LOCATION MARROWBONE KY+VA WV
Established Series
JDM/Rev. MDJ
08/2014
MARROWBONE SERIES
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Marrowbone fine sandy loam - on a 44 percent south facing slope under mixed hardwoods at 1,480 feet elevation. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated).
Oi--0 to 3 cm (0 to 1 inch); loose, slightly decomposed hardwood leaf litter; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. 0 to 5 cm (0 to 2 inches) thick
A--3 to 15 cm (1 to 6 inches); brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; common fine to coarse roots; 10 percent sandstone fragments; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. 5 to 18 cm (3 to 7 inches) thick
Bw1--15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches); brown (7.5YR 4/4) loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; few thin discontinuous brown (10YR 4/3) organic coatings on surfaces of peds; 5 percent sandstone fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2--25 to 43 cm (10 to 17 inches); strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) fine sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; 10 percent sandstone fragments; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw3--43 to 58 cm (17 to 23 inches); strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; very thin discontinuous silt coatings on faces of peds; 10 percent sandstone fragments; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 43 to 64 cm (17 to 25 inches))
BC--58 to 71 cm (23 to 28 inches); yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery loam; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) lithochromic mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; 20 percent sandstone fragments; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. 0 to 20 cm (0 to 8 inches) thick
R--71 cm (28 inches); slightly weathered sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION:
County: Pike
State: Kentucky
USGS Quadrangle: Millard
Latitude (Decimal Degrees, NAD 83): 37.476944
Longitude (Decimal Degrees, NAD 83): -82.385000
Directions to the pedon: about 7.3 miles south of the community of Zebulon; 1000 yards east of the confluence of Raccoon Creek and Morris Branch in the head of Raccoon Creek on a south facing mountain slope
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to the top of the Cambic: 08 to 23 cm (3 to 9 inches)
Depth to the base of the Cambic: 46 to 102 cm (18 to 40 Inches)
Solum Thickness: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Less than 102 cm (40 inches)
Depth Class: Moderately Deep
Rock Fragment content: 0 to 15 percent, by volume, in the surface horizon and 0 to 50 percent in underlying horizons, but average less than 35 percent in the particle size control section
Soil Reaction: very strongly acid to moderately acid, except where limed
Other Soil Features: Some pedons range to neutral in the upper 25 centimeters (10 inches)
Range of Individual Horizons:
A horizon:
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam
Other features--structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium granular
B or BC horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, and, rarely, silt loam
Mottles (if they occur)--are in shades of yellow, brown, or red, and gray in the lower part
Other features--thin silt coatings and, rarely, clay films are present in some pedons
C or CB horizons (if they occur):
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, silt loam, sandy clay loam, and clay loam
Mottles (if they occur)--are lithochromic in shades of yellow, red, brown, or gray
Other features--a Cr horizon is present in some pedons with soft bedrock
R horizon:
Interbedded sandstone or siltstone bedrock that ranges to more weathered conditions on some landforms
COMPETING SERIES:
Bannertown soils--formed in residuum from metamorphic or igneous rocks in the piedmont region
Cheshire soils--are very deep to bedrock and formed in glacial till on uplands in New England
Devotion soils--formed in residuum from felsic to intermediate metamorphic or igneous rock in the piedmont region
Ditney soils--formed in residuum affected by soil creep that weathered from metasedimentary rock such as arkose, metagraywacke, metasandstone or quartzite in the Blue
Ridge Mountains
Fedscreek soils--formed in colluvium, commonly located downslope of the Marrowbone soils, but deep to bedrock
Maymead soils--formed in colluvium that contains coarse fragments of feldspathic quartzite, graywacke and arkosic sandstone in the
Unaka Mountains
Mine Run soils--are excessively well drained and formed in residuum weathered from metamonzonite and gneiss in the northern piedmont region
Tipsaw soils--formed exclusively over paralithic contact with moderately cemented and interbedded sedimentary rock in the Kentucky and Indiana Sandstone and Shale Hills and Valleys, Northwestern part (MLRA 120B)
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
MLRA(s) using this series: 125
Landscape: Hills and Mountains
Landform: Hill slopes, mountain slopes, and ridges
Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, crests, nose slopes, side slopes, mountaintops and mountainflanks
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, and backslope
Parent Material Origin: Pennsylvanian aged sandstone and siltstone
Parent Material Kind: Residuum
Slope: 8 to 120 percent
Elevation: 214 to 915 meters (700 to 3,000 ft)
Frost-free period: 188 to 241 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 11.7 to 13.9 degrees C. (53 to 57 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 980 to 1245 millimeters (40 to 49 inches)
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Berks soils--are in a loamy-skeletal family and formed in residuum derived mostly from shale
Cloverlick soils--are in a loamy-skeletal family, formed in colluvium, and they are deep and very deep to bedrock
Cutshin soils--are in a fine-loamy family, formed in colluvium, have umbric surface layers, and are deep and very deep to bedrock
Fedscreek soils--formed in colluvium and are deep and very deep to bedrock
Gilpin soils--are in a fine-loamy family and have argillic horizons
Guyandotte soils--are in a loamy-skeletal family, formed in colluvium, have umbric surface layers, and are very deep to bedrock
Handshoe soils--are in a loamy-skeletal family, formed in colluvium, and are very deep to bedrock
Highsplint soils--are in a loamy-skeletal family, formed in colluvium, and are deep and very deep to bedrock
Kimper soils--are in a fine-loamy family, formed in colluvium, and are deep and very deep to bedrock
Latham soils--are in a fine family, formed in residuum weathered from shale, have argillic horizons and a perched water table in the subsoil
Muskingum soils--are in a fine-loamy family and have less sand in their subsoils
Pineville soils--are in a fine-loamy family, formed in colluvium, have argillic horizons and are very deep to bedrock
Rayne soils--are in a fine-loamy family, have argillic horizons and are deep and very deep to bedrock
Sharondale soils--are in a loamy-skeletal family, formed in colluvium, have mollic surface layers, and are very deep to bedrock
Shelocta soils--are in a fine-loamy family, formed in colluvium, have argillic horizons, and are deep and very deep to bedrock
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Low to medium on slopes less than 20 percent and from medium to high on slopes greater than 20 percent
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high
Permeability Class (obsolete): Moderately rapid
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Dominantly woodland, but also pasture, and sites for homes and gardens
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--tall fescue. Where wooded--white oak, black oak, scarlet oak, chestnut oak, red maple, American beech, shortleaf and Virginia pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: The Allegheny and Cumberland Plateaus of eastern Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia
Extent: Large, about 250,000 acres
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pike County, Kentucky; 1985. Source of the name is a small community in Pike County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 15 cm (0 to 6 inches) Oi and A.
Cambic horizon - 15 to 58 cm (5 to 23 inches) Bw and 58 to 71 cm (23 to 28 inches) BC.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization sample S83KY-195-017 by NSSL. Supplemental data for pedons S83KY-195-014, S82KY-195-018, and S83KY-195-016.
________________________________________
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.