LOCATION MCAFEE KYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Mollic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: McAfee silt loam--on an 8 percent slope in pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam, brown (10YR 4/3) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots throughout; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 16 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots between peds; 50 percent continuous distinct clay films on vertical faces of peds; 1 percent fine prominent spherical moderately cemented black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese nodules; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--16 to 26 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) silty clay; strong medium subangular blocky structure; very firm, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few fine roots between peds; 70 percent continuous distinct clay films on vertical faces of peds; 1 percent fine prominent spherical moderately cemented black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese nodules; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt3--26 to 32 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) clay; strong medium subangular blocky structure; very firm, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few fine roots between peds; 70 percent continuous distinct clay films on vertical faces of peds; 1 percent fine prominent spherical moderately cemented black (7.5YR 2.5/1) iron-manganese nodules; 5 percent nonflat angular indurated 2- to 150-millimeter chert fragments; neutral; abrupt irregular boundary. (combined thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 18 to 32 inches)
R--32 inches; hard phosphatic limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Mercer County, Kentucky; 750 feet southwest of the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 127 and Talmage-Mayo Road; 6 miles north of Harrodsburg, Kentucky. USGS Harrodsburg, KY Quadrangle (Latitude: 37 degrees, 50 minutes, 53.00 seconds North; Longitude: 84 degrees, 51 minutes, 12 seconds East; UTM Easting 688865 UTM Northing 4191143)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to limestone bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Fragments of chert from 2 mm to 3 inches across, or fragments of limestone, from 1 to 6 inches across, range from 0 to 15 percent in the solum, and from 0 to 25 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to neutral in the solum and from slightly acid to mildly alkaline in the C horizon.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value less than 4, and chroma 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. The lower part of the Bt horizon has hue of 5YR. Some pedons have mottles in shades of brown or red. Texture is silty clay loam to clay.
The C horizon, where present, has colors and textures similar to that of the lower Bt horizon. Mottles in shades of gray, brown or red are common. Texture is silty clay or clay.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Belpre, Brooke, Caleast, Fleming and Salvisa series in the same family. Belpre and Caleast soils are deep. Brooke and Salvia soils do not allow 5YR colors in the argillic horizon. Fleming soils have paralithic contact within 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: McAfee soils are on gently sloping to steep uplands with slopes ranging from 2 to 50 percent. Some areas are karst while others are associated with limestone outcrops. The phosphatic limestone members include the Lexington and Cynthiana Limestone Formations of the Inner Bluegrass Physiographic Region. The mean annual precipitation is about 45 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 54 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cynthiana, Fairmount, Faywood, Lowell and Maury series. Cynthiana and Fairmount soils are shallow. Fairmount soils do not have an argillic horizon. Cynthiana, Faywood, Lowell and Maury soils do not have mollic epipedons. Faywood and Lowell soils do not allow 5YR colors in the argillic horizon. Lowell and Maury soils are deep.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained with moderately slow permeability. Runoff is medium on slopes less than 5 percent, high on slopes between 5 and 20 percent, and very high on slopes greater than 20 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing corn, small grains, burley tobacco and hay or as pasture. Original vegetation was hardwoods interspersed with grassy glades. Forests were elm, maple, oak species, ash, hickory, hackberry, redbud, black and honey locust, Kentucky coffee tree, black walnut, Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) and eastern red cedar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Inner Bluegrass Region of Kentucky.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
Extent is large.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mercer County, Kentucky; 1930.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons in the pedon are:
Mollic epipedon: 0 to 7 inches (Ap)
Argillic horizon: 7 to 32 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3)
Lithic contact @ 32 inches
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization sample 08KY-167-02-(1-4) by the University of Kentucky.