LOCATION POORHOUSE WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Aquertic Chromic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Poorhouse silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 12 inches; 95 percent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) and 5 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots throughout; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--12 to 18 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay; common fine and medium light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) redox depletions and few fine strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) redox concentrations; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky; firm; very few very fine roots throughout; common discontinuous clay films on faces of peds and in pores; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--18 to 26 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay; many medium gray (10YR 5/1) redox depletions and few fine strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) redox concentrations; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky; firm; very few very fine roots throughout; many discontinuous clay films on faces of peds and in pores; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Btss1--26 to 36 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) clay; common medium gray (10YR 5/1) redox depletions and few fine strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) redox concentrations; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm; very few very fine roots throughout; many discontinuous clay films on faces of peds and in pores; few black iron manganese stains; few slickensides; neutral; clear wavy boundary.
Btss2--36 to 49 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) clay; few fine gray (10YR 5/1) redox depletions and few fine strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) redox concentrations; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm; very few very fine roots throughout; many discontinuous clay films on faces of peds and in pores; few black iron manganese stains; common slickensides; neutral; clear wavy boundary.
Btss3--49 to 54 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) clay; many medium gray (10YR 5/1) redox depletions and many fine strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) redox concentrations; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm; very few very fine roots throughout; many discontinuous clay films on faces of peds and in pores; common slickensides; neutral; clear wavy boundary.
Btg--54 to 65 inches; gray (2.5Y 5/1) silty clay; common coarse dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) redox depletions and many fine and medium strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) redox concentrations; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm; very few fine roots throughout; common discontinuous clay films on faces of peds and pores; few black iron manganese stains; 5 percent limestone channers; slightly alkaline. (Combined thickness of the Bt is 28 to 60 inches.)
TYPE LOCATION: Berkeley County, West Virginia; about 2000 feet north 66 degrees east of the intersection of county routes 45/8 and 30/1 east of North Mountain. USGS Tablers Station topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 26 minutes 24 seconds N; longitude 78 degrees 3 minutes 15 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 70 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments, of limestone, sandstone, or shale, range from 0 to 25 percent in the upper solum and 0 to 10 percent in the lower solum and C horizon where present. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through neutral in the upper solum and from moderately acid through mildly alkaline in the lower solum and C horizon.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture of the fine earth is silt loam , loam, or silty clay loam. Also included is loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6 with few through many high and low chroma redoximorphic features. Some pedons have gleyed horizons with chroma of 2 or less below a depth of 16 inches. Texture of the fine earth is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
The C horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6 with common through many redoximorphic features. Texture of the fine earth is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Many pedons have gleyed C horizons.
COMPETING SERIES: Easthamlet is the only series in the same family. Easthamlet soils are moderately deep to bedrock. The Banister, Branchville, Cardinal, Celine, Eudy, Hartville, Jerktail, Loudon, Tarton, and Whippany soils in a related family. Banister soils include moderately well drained soils and are formed in clayey alluvium. Branchville, Cardinal, Celina, Loudon, and Tarton soils are moderately well drained. Eudy soils have formed in loess and have moderately slow permeability. Hartville soils have hue of 7.5YR to 2.5YR in the upper BT horizon. Jerktail soils have a mean annual temperature of 56 degrees F. Whippany soils have stratification in the C horizon and textures that range to loamy sand.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Poorhouse soils are on broad, slightly concave toeslopes, headslopes, and upland depressions. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. These soils have formed in residuum from limestone with some colluvial influence from adjacent landscapes. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 33 to 42 inches and the mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 54 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the well drained Duffield, Hagerstown, Laidig, Murrill, Nollville, and Ryder soils, and the moderately well drained Buchanan soils. Duffield, Hagerstown, Nollville and Ryder soils are on adjacent, higher undulating limestone ridges and valley sides. The Buchanan, Laidig, and Murrill soils are on higher, posterior footslopes.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Depth to internal free water is very shallow or shallow (6 to 18 inches) and cumulative annual duration is common (3 to 6 months). Surface runoff is low to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low. Permeability is slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and used for pasture or hay. Some areas that have been drained are in crops or orchards. Wooded areas contain mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Valley and Ridge of West Virginia, and possibly Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The acreage is small.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Berkeley County, West Virginia, 1997.
REMARKS: These soils were formerly mapped as members of the Sees series, taxonomic class; Fine, mixed, mesic Aquollic Hapludalfs.
Diagnostic horizons and features in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 12 inches.
b. Argillic horizon--the zone from 12 to 65 inches.
c. Aquic conditions.
d. Presence of slickensides--the zone from 26 to 54 inches
e. Linear extensibility of more than 2.4 inches--the zone from 0 to 39 inches.
SIR = WV0133
MLRA = 147
Revised = 12/6/05 JWB
The 12/2005 revision updates this soil to the 9th Edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy (2003). CEC class and shrink-swell based on NASIS data from Berkeley County, West Virginia. Class placement may be revised in the future when laboratory data are reviewed or become available. Competing series and other sections on the OSD were not revised.