LOCATION MONTEVALLO AL+AR GA TN
Established Series
Rev. NTH, JYM/Rev. MDJ
09/2015
MONTEVALLO SERIES
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, subactive, thermic, shallow Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Montevallo channery silt loam; in a forested area of Nauvoo-Montevallo association, steep. (Colors are for moist soil)
Oa--0 to 3 cm (0 to 1 inch); black (10YR 2/1) highly decomposed organic material.
A1--3 to 5 cm (1 to 2 inches); very dark gray (10YR 3/1) channery silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 30 percent by volume shale channers; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 cm thick)
A2--5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 inches); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; 30 percent by volume shale channers; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 18 cm thick)
Bw--15 to 41 cm (6 to 16) inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) extremely channery silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few coarse roots; about 70 percent by volume shale channers; strongly acid; gradual irregular boundary. (10 to 38 cm thick)
Cr--41 to 91 cm (16 to 36 inches); light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) weakly cemented, fractured silty shale containing less than 5 percent fines coating shale fragments and partially filling cracks.
TYPE LOCATION:
County: Jefferson
State: Alabama
USGS Quadrangle: Brookside, AL
Latitude (Decimal Degrees, NAD83): 33.63585
Longitude (Decimal Degrees, NAD83): -86.99498
Directions to the pedon: 100 feet north and 3,500 feet west of the southeast corner of Sec. 19, T. 16S. R 4W. About one mile west of Graysville, 0.6 mile south-southwest of Flattop Experimental Forest Office, and 50 feet east of gravel road, in timber.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum Thickness: 25 to 50 cm (10 to 20 inches)
Depth to bedrock: 25 to 50 cm (10 to 20 inches)
Depth Class: shallow
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: deeper than 183 cm (6.0 feet)
Rock Fragment Content: channers of shale range from 15 to 60 percent in the A horizon, and from 35 to 85 percent in the Bw horizon
Soil Reaction: very strongly acid to moderately acid, unless limed
Range of Individual Horizons:
A or Ap horizon:
Color: hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4
Texture (fine earth fraction): silt loam or loam
Bw horizon:
Color: hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8
Texture (fine earth fraction): silt loam, loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam, with clay ranging from 15 to 35 percent
Cr horizon:
Weathered siltstone or silty shale. The bedrock tilt is dominantly less than 35 degrees, but in some areas can range as much as 75 degrees. Hardness of this material on Moh's scale ranges from 1.5 to 3.0.
Transitional horizons occur in some pedons. They have properties and features similar to the adjacent horizons.
COMPETING SERIES:
There are no other series in this family. Soils in related families include:
Armuchee - more clay in subsoil, moderately deep (50 to 100 cm) to shale bedrock
Coile - cyclic soil with both cambic and argillic materials in each pedon
Hector - siliceous mineralogy, fewer rock fragments, occurs over hard sandstone bedrock
Manteo - occurs over hard schist bedrock
Mountainburg - siliceous mineralogy, occurs over hard sandstone bedrock
Pickens - occurs over alkaline shale
Ramsey - fewer rock fragments, occurs over hard sandstone bedrock
Sulphura - siliceous mineralogy, moderately deep (50 to 100 cm) to limestone bedrock
Tallapoosa - fewer rock fragments, occurs over schist bedrock
Talladega - moderately deep (50 to 100 cm) to slate or argillite bedrock
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
MLRA(s) using this series: 128 (Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys), 129 (Sand Mountain), 118A (Arkansas Valley and Ridges, Eastern Part), 117 (Boston Mountains), 116A (Ozark Highland)
Landscape: dissected hills, river valleys, and valleys underlain by shale
Landform: hillslopes and ridges
Geomorphic Component: interfluve, noseslope, sideslope
Hillslope profile position: summit, shoulder, backslope
Parent Material Origin: loamy-skeletal residuum
Parent Material Kind: acid shale or siltstone that may contain a few strata of sandstone.
Slope: 2 to 80 percent
Elevation: 37 to 810 meters
Frost-free period: representative: about 210 days, range: 120 to 240 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 11.0 to 18 degrees C
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1041 to 1579 mm
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Albertville - adjacent uplands, clayey throughout the Bt horizon, deep (100 to 152 cm) to shale bedrock
Apison - adjacent uplands, fine-loamy throughout, moderately deep (50 to 100 cm) to interbedded shale, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone
Cunningham - adjacent uplands, clayey throughout the Bt horizon, deep (100 to 152 cm) to shale bedrock
Enders - adjacent uplands, clayey throughout the Bt horizon, deep (100 to 152 cm) to shale bedrock
Ramsey - adjacent uplands, fewer rock fragments, occurs over hard sandstone bedrock
Townley - adjacent uplands, clayey throughout the Bt horizon, moderately deep (50 to 100 cm) to shale bedrock
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class (Agricultural): well drained
Index Surface Runoff: low to rapid
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: moderately high
Permeability (obsolete): moderate
Shrink-Swell Class: low
USE AND VEGETATION:
Most areas are in trees, especially on steeper slopes. Native trees are hickory, red oak, white oak, chestnut oak, blackjack oak, shortleaf pine, longleaf pine, eastern white pine, and Virginia pine. Some areas are cleared and used for pasture, hay, small grain or row crop production.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Arkansas
Extent: the series is of large extent
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Talladega County, Alabama; 1907
REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 15 cm (0 to 6 inches) (Oa, A1 and A2 horizons)
Cambic horizon - from 15 to 41 cm (6 to 16 inches) (Bw horizon)
Paralithic contact - contact with shale bedrock at 41 cm (16 inches) (top of Cr horizon)
This edit adopts the semitabular format, updates the horizon nomenclature, location information, geographic setting, distribution and extent, and diagnostic features, and includes some editorial changes.
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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.