LOCATION POTOMAC WV+KY NC TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Typic Udifluvents
TYPICAL PEDON: Potomac fine sandy loam - Idle (formerly pastured and cultivated). (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many roots; 5 percent pebbles; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
A--7 to 10 inches, dark brown (10YR 3/3) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many roots; 10 percent pebbles and cobblestones; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of A horizon is 3 to 12 inches).
2C1--10 to 27 inches, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very cobbly loamy sand; single grain; loose; common roots; few pockets of very cobbly sand; 70 percent cobblestones and pebbles; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 40 inches thick)
2C2--27 to 60 inches, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very gravelly loamy sand; single grain; loose; few roots; common pockets of very gravelly sand; 60 percent pebbles and cobblestones; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Hardy County, West Virginia. About 13.5 miles south of Moorefield and 1 mile north of Brake, and about 150 yards east of county route 7 and 75 years west of river.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock is greater than 5 feet. Pebbles and cobblestones dominantly of sandstone range from 0 to 50 percent in the A horizon, and the weighted average by volume in the C horizon is dominantly greater than 50 percent, but ranges from 35 to 70 percent. Subhorizons of the C horizon in some pedons are nearly free of rock fragments and in others it ranges to 80 percent. Unlimed soils are mildly alkaline to very strongly acid.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value and chroma of 2 through 4. Dry value is 6 or greater. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, loamy sandor loamy fine sand. It shows evidence of stratification in the lower part in some pedons.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 through 5 and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is loamy sand or sand. Subhorizons of sandy loam, gravelly or cobbly sandy loam are in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Huel and Juno series in the same family, and the Pope and Tioga series in related families. Huel and Juno soils are in a wet, cool marine climate having cool, relatively dry summers and moist, wet winters. Huel soils have hue of 2.5Y or 5Y and an annual precipitation range of 120 to 160 inches. Juno soils contain glacial erratics and have an annual precipitation range of 70 to 100 inches. Pope and Tioga soils have a cambic horizon and a coarse-loamy particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Potomac soils are nearly level and are on flood plains. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. Potomac soils formed in mixed alluvium washed from upland soils derived from sandstone, siltstone, shale and some limestone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 44 inches and the mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 55 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Chagrin, Huntington, Lindside, Lobdell, Melvin and the competing Tioga soils on flood plains, and the Berks, Dekalb, Elliber, Hazleton, and Weikert soils on uplands. The associated soils on flood plains have less than 35 percent coarse fragments in the particle-size control section. Chagrin and Lobdell soils are fine-loamy in the particle-size control section. Huntington, Lindside and Melvin soils are fine-silty in the silty particle-size control sections. The Berks, Dekalb, Elliber, Hazelton and Weikert soils are loamy-skeletal in the particle-size control ssection. Elliber soils also have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Runoff is slow or medium. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the A horizon, and rapid or very rapid in the C horizon.
USE AND VEGETATION: More than one-half of the acreage is cleared and used mainly for pasture or hay. Many areas are idle and reverting to woody vegetation. Native vegetation was mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ridge and Valley and southern Appalachian Plateau areas of West Virginia, also Kentucky and North Carolina. The extent is moderate.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hardy County, West Virginia, 1980.
REMARKS: These soils were previously mapped as Alluvial land and Alluvial land, cobbly. These soils as mapped are sandy-skeletal, but in some areas they are marginal to loamy-skeletal.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 10 inches (Ap and A horizons).