LOCATION MADSHEEP VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, frigid Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Madsheep on a 20 percent southwest facing slope in forest at an elevation of 4,160 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated)
Oi--0 to 1 inch; slightly decomposed hardwood leaves and twigs.
A--1 to 4 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) channery loam; weak fine granular structure; friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 20 percent sandstone channers; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bw1--4 to 17 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) channery loam; weak medium subangular structure; friable, slightly sticky, nonplastic; 30 percent sandstone channers; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bw2--17 to 30 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) very channery loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, nonplastic; 30 percent sandstone channers and 10 percent sandstone flagstones; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 13 to 35 inches)
R--30 inches; hard sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Bath County, Virginia. 1,600 feet 142 degrees southeast of the intersection of Forest Service Roads 55 and 141; 5,400 feet 229 degrees southwest of the intersection of Forest Service Roads 55 and 636. U.S.G.S. Paddy Knob topographic quadrangle; Latitude 38 degrees, 15 minutes, 25.8 seconds N. and Longitude 79 degrees 48 minutes 28 seconds W; NAD-1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 20 to 35 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The particle-size control section average is 12 to 25 percent clay. Channers, flagstones, and cobbles of shale, siltstone, or sandstone range from 0 to 35 percent in the A and Ap horizons, from 20 to 55 percent in the BA and Bw horizons, and from 45 to 80 percent in the BC and C horizons. Reaction is extremely acid to strongly acid throughout.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is loam or silt loam.
Some pedons have an Ap horizon with hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam or silt loam.
Some pedons have a BA horizon with hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is loam or silt loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is loam or silt loam.
Some pedons have a BC horizon with hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is loam or silt loam.
Some pedons have a C horizon with hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is loam or silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES: The Skytop series is the only other series in this family. The Paddyknob and Mandy soils are in closely related families. Skytop soils are formed in glacial till derived primarily from gray and brown quartzite, conglomerate and sandstone. Paddyknob soils have hue yellowier than 5YR, have less silt, and are dominantly formed in sandstone. Mandy soils have hues yellowier than 5YR in the Bw, and have mixed mineralogy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Madsheep soils formed in residuum of red noncalcareous shale, siltstone, or sandstone and are on summits, shoulders, and backslopes of ridges at 3,200 to 5,000 feet elevation. Slope gradients range from 0 to 80 percent. Climate is humid continental. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 43 to 47 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 60 inches, and is evenly distributed throughout the year, and frost free days range from 90 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Mandy and Paddyknob soils, and the Gauley soils. Gauley soils have a spodic horizon have hue yellowier than 5YR, have less silt, and are formed in sandstone.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff potential is negligible to high. Permeability is moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: The Madsheep soils are mainly in forest. Native forest species include northern red oak, sugar maple, black cherry, white ash, American beech black birch, red maple, chestnut oak and red spruce. The understory includes striped maple, black birch, azalea, mountain laurel, ferns, black cherry, red maple, sugar maple, and witch hazel.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 128, in western Virginia, eastern West Virginia, and possibly Maryland and Pennsylvania. The soils are of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Tazewell County, Virginia, 1996.
REMARKS: This soil was formally mapped with the Calvin series. Madsheep is a place name in Bath County, Virginia, near the Type Location.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon -- the zone from the surface to 3 inches (the A horizon)
2. Cambic horizon -- the zone from 3 to 29 inches (the Bw horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory analyses, sample no. 93Z-857N, NSSL. Other supporting data unpublished in the Study of the Properties, Classification, and Woodland Site Quality for Residual Soils Derived from Shales, Siltstones, and Sandstones in Western Alleghany, Bath, and Highland Counties, Virginia.