LOCATION MUSELLA GA+AL SCEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, subactive, thermic, shallow Typic Rhodudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Musella gravelly clay loam - forested (planted pines).
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 4 inches; dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) gravelly clay loam; weak medium granular and subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; 15 to 20 percent gneiss and quartz gravel; few cobbles and stones; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--4 to 14 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) gravelly clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds and fragments of rock; 20 to 30 percent gneiss gravel and cobbles; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 15 inches thick)
Bt2--14 to 18 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) very gravelly clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; about 60 percent fine-earth, 40 percent slightly hard weathered fragments of gravel- and cobble-sizes; many fine roots in fine-earth fraction; few distinct clay films on fragments of rock; moderately acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Cr--18 to 24 inches; broken and weathered hornblende gneiss and diorite; about 5 percent dark red clay loam in seams and tongues among rock fragments; 95 percent weathered rock fragments, 20 percent of gravel-size, 40 percent cobbles, 35 percent stones; clay coats on many rock fragments; neutral. (4 to 40 inches thick)
R--24 to 60 inches; fractured gneiss.
TYPE LOCATION: Carroll County, Georgia; 100 yards south of junction of Hays Mill and Oak Grove Roads; 5 miles southwest of Carrollton.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum thickness and depth to fractured and weathered rock ranges from 14 to 20 inches. Content of rock fragments, commonly gravel, cobbles, and stones, range from 5 to 35 percent in the A and Bt horizons, and from 35 to 50 percent in the BC horizon. Stones occupy up to 15 percent on and in the surface layer. The soil is strongly acid to neutral throughout the solum. Seams of fine-earth material in the Cr horizon are moderately acid to neutral.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 10R, value of 3 and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam, clay loam, sandy clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 10R, value of 3 and chroma of 4 or 6. Common to many weathered rock fragments are reddish, brownish, and yellowish. The Bt horizon is clay loam or clay in the fine-earth fraction
The Cr horizon is weathered gneiss or a mixture of gneiss and schist, with common to many hard cobbles and stones. Fractures are filled with dark red loamy material.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Similar soils include the Cullen, Enon, Gwinnett, Iredell, Lloyd, Mecklenburg, Mountainburg, Rabun, and Wilkes series. All of these except Mountainburg and Wilkes soils are more than 20 inches to a paralithic contact. In addition, Cullen, Enon, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Mountainburg, and Wilkes soils have a Bt horizon with value of 4 or more. Enon, Gwinnett, Iredell, Lloyd, Mecklenburg, and Rabun soils have more than 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section and Rabun soils have an average annual soil temperature less than 59 degrees F. Mountainburg soils have more than 35 percent coarse fragments in the Bt horizons. Wilkes soils have a Bt horizon less than 10 inches thick.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are narrow, gently sloping ridgetops and moderate to strong sideslopes of the Piedmont Plateau. Slopes range from 2 to 80 percent, but most are less than 25 percent. Musella soils formed in saprolite weathered from dark-colored rocks high in ferromagnesium minerals. Rock outcrops and stones are common landscape features. The mean annual temperature is about 59 to 65 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 45 to 55 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Enon, Gwinnett, Iredell, Lloyd, Mecklenburg, and Wilkes series and the Cecil, Davidson, Madison, and Pacolet series. Cecil, Davidson, Madison, and Pacolet soils are deeper to bedrock than Musella soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for pine and oak forest. A few areas are in cropland and pasture. Pasture is mostly of sericea lespedeza and tall fescue.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Douglas County, Georgia; 1960.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Rhodic feature - the zone with color value of 3 from approximately 0 to 18 inches (Ap, Bt1, Bt2 horizons).
Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 4 to 18 inches (Bt1, Bt2 horizons).
Shallow family feature - paralithic contact in the 18 to 20 inch zone (Cr horizon).
MLRA=136
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation GA0053 MUSELLA 2- 80 59- 65 190-230 45- 55 600-1200 GA0055 MUSELLA 2- 60 59- 65 190-230 45- 55 600-1200SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness GA0053 NONE 6.0-6.0 - 14-20 SOFT GA0055 NONE 6.0-6.0 - 14-20 SOFT
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- GA0053 0- 4 GR-CL GR-SCL 5- 15 60- 90 20-30 - GA0053 0- 4 CL SCL L 0- 5 80- 95 20-30 - GA0053 4-14 GR-CL CL 10- 20 60- 85 27-35 - GA0053 14-18 GRV-CL 20- 40 50- 65 27-35 - GA0053 18-60 WB - - - - GA0055 0- 4 ST-CL ST-SCL 5- 20 60- 90 20-30 - GA0055 4-14 GR-CL 10- 20 60- 85 27-35 - GA0055 14-18 GRV-CL 20- 40 50- 65 27-35 - GA0055 18-60 WB - - - -
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll GA0053 0- 4 5.1- 6.5 .5-2. 0- 0 0.6- 2.0 LOW GA0053 0- 4 5.1- 6.5 .5-2. 0- 0 0.6- 2.0 LOW GA0053 4-14 5.1- 6.5 - 0- 0 0.6- 2.0 LOW GA0053 14-18 5.1- 6.5 - 0- 0 0.6- 2.0 LOW GA0053 18-60 - - - 0.00- 6.0 GA0055 0- 4 5.6- 6.5 .5-2. 0- 0 0.6- 2.0 LOW GA0055 4-14 5.6- 6.5 - 0- 0 0.6- 2.0 LOW GA0055 14-18 5.6- 6.5 - 0- 0 0.6- 2.0 LOW GA0055 18-60 - - - 0.00- 6.0