LOCATION LYERLY GA+ALEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, mixed, active, thermic Oxyaquic Vertic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Lyerly silt loam - pastured. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; approximately 5 percent limestone fragments; few wormcasts; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 7 inches thick)
Bt--6 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm, plastic; common fine roots and few medium roots; common fine pores; common prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (7 to 14 inches thick)
Btss1--16 to 22 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) clay; weak medium blocky structure; firm, plastic; few medium roots; few fine pores; few intersecting slickensides that have distinct polished and grooved surfaces; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
Btss2--22 to 32 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) clay; weak medium blocky structure; very firm, very plastic; few medium roots; few fine pores; few intersecting slickensides that have polished and grooved surfaces; common fine black (10YR 2/1)manganese concretions; many dark brown (10YR 3/3) soft masses of iron accumulation; few fine calcium carbonate concretions; slightly acid. (6 to 14 inches thick)
R--32 inches; limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Chattooga County, Georgia, northwest of Summerville, Georgia on Harrisburg Road, 0.5 mile west on paved county road, 1.0 north on paved county road from New Antioch Church, 0.1 mile south of junction with Rocky Hollow Road, 50 feet east of paved road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to rock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Reaction of the A and Bt horizons ranges from slightly acid to very strongly acid except for A horizons that have been limed. Reaction of the Btss and BC horizons range from slightly acid to neutral. The average clay content of the control section ranges from 60 to 75 percent. Fragments of limestone range from 0 to 35 percent in the A or Ap horizon and from 0 to 15 percent in the Bt, Btss, and BC horizons.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2, 3 or 4. Texture of the fine earth fraction is silt loam or loam, but ranges to silty clay loam or silty clay in pedons that are eroded.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4, 6 or 8. Texture is silty clay or clay. Mottles in shades of brown and red range from none to common. Some pedons may have thin transitional horizons with texture of silty clay loam.
The Btss horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4, 6 or 8. Black manganese concretions range from none to common. In some pedons redoximorphic features of chroma 2 or less are below 20 inches from the top of the B horizon. Mottles in shades of brown and red range from none to common. Texture is clay.
The BC and C horizons, where present, have hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3, 4, 6 or 8. Redoximorphic features range from none to common and are in shades of brown, red, and gray. Concretions of calcium carbonate range from few to common. Concretions and soft masses of iron and manganese oxides range from few to common. Texture is clay.
COMPETING SERIES: The Gladdice series is the only other series in the family. Gladdice soils have less than 60 percent clay in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon and are well drained.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lyerly soils are on nearly level to moderately steep uplands in the Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys Major Land Resource Area. Slopes range from 1 to 25 percent. The soil formed in residuum weathered from argillaceous limestone and shaly limestone. The upper few inches of some pedons formed in a thin layer of local colluvium. Limestone outcrops and ledges are characteristic of some areas of the soil. Near the type location the mean annual temperature is about 60 to 65 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 45 to 55 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Capshaw, Colbert, Conasauga, Mimosa, Talbott, and Tupelo series, and the Aragon, Dewey, Minvale, and Shack series. Aragon soils have sola more than 40 inches thick and kaolinitic mineralogy. Dewey, Minvale, and Shack soils have sola more than 60 inches thick. In addition, Dewey soils have kaolinitic mineralogy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well and moderately well drained; slow to high runoff; very slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the soil is in woodland. The native vegetation is oak, hickory, maple, and eastern redcedar. About 40 percent of the soil is cleared and used as pasture. Some small areas are cropped and corn, grain sorghum, and small grain are the principal crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Chatooga County, Georgia; 1975; Chattooga, Floyd, and Polk Counties, Georgia, survey area.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to approximately 6 inches (A horizon).
Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 6 to 32 inches (Bt, Btss horizons).