LOCATION MASSANETTA VA+MD PA WV

Established Series
Rev. JRT-MEC-RRD
09/2018

MASSANETTA SERIES

Soils of the Massanetta series are very deep and moderately well drained. They formed in alluvial material eroded from soils formed in weathered limestone and shale. Permeability is moderate. Slopes range from 0 to 4 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 37 inches and mean annual temperature is about 54 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, carbonatic, mesic Fluvaquentic Hapludolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Massanetta silt loam in pasture. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap--0 to 11 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots; 5 percent secondary lime concretions up to 1/4 inch in size; strong effervescence; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (7 to 14 inches thick)

Bw1--11 to 16 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; few fine roots; 10 percent secondary lime and shell fragments up to 1/2 inch in size; common worm casts and channels; strong effervescence; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary.

Bw2--16 to 25 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) clay loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; 10 percent secondary lime and shell fragments up to 1/3 inch in size; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) worm casts and soil material filling old root channels; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 6 to 28 inches.)

C1--25 to 35 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) loam; massive; very friable; few fine roots; 20 percent secondary lime and shell fragments up to 1/2 inch in size; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary.

C2--35 to 54 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) loam; massive; very friable; 25 percent secondary lime and shell fragments up to 1/2 inch in size; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) coatings along root channels; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary.

C3--54 to 64 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silt loam; massive; 20 percent secondary lime and shell fragments less than 1/4 inch in size; common fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; strong effervescence; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.

2C4--64 to 80 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) clay; massive; 3 percent secondary lime concretions less than 1/4 inches in size; many medium distinct dark gray (10YR 4/1) iron depletions; strong effervescence; slightly alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Rockingham County, Virginia; in the Shenandoah Valley, about 800 feet southwest of the intersection of State Routes 696 and 727.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent in the A and Bw horizons and from 0 to 30 percent in the C horizon. Secondary lime concretions and snail shells range from 0 to 20 percent in many pedons. The 2C horizon is variable in content of rock fragments. The soil is slightly or moderately alkaline and effervesces with acid throughout. Redoximorphic depletions, present in some pedons, range from few to common. They occur in the lower part of the dark colored layers in some profiles and only in the lower B or C horizon in others. Matrix colors and mottles with low chromas above 30 inches are not typically due to wetness.

The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3, and chroma of 1 through 3. It is silt loam or loam.

The upper Bw horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 4. The lower Bw horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 through 6 and chroma of 1 through 3. Redoximorphic features having chromas 1 through 4 are in some pedons. The Bw horizon is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam or clay loam.

The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 0 through 3. The C horizon is sandy loam, loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.

The 2C horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 1 through 3. The texture ranges from loamy sand to clay in the fine-earth fraction and is stratified in some pedons.

COMPETING SERIES: There are presently no other series in this family. Medway is a similar series. It has mixed mineralogy.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Massanetta soils are on narrow flood plains normally below springs having carbonate-charged water flowing from limestone bedrock. Slopes range from 0 to 4 percent. The soil formed in alluvial material derived from upland soils. Average annual temperature ranges from 54 to 58 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 40 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berks, Chilhowie, Christian, Edom, Endcav, Frederick, and Timberville soils. None of these soils have secondary lime concretions or mollic epipedons. In addition, the Timberville soils are browner in color. The Berks soils have more than 35 percent rock fragments in the subsoil. The Chilhowie, Edom, Endcav, and Frederick soils have clayey particle size control sections.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and used for permanent pasture. The remaining areas are used for corn or are in woodland. Native vegetation is mixed hardwood.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Limestone valley areas of Virginia and West Virginia. The series is of small extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Rockingham County, Virginia, 1977.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 11 inches with base saturation greater than 50 percent (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 11 to 25 inches (Bw horizon).
c. Carbonatic feature - secondary lime and shell fragments
within 40 inches of the surface; strong effervescence.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data for the typical pedon were
prepared by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University;
Lab. Nos. 74-249 to 252 and Lab. Nos. 79-491 to 495.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.