasture. Native forest has upland oaks, hickory, walnut, ash, hackberry, locusts, redbud, and red cedar as the dominant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, Southeastern Indiana, Southern Ohio, Southwestern Pennsylvania, and possibly the northern panhandle of West Virginia. MLRA 116A, 121, 126, 128. This soil series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Garrard County, Kentucky, 1921.
REMARKS: The Lowell Series is mapped in both the Inner and Outer Bluegrass Physiographic Regions in Kentucky.
Diagnostic horizons in the pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 8 inches (Ap)
Argillic horizon: 8 to 41 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3)
Lithic contact @ 53 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization sample 09KY-113-01(1-5) by the University of Kentucky.