LOCATION MARBIE VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Fragiudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Marbie silt loam - on a 11 percent concave east-facing slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine and very fine granular structure; friable, slightly sticky; slightly plastic; common fine roots; few manganese concretions; 2 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
Bt--9 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; common faint clay films on faces of peds; few manganese concretions; 5 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 30 inches thick)
Btx--21 to 46 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loam; many medium distinct white (10YR 8/2) Fe depletions; very coarse platy structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm, compact, 75 percent brittleness, sticky, plastic; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; few manganese concretions; 5 percent gravel; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (15 to 36 inches thick)
2Bt--46 to 62 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay loam; common medium distinct light gray (10YR 7/2) Fe depletions; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; 12 percent gravel; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Wythe County, Virginia; about 1.3 miles east of the junction of US-11 and VA-690 and about 300 feet north of US-11.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 72 inches or more. Depth to the Bx horizon ranges from 18 to 36 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments of chert, shale, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone range from 0 to 15 percent in the A and Bt horizons, 0 to 35 percent in the Btx horizon, and 0 to 25 percent in the 2Bt and 2C horizons. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid, unless limed.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 8. It is silt loam, loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Btx horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 8, and chroma of 2 through 8. It is loam, clay loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The 2Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 7, and chroma of 2 through 6. It is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay in the fine-earth fraction.
The 2C horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 7, and chroma of 2 through 6. It ranges from loam through clay in the fine-earth fraction.
COMPETING SERIES: The Laidig, Moomaw, Neabsco, Tarklin, and Teddy series are in the same family. Moomaw, Laidig and Tarklin soils do not have 2Bt or 2C horizons below the fragipan. Neabsco soils developed in fluvio-marine sediments on the Coastal Plain and contain rock fragments of mostly rounded quartz gravel. Teddy soils do not have chert in the upper part of the solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Marbie soils formed in colluvial and alluvial materials weathered dominantly from limestone with inclusions of shale, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone over residuum in limestone valleys. Marbie soils are in nearly level to moderately steep concave upland drainageways, toeslopes, sinks, and saddles in the Ridge and Valley province. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual air temperature is 55 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation is 42 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Austinville, Chiswell, Frederick, Groseclose, Litz, Timberville, Wurno, and Wyrick series. Austinville, Chiswell, Frederick, Groseclose, and Litz soils do not have fragipans and are on convex ridgetops and sideslopes. Timberville and Wyrick soils do not have fragipans and occur on similar landscape positions. Wurno soils are shallower to bedrock and are on convex ridgetops and sideslopes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Permeability is slow. Runoff is slow to rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for cropland. Major crops are corn and hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Limestone valleys in Virginia and possibly West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wythe County, Virginia, 1989.
REMARKS: Soils now within the range of the Marbie series were previously correlated in the Ernest, Nicholson, and Slabtown series in several published soil surveys. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon - the zone from 9 to 62 inches (Bt, Btx, and 2Bt horizons).
Fragipan - the zone from 21 to 46 inches (Btx horizon).
SIR = VA0274
MLRA = 128
REVISED = 4/2/93, MHC
ADDITIONAL DATA: Ranges for morphology, chemistry, and particle-size distribution are based on 12 pedons.