LOCATION MYRA KY+WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Typic Udorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Myra very channery silt loam on a 3 percent slope at an elevation of about 850 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; 60 percent dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and 40 percent gray (N 6/) very channery silt loam; weak fine angular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; 60 percent rock fragments of siltstone, shale, sandstone, and few fragments of coal; slightly alkaline; very slightly effervescent; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
C1--6 to 19 inches; 95 percent gray (N 5/) and 5 percent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) very channery silt loam; massive; firm; few fine roots; 40 percent rock fragments of siltstone, shale, sandstone, and few fragments of coal; moderately alkaline; very slightly effervescent; gradual wavy boundary.
C2--19 to 40 inches; 70 percent gray (N 5/) and 20 percent grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) and 10 percent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) very channery silt loam; massive; firm; few fine roots; 45 percent rock fragments of siltstone, shale, sandstone, and few fragments of coal; moderately alkaline; very slightly effervescent; gradual smooth boundary.
C3--40 to 50 inches; 80 percent dark gray (5Y 4/1) and 20 percent dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) extremely channery silt loam; massive; friable; 65 percent rock fragments of siltstone, shale, sandstone, and few fragments of coal; moderately alkaline; very slightly effervescent; clear smooth boundary.
C4--50 to 79 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) extremely channery silt loam; massive; friable; 65 percent rock fragments of siltstone, shale, sandstone, and few fragments of coal; moderately alkaline; very slightly effervescent.
TYPE LOCATION: Pike County, Kentucky; about .5 mile south west of Big Shoal Station and 2,000 feet southwest of the confluence of Right Fork and Big Shoal Creek; about 6.5 miles northwest of Pikeville; 37 degrees, 30 minutes, 32 seconds N. Latitude and 82 degrees, 34 minutes, 12 seconds W. Longitude; USGS Broad Bottom Quadrangle; NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to rock is more than 5 feet. Coarse fragments, consisting mostly of calcareous and non-calcareous channers and flagstones of shale, siltstone, some sandstone and minor amounts of coal, are dominantly 2 mm to 10 inches in diameter but stones and boulders may be included. Content of fragments in the control section ranges from 35 to 70 percent and averages about 40 percent. Clay content in the control section ranges from 12 to 30 percent, but is commonly less than 27 percent. Most pedons have mixed colors in shades of red, brown, yellow or gray. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to moderately alkaline in the A horizon and from neutral to moderately alkaline in the C horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 8 and chroma of 1 to 8 or is neutral. Texture of the fine-earth is fine sandy loam, loam, silt loam, silty clay loam or clay loam. The A horizon of some pedons was formed by the spreading of stockpiled natural soil material. In these pedons, the A horizon is 4 to 20 inches thick and contains 5 to 35 percent rock fragments.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 2 to 8 and chroma of 1 to 8 or neutral. Texture of the fine-earth is silt loam, loam or fine sandy loam, and less commonly silty clay loam or clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. The Morristown series is a close competitor, but has an active CEC activity class. The Barkcamp, Bethesda, Cedarcreek, Enoch, Fairpoint, Fiveblock, Itmann, Kaymine and Sewell series are also in related families. Morristown soils formed from mine spoil dominated by limestone and shale and commonly have more clay in the control section. Fairpoint, Fiveblock and Kaymine soils are in non-acid families. Barkcamp, Bethesda, Cedarcreek, Enoch, Itmann, and Sewell soils are in acid families. In addition, Itmann soils contain more than 50 percent carbolithic fragments. Enoch and Barkcamp soils are ultra acid and have siliceous mineralogy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Myra soils are on nearly level to gently sloping ridgetops and benches; gently sloping to strongly sloping hill slopes; and steep to very steep mountain side slopes. These soils formed in regolith derived from surface coal mine operations. The regolith is a mixture of partially weathered fine-earth and rock fragments. The fine-earth material is from original soils; bedrock which has been crushed by machinery; or the weathering of fragments that have been in place long enough to disintegrate. Rock fragments are mostly Pennsylvanian aged calcareous and non-calcareous shale and siltstone mixed with small amounts of fine to coarse grained sandstone and coal. Mean annual temperature is about 53 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation is about 43 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Fairpoint, Kaymine and Fiveblock soils on adjacent surface mines and the Berks, Dekalb, Fedscreek, Gilpin, Jefferson, Kimper, Latham, Marrowbone, Muskingum, Pineville, Sharondale and Shelocta soils on nearby undisturbed landforms. Berks, Dekalb, Marrowbone and Muskingum soils are moderately deep to bedrock, have cambic horizons and formed in residuum on undisturbed uplands. Gilpin and Latham soils have argillic horizons and also formed in residuum on undisturbed uplands. Jefferson, Pineville and Shelocta soils have argillic horizons and formed in colluvium on mountain side slopes. Fedscreek, Kimper and Sharondale soils have cambic horizons and formed in colluvium on mountain side slopes. Sharondale soils have mollic epipedons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff is low to medium on benches; medium to high on hill slopes; and high or very high on mountain slopes. Permeability is moderate or moderately slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most nearly level to sloping areas are used for pasture and some have been developed for urban uses. Most steep out slopes have been reclaimed with grasses, legumes, black locust, autumn olive, and other plants commonly used in surface mine reclamation or have naturally seeded to black locust, sweet birch, yellow-poplar, sumac or sycamore.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Myra soils are of Pennsylvanian materials in the Allegheny-Cumberland Plateau of eastern Kentucky with possible similar areas in West Virginia, Virginia, and eastern Tennessee. The area is estimated to be of moderate extent, about 75,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pike County, Kentucky, 1985. Source of name is a small community in Pike County.
REMARKS: Myra soils were mostly mapped as Morristown soils in the past. These soils have no diagnostic horizons. The lat/long were converted to North American Datum Projection 1983 in 2008.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization sample S82KY-195-001 (by NSSL).