LOCATION MT. AIRY MD+PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, micaceous, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Mt. Airy channery silt loam in a forested area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A1-- 0 to 2 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) channery silt loam;
weak fine and medium granular structure; soft, friable; many
fine and medium roots; many pores; 25 percent by volume channers
of schist; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
A2-- 2 to 6 inches; light yellowish-brown (10YR 6/4) channery silt
loam; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable,
slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine and medium
roots; many pores; 35 percent by volume channers of schist;
strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
Bw-- 6 to 18 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) very channery silt
loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, sticky and slightly plastic; few fine roots; many
pores; few faint irregular silt films; 50 percent by volume
channers of schist; strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (9
to 18 inches thick)
C-- 18 to 33 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) extremely channery
clay loam; massive, slightly hard, friable, sticky and plastic;
80 percent by volume channers of slightly decomposed schist;
schist is less fragmented, and much harder with increasing
depth; very few fine roots; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary.
R-- 33 inches; bedrock of hard mica schist; irregularly fragmented
at the top.
TYPE LOCATION: Frederick County, Maryland; at Johnsville.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 15 to 36 inches; with average being about 26 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches, but most pedons have bedrock at depths of 36 inches or less. Rock fragment content ranges from 15 to 60 percent by volume in the A horizon and averages about 30 percent. Rock fragment content in the B horizon ranges from 45 to 75 percent by volume and averages about 60 percent. The C horizon averages at least 70 percent by volume of rock fragments and in some places the amount is over 90 percent. There are stony and very stony phases of Mt. Airy soils, and outcrops of the extremely hard schist are fairly common. The soil is strongly to extremely acid throughout the profile unless limed.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2/5Y but is centered on 10YR, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 4. Lower value and chroma are in the A1 and higher value and chroma are in the A2. Tex- ture of the A horizon is channery silt loam or channery loam or the very channery analogues of these textures.
The B horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, but is centered on 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 6. It is channery silt loam, channery loam, channery clay loam or the very or extremely channery analogues of these textures.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 5 through 7,
and chroma of 4 through 6. Texture of the fine earth fraction ranges from loam to clay loam. It ranges from channery to extremely chan- nery.
COMPETING SERIES The Mt. Airy series is the only member of this family.
The Berks, Cardiff, Catoctin, Chandler, Elliber, Manor, and Talla- dega series are similar soils in related families. The Berks, Car- diff, Catoctin and Elliber soils contain less mica than Mt. Airy soils, have mixed minerology and do not have coarse fragments dominated by mica schist. Chandler soils contain less than 35 percent coarse fragments and bedrock is at a depth of 4 feet or deeper. Talladega soils have an argillic horizon less than 10 inches thick, or interrupted by ledges of bedrock, and a lithic contact within 20 inches of the surface. Manor soils contain less than 30 percent coarse fragments and bedrock is at a depth of 60 inches or more.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Mt. Airy soils have formed in a regolith weathered mainly from hard mica schists and phyllites, or locally from granitized or chlorite schists. They are on the northern portions of the inner Piedmont Plateau, on strongly dissected uplands. The slope gradient commonly ranges from 8 to 25 percent, but the complete range is 0 to 75 percent. The climate is temperate and humid; mean annual temperature is 50 degrees to 55 degrees F., mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches. Mean annual snowfall ranges from about 10 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Cardiff and Manor soils, and the Brandywine, Chester, Codorus, Comus, Elioak, Glenelg, Glenville, Hatboro, and Linganore soils.
Brandywine woils have sand or loamy sand particle size control sections and coarse fragments of gneiss. Chester, Elioak, Glenelg, and Linganore soils have argillic horizons, Glenville soils have fragipans and the Codorus, Comus and Hatboro soils are on nearby floodplains.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Runoff is rapid to very rapid. Permeability is moderate to moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: General crops, including corn, small grains,
and hay. There are some orchards, and large areas are in pasture. There are many, though usually not large, wooded areas, and in places much urban and suburban development. Natural vegetation is of mixed hardwoods, dominated by black oak, chestnut oak, hickory, yellow pop- lar, and red maple, and having an understory or dogwood, holly, and huckleberry, and some areas with laurel and azalea.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Inner Piedmont Plateau of Maryland and Pennsylvania. The Mt. Airy soils are extensive, usually dominating the landscapes in which they occur.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Howard County, Maryland, 1965.
REMARKS: The Mt. Airy series consists of that part of the soils formerly included in the Manor series that contains more than 35 per- cent coarse fragments and has bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches. The name, Manor, is to be applied to soils that contain les than 35 percent coarse fragments and are more than 40 inches deep to bedrock. These latter kinds of soils were formerly commonly referred to in Maryland as "micaceous Manor" soils.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
ochric epipedon - the zone from approximately 0 to 6 inches (A1, A2 horizons)
Cambic horizon - the zone from approximately 6 to 18 inches (Bw hori- zon)
Typic Ochrepts feature - no sulfidic material within 20 inches of the mineral soil surface; on ochric epipedon, and a mesic or warmer soil temperature regime.
Additional Data: