LOCATION NANFORD NC+SC VA
Established Series
Rev. DGS-WEW-DTA
11/2025
NANFORD SERIES
MLRA(s): 136 (thermic part)
Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Southeast
Depth Class: Deep
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Medium
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high
Shrink-Swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Residuum weathered from argillite or other fine-grained metavolcanic rocks of the Carolina Slate Belt
Slope: 0 to 50 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 17 degrees C (63 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1092 millimeters (43 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Nanford silt loam-mixed hardwood forest (Colors are for moist soil)
A--0 to 15 centimeters (0 to 6 inches), brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 centimeters (0 to 8 inches) thick)
Bt1--15 to 46 centimeters (6 to 18 inches), yellowish red (5YR 5/8) silty clay; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly plastic; slightly sticky; common fine and medium roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--46 to 79 centimeters (18 to 31 inches), yellowish red (5YR 5/8) silty clay; common fine prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and common medium distinct red (2.5YR 4/8) mottles; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; common fine roots; many prominent clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 51 to 127 centimeters (20 to 50 inches) thick)
BC--79 to 104 centimeters (31 to 41 inches), red (2.5YR 4/8) silty clay loam; many medium prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; common fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 51 centimeters (0 to 20 inches) thick)
C--104 to 142 centimeters (41 to 56 inches), mottled reddish brown (2.5YR 5/4), red (2.5YR 4/8) and brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) silt loam saprolite; massive; friable; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary (0 to 51 centimeters (0 to 20 inches) thick)
Cr--142 to 157 centimeters (56 to 62 inches), weathered, partially consolidated fractured argillite.
TYPE LOCATION: Anson County, North Carolina; 6 miles south of Wadesboro on North Carolina Highway 109; 1 mile east on Secondary Road 1118; 200 feet south on Secondary Road 1116; 900 feet west of road in hardwood forest. USGS Mt. Croghan, North Carolina topographic quadrangle.
Latitude--34.870833
Longitude-- -80.160556
Datum--WGS84
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum thickness: 63 to 127 centimeters (25 to 50 inches)
Depth to soft bedrock: 102 to 152 centimeters (40 to 60 inches) to weathered bedrock (paralithic contact--Cr)
Depth to hard bedrock: Greater than 152 centimeters (60 inches) to unweathered bedrock (lithic contact--R)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 152 centimeters (60 inches)
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 35 percent, by volume, in the A, Ap, E, and Bt horizons and 0 to 40 percent in the BC and C horizons
Mica Content: 0 to 20 percent, by volume
Soil Reaction: Very strongly acid or strongly acid, unless limed
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
Ap horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 2 to 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or fine sandy loam; where eroded, silty clay loam or clay loam
The A horizon
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR and value of 2 to 5, chroma of 2 to 6. Value of 2 or 3 is limited to horizons less than 6 inches thick.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or fine sandy loam; where eroded, silty clay loam or clay loam
E horizon, (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 2 to 6.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, silt loam or fine sandy loam
Bt horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 4 to 8. Mottles in shades of red, brown, or yellow may occur.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--silty clay, clay, silty clay loam, and clay loam with 35 to 60 percent clay and more than 30 percent silt, or more than 40 percent silt plus very fine sand.
BC horizon:
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 4 to 8, or is mottled in shades of these colors.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--silt loam, loam, silty clay loam or clay loam
C horizon: multicolored in shades of brown, red, yellow, gray, or white.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam saprolite
Cr horizon:
Type of bedrock--weathered, slightly fractured to highly fractured fine-grained metavolcanic rock.
COMPETING SERIES:
Appling soils--formed in felsic crystalline parent material, have less than 30 percent silt, and are very deep
Bethlehem soils--formed in felsic crystalline parent material, have a red subsoil, have less than 30 percent silt, and are moderately deep
Cecil soils--formed in felsic crystalline parent material, have a red subsoil, have less than 30 percent silt, and are very deep
Georgeville soils--have a red subsoil and are very deep
Herndon soils--are very deep
Tarrus soils--have a red subsoil
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Ridges and hill slopes
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Residuum weathered from argillite or other fine-grained metavolcanic rocks of the Carolina Slate Belt
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 14 to 18 degrees C (57 to 64 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1016 to 1270 millimeters (40 to 50 inches)
Frost Free Period: 195 to 240 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Alamance soils--are fine-silty and are very deep
Badin soils--are moderately deep
Biscoe soils--are fine-silty, moderately deep, and somewhat poorly drained
Callison soils--are fine-silty, moderately deep, and moderately well drained
Cid soils--are moderately well or somewhat poorly drained and are moderately deep
Goldston soils--are loamy-skeletal and shallow
Gundy soils--formed from residuum weathered from mafic crystalline rock
Kirksey soils--are fine-silty and moderately well drained
Lignum soils--are moderately well or somewhat poorly drained
Mandale soils--are fine-silty, very deep, and somewhat poorly drained
Secrest soils--are fine-silty and somewhat poorly to moderately well drained
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Medium
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland and some cropland and pasture
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--mixed hardwoods and pine. Where cultivated--corn, small grain, and soybeans.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
Extent: Moderate
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Anson County, North Carolina, 1999.
REMARKS:
Nanford soils were formerly mapped as Nason soils. Nason soils have mixed mineralogy and formed from sericite schist, phyllite, or other fine-grained metamorphic rocks. The November 2025 revision corrected some of the formatting. No data was changed.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 15 centimeters (0 to 6 inches) (A horizon)
Argillic horizon--the zone from 15 to 79 inches (6 to 31 inches) (Bt horizons)
Paralithic contact--soft weathered bedrock at 142 centimeters (56 inches)(Cr horizon)
ADDITIONAL DATA:
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
NC NANFORD 0-50 57-64 195-240 40-50 250-900
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness
NC NONE >6.0 - 40-60 SOFT
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC-
NC 0-6 L SIL 0-5 75-100 10-27 -
NC 0-6 VFSL FSL 0-5 65-100 5-20 -
NC 0-6 SICL CL 0-5 75-100 27-40 -
NC 6-41 SICL SIC C 0-5 75-100 35-50 -
NC 41-56 SIL L 0-5 45-75 10-25 -
NC 56-62 WB - - - -
NC 0-6 GR-L GR-SIL GR-FSL 0-10 55-75 6-12 -
NC 0-6 GR-SICL 0-10 55-75 28-35 -
NC 6-41 SICL SIC C 0-5 75-100 28-53 -
NC 41-56 SIL SICL 0-5 50-75 10-35 -
NC 56-62 WB - - - -
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll
NC 0-6 4.5-6.5 1.-3. 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 0-6 4.5-6.5 1.-3. 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 0-6 4.5-6.5 1.-3. 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 6-41 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 41-56 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 56-62 - - - 0.00-0.06
NC 0-6 4.5-6.5 2.-5. 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 0-6 4.5-6.5 2.-5. 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 6-41 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 41-56 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
NC 56-62 - - - 0.00-0.06
________________________________________
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.