LOCATION OTWAY KYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, carbonatic, mesic Inceptic Haprendolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Otway silty clay - cultivated.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silty clay loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; strong fine granular structure; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many roots; mildly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw--6 to 18 inches; olive (5Y 5/4) silty clay; strong medium angular blocky structure; very firm, sticky, plastic; common roots; shiny pressure faces on peds; 5 percent yellowish brown weathered fragments of calcareous siltstone; mildly alkaline; calcareous; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick)
C--18 to 24 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) soft weathered calcareous shales, siltstones and sandstones, commonly called marl; common medium distinct variegations of olive gray (5Y 5/2), pale olive (5Y 6/3) and brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) which break down readily to clay loam; weak platy structure; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few roots; calcareous; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
R--24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) limestones interbedded with calcareous sandstones, siltstones and shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Clark County, Kentucky; in a pasture field 0.5 miles northeast of Bloomingdale.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is 12 to 30 inches. Depth to bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. The solum is silty clay or silty clay loam and contains 35 to 55 percent clay. Calcium carbonate equivalent of the B and C horizon averages more than 40 percent. Coarse fragments range from 0 to 10 percent in individual horizons.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or less and chroma of 3 or less. It is 6 to 10 inches thick.
The Bw horizon has hue of 5Y to 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6.
The C horizon has hue of 5Y to 10YR, value of 5 through 8, and chroma of 1 through 6. Where colors are at low chroma they are inherited from the parent rock. The C horizon, in some pedons, contains strata as much as 3 inches thick of hard limestone, amounting to 2 to 10 percent of the horizon by volume.
COMPETING SERIES: No other series are currently listed in the same family, but similar soils are in the Benson, Brassfield, Chilhowie, Pedlar, Rodman, Shrouts, and Tumbez series. Benson soils lack 40 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the B horizon and have bedrock within 20 inches. Brassfield and Shrouts soils lack mollic epipedons. The Brassfield soils, in addition, average less than 35 percent clay throughout. Chilhowie soils have argillic horizons. Pedlar soils have a lithic contact at depths of less than 20 inches. Rodman soils have sandy-skeletal sola. The Tumbez soils have soft shale or soft limestone at depths of less than 20 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Otway soils are on ridgetops and sideslopes in the uplands. Slopes range from 6 to 50 percent. These soils formed in residuum from calcareous siltstone, sandstone, shale and soft limestone. Mean annual temperature ranges from 50 to 56 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 48 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Brassfield and Shrouts soils and the Beasley, Colyer, Fairmount, and Woolper soils. The Beasley and Colyer soils lack mollic epipedons. The Beasley soils, in addition, have argillic horizons. Fairmount soils have less than 40 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the sola. The Woolper soils have mollic epipedons 18 to 32 inches thick, and argillic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is rapid. Permeability is moderately slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in pasture and hay. Some are in trees or brush. The original vegetation was probably a mixture of grasses, sedges, canes, and legumes and widely spaced black locust, honey locust, Kentucky coffee tree, red but, hackberry, elm, black walnut, hickory trees and a few oaks and red cedar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Outer Bluegrass region of Kentucky adjacent to the Knobs. The extent is low.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Adams County, Ohio; 1932.
REMARKS: The Official Series Location was moved to Clark County, Kentucky during the MLRA-121 update.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - 0 to 6 inches (Ap).
Cambic horizon - 6 to 18 inches (Bw).
Lithic contact at 24 inches.