LOCATION PINNACLE TN,NCEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic, frigid Typic Udifolists
TYPICAL PEDON: Pinnacle peat on 35 percent southeast facing spur ridge at 4770 feet elevation heath bald. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--0 to 4 inches; black (10YR 2/1) peat, reddish black (2.5YR 2.5/1) crushed and rubbed (fibric material); 60 percent fibers, 40 percent rubbed; massive; loose, many fine to coarse roots; 15 percent twigs; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)
Oe--4 to 19 inches; black (5YR 2.5/1) mucky peat; reddish black (2.5YR 2.5/1) crushed and rubbed (hemic material); 25 percent fiber, 75 percent rubbed; massive; many fine to coarse roots; 5 percent twigs; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 18 inches thick)
Oa1--19 to 26 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) muck; reddish black (2.5YR 2.5/1) crushed and rubbed (saphric material); 5 percent fibers, 95 percent rubbed; massive; many fine to coarse roots; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Oa2--26 to 36 inches; black (7.5YR 2.5/1) muck; sapric material: 5 percent fibers, 95 percent rubbed massive; many fine to coarse roots; very friable; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 20 inches thick)
R--36 inches; hard Anakeesta slate
TYPE LOCATION: Sevier County Tennessee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park; Alum Cave Trail; heath bald down trail from Alum Cave; Mt. LeConte USGS topographic quadrangle; latitude 35 degrees, 38 minutes, 11 seconds, N; longitude; 83 degrees, 26 minutes, 32 seconds, W; NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to lithic contact with hard, unweathered bedrock ranges from 21 to 40 inches. Mineral layers, where present, at the soil bedrock interface range from 2 to 17 inches thick and are less than 50 percent of the overall thickness of the pedon. The organic material and the mineral material are extremely acid.
The Oi horizon has a hue of 10YR, value of 2, and chroma of 1. It is slightly decomposed organic material from rhododendron and sand myrtle (fibric material).
The Oe horizon has a hue 5YR, value of 2.5, and chroma of 2. It is partially decomposed organic material from rhododendron and sand myrtle (hemic material).
The Oa horizon has a hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 2.5, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is highly decomposed organic material from rhododendron and sand myrtle (sapric material).
The mineral horizons where present, (A, Bw, or C) have hue of 10YR or 5YR, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loam or silt loam or the mucky versions thereof.
Some pedons have a thin Cr horizon at the soil-rock interface that is fractured metasedimentary rock.
The R layer is slightly to highly fractured metasedimentary rock.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series. Ricker soils are in a related family. Ricker soils are on landscapes affected by glacial activity in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and New York and have cryic soil temperature regimes. Pinnacle soils are on nonglacial landscapes and have a frigid soil tempereature regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pinnacle soils are on ridges and mountain slopes at high elevations in the Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130B). The mean annual air temperature is 45 F, frost free season ranges from 90 to 135 days, and the average annual rainfall ranges 80 to 100 inches. Elevation ranges from 3800 to 6700 feet. Slopes range from 5 to 95 percent. These soils are on the heath balds that occur on summits, spur ridges, side slopes, and nose slopes. Bedrock is metasandstone and phyllite of the Thunderhead and Anakeesta formations.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Clingman, Breakneck, and Pullback soils. Clingman soils are organic and are shallow to lithic contact. Breakneck and Pullback are mineral. Pullback is shallow to lithic contact and Breakneck is moderately deep to lithic contact.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained to somewhat excessively drained . Permeability is moderately rapid in the organic layers and moderate or moderately rapid in the mineral layers.
USE AND VEGETATION: The vegetation is dominated by rhododendron and sand myrtle (heath balds). These areas are windswept and the vegetation is damaged by wind and ice.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The high mountains of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 2007.
REMARKS: Revisions made 9/07(HCD) adjusted OSD to reflect Lab Data.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
The surface tier (Oi, Oe and Oa horizons), 0 to 36 inches, consists of fibric, hemic and saphric organic materials.
Lithic contact (R horizon), 36 inches is hard Anakeesta slate.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data are available from the National Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, NE for the following pedon: S01TN-155-001.