LOCATION NESTORIA VA+MDEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic, shallow Inceptic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Nestoria gravelly silt loam-fescue hayfield on a moderately steep side slope with 15 to 25 percent slopes (Colors are for moist soils.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) gravelly silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 25 percent siltstone gravel; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt--8 to 14 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) very gravelly silt loam; weak, fine, subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; common thin clay films on ped faces; 40 percent siltstone gravel; few fine and very fine mica flakes; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
C--14 to 18 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) very gravelly silt loam; massive; very friable; common fine roots; 50 percent siltstone gravels and siltstone channers; many fine and very fine mica flakes; strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Cr--18 to 30 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) fractured weathered interbedded Triassic siltstone and fine grained sandstone.
R--30 inches; hard Triassic red beds.
TYPE LOCATION: Prince William County, Virginia, approximately 150 feet west of County Route 677; approximately 3/4 mile north of State Route 234.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Depth to Cr horizon ranges from 10 to 20 inches, and depth to hard bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments of siltstones and sandstones range from 15 to 50 percent in the A horizon, and from 35 to 75 percent in the B and C horizon. The fine earth fraction of the textural control has more than 50 percent silt plus very fine sand. The mineralogy of the sand and silt fractions are dominated by iron oxides, quartz and muscovite mica. Soil reaction ranges from very strongly through medium acid unless limed.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of lOR through 5YR, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 3 or 4. Then A horizons include chroma of 2. It is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of lOR through 5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is silt loam, or loam, in the fine earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of lOR through 5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is silt loam, or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The C horizon has hue of lOR through 2.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is silt loam, or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The Cr horizon is dense in place but well weathered red beds that can be dug with hand tools. Bedrock is not removable with hand equipment.
COMPETING SERIES: The Catlett series is the only series in the same family. Catlett soils are developed from hornfil and granulite parent materials and do not have red hue in the solum. Oteen and Klinesville soils are in closely related families. The Oteen soils have less than 35 percent rock fragments in the control section. The Klinesville soils do not have an Argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Nestoria soils are on narrow ridgecrests and side slopes in highly dissected landscapes in the Culpeper Basin of the Piedmont Plateau. Slopes range from 2 to 50 percent. The soils are formed in residuum of weathered red beds. The annual temperature ranges from 53 to 57 degrees F., and annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 44 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the well drained Arcola, and Panorama soils, and the well to moderately well drained Manassas soils. The moderately well to somewhat poorly drained Dulles are also associated. All the associated soils have less than 35 percent rock fragments and have thicker sola.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in forest or pasture. Native vegetation is oak-hickory forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Culpeper Basin of Virginia and the southwestern part of the Gettysburg Basin of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Prince William County, Virginia, 1985.
REMARKS: Laboratory data for the typifying pedon is available from the Soil Survey Lab, Virginia Tech. This soil was formerly included in the Klinesville series, which is classified as a loamy-skeletal mixed mesic lithic Typic Dystrochrept.