LOCATION OAK LEVEL          VA
Established Series
HLG-DHE-JCN/Rev. JAK
05/2010

OAK LEVEL SERIES


MLRA(s): 136 (mesic part)
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Low to high
Permeability: Moderately slow
Shrink-Swell Potential: Moderate
Landscape: Piedmont, upland
Landform: Low hill, ridge
Geomorphic Component: Interfluve, side slope
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, back slope
Parent Material: Clayey residuum weathered from mixed felsic and mafic metamorphic and igneous rocks
Slope: 0 to 25 percent
Elevation (type location): Unknown
Frost Free Period (type location): 190 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 56 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 42 inches

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Oak Level loam (in an area of Oak Level loam, 2 to 8 percent slopes), in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)

Ap--0 to 8 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) loam, reddish brown (5YR 5/4),dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; slightly acid, clear wavy boundary.

Bt1--8 to 18 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few fine roots; common distinct clay films on all faces of peds; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Bt2--18 to 32 inches; red (2.5YR 4/8) clay; few medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) non-redoximorphic mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few fine roots; common distinct clay films on all faces of peds; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Bt3--32 to 42 inches; red (2.5YR 4/8) clay loam; few medium prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) non-redoximorphic mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few distinct clay films on all faces of peds; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 25 to 45 inches thick.)

BC--42 to 50 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) loam; few medium prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) non-redoximorphic mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine prominent non-cemented iron-manganese masses; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

C--50 to 65 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) loam; few medium prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) non-redoximorphic mottles; massive; friable, slightly sticky, nonplastic; few fine prominent non-cemented iron-manganese masses; slightly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Halifax County, Virginia; about 1,000 feet south from the intersection of Secondary Roads 711 and 710 and 1,250 feet east from Secondary Road 710 and railroad tracks, in a cultivated field; USGS Cluster Springs, VA topographic quadrangle; lat. 36 degrees 33 minutes 59 seconds N. and long. 78
degrees 56 minutes 10 seconds W., NAD 27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to top of Argillic horizon: 4 to 15 inches
Depth to base of Argillic horizon: 25 to 50 inches
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 60 inches
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 25 percent, by volume, in the A and E horizon; 0 to 15 percent in the Bt and BC horizon; and 0 to 25 percent in the C horizon
Soil Reaction: Strongly acid to slightly acid in the A and Bt horizon and moderately acid to neutral in the BC and C horizon, unless limed
Mica content: None to common in the B and C horizon
Other Soil Features: Linear extensibility percentage (LEP) of the heaviest textured subsurface horizon is 3 to 6. Silt content of the particle-size control section is less than 30 percent. Content of manganese concretions ranges from 0 to 20 percent throughout the soil.

RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
A or Ap horizon:
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 3 to 6, chroma of 2 to 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, loam, clay loam, or sandy clay loam

BA or BE horizon (if they occur):
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 3 to 6, chroma of 4 to 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, sandy clay loam, or clay loam

Bt horizon:
Color (upper part)--10R or 2.5YR, value of 3 to 6, chroma of 4 to 8. Hue ranges to 5YR if there are few to many non-redoximorphic mottles.
Color (lower part)--2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 4 to 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--clay loam or clay
Mottles (if they occur)--non-redoximorphic mottles in shades of red, brown, yellow, or white; mostly in the lower Bt horizon

BC horizon or BCt horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 7, chroma of 4 to 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, sandy clay loam, or clay loam
Mottles (if they occur)--non-redoximorphic mottles in shades of red, brown, yellow, or white

C horizon:
Color--variable and commonly do not have a dominant color
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam, or clay loam

COMPETING SERIES:
Fauquier soils--formed in residuum from multicolored chloritic greenstone schist, metabasalt, and similar materials and have Bt horizons with hue of 2.5YR or redder that contain a higher content of silt; in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Northern Piedmont Plateau of Virginia and Maryland.
Lenberg soils--have a depth to soft bedrock of 20 to 40 inches, and formed in residuum of acid clayey shale; in the Pennyroyal and Western Coal Field Regions of Kentucky
Montalto soils--formed in residuum from basic igneous rocks, commonly diabase or gabbro and contain a higher content of silt; in the northern Piedmont Plateau and Blue Ridge
Mount Rush soils--an official series description is not available
Needmore soils--have a depth to soft bedrock of 20 to 40 inches, formed in residuum from calcareous shale; in the Ridge and Valley section of Tennessee and the Pennyroyal region of Kentucky
Norton soils--formed in fine textured till or colluvium; in Triassic Basins of the northern part of the Piedmont Plateau in New Jersey
Orenda soils--do not have a subhorizon in the upper Bt horizon with hue of 2.5YR or redder; in the northern part of the Piedmont Plateau
Peabody soils--formed in residuum derived from interbedded olive yellow siltstone and red clay shale and have depth to soft bedrock of 20 to 40 inches; in the Cumberland and Allegheny Plateau of northwestern West Virginia
Pisgah soils--have a moderate permeability and formed in residuum weathered from limestone bedrock; in the Cumberland Plateau, Ridge and Valley, and Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Poplimento soils--formed in residuum from a mixture of shale, limestone, siltstone, and fine grained sandstone; in the Ridge and Valley portion of the Shenandoah Valley.
Rasalo soils--have slow permeability, high shrink swell potential, and Bt horizons with hue of 5YR or browner; on similar landforms
Saucon soils--formed in materials weathered from Triassic fanglomerate of quartzite, and other rocks held together in a red matrix, a higher silt content, and more than 15 percent, by volume rock fragments throughout the subsoil solum; in the Triassic Basin of the northern part of the Piedmont Plateau
Zion soils--have a depth to hard bedrock of 20 to 40 inches; on similar landforms

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Piedmont, upland
Landform: Interfluves, ridges
Geomorphic Component: Interfluves, side slopes
Hillslope Profile Position: Summits, shoulders, back slopes
Parent Material: Clayey residuum weathered from mixed felsic and mafic metamorphic and igneous rocks
Slope: 0 to 25 percent
Elevation: 350 to 1,000 feet
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 52 to 56 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation: 40 to 50 inches
Frost Free Period: 165 to 200 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Rasalo soils--have slow permeability and high shrink-swell potential; on similar landforms
Spriggs soils--are moderately deep to bedrock and have a fine-loamy particle-size control section; on similar landforms
Minnieville soils--have moderate permeability and lower base saturation; on similar landforms

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Low to high
Permeability: Moderately slow
Shrink-Swell Potential: Moderate

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Cultivated crops and pasture
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, soybeans, small grains, hay, and tobacco. Where wooded--upland oaks (white, black, red, and scarlet oak), red maple, black gum, dogwood, Virginia pine, shortleaf pine, and loblolly pine

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Virginia and North Carolina
Extent: Moderate

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Halifax County, Virginia, 2004.

REMARKS: Oak Level soils were previously mapped as Mecklenburg soils. The creation of a mesic region within the southern Piedmont necessitated that a new series be established as a counterpart to the Mecklenburg series.

Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon--the zone from 8 to 42 inches (Bt horizon)
Other soil features identified with this pedon:
Series control section--the zone from 0 to 60 inches

ADDITIONAL DATA: None
Database Information:
Typical Pedon Data Mapunit ID--103347


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.