LOCATION QUANTICO VA
Established Series
MDJ
03/2022
QUANTICO SERIES
The Quantico series consists of very deep and well drained soils formed in stratified marine and fluvial sediments of the northern coastal plain. Permeability is moderate. Slope ranges from about 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches and mean annual air temperature is about 53 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Quantico loam on a 4 percent slope in an oak-hickory type forest. (Color are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch partially decomposed hardwood leaves and twigs.
A--1 to 2 inch brown (10YR 4/3) loam; moderate fine and very fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 3 percent rounded and subrounded quartz gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)
E--2 to 14 inches light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) loam; moderate fine and very fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 3 percent rounded and subrounded quartz gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
BE--14 to 19 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; common fine and medium roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 10 percent rounded quartz gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt1--19 to 33 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) clay; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, plastic, sticky; common fine and medium roots; common distinct yellowish red (5YR 5/6) films of clay on faces of peds; 3 percent rounded quartz gravel; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--33 to 48 inches brown (7.5YR 5/3) clay; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; few fine roots; common medium and fine reddish yellow (5YR 7/8) and red (2.5YR 5/6) mottles; common distinct and prominent clay films faces of peds; 3 percent rounded quartz gravel; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combine thickness of the B horizon ranges from 20 to 50 inches)
C--48 to 73 inches strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) sandy clay; massive; very friable, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; many fine to coarse light red (2.5YR 6/8), white (5YR 8/1) and yellowish red (5YR 5/8) mottles; few faint and distinct clay flows in upper 10 inches; 3 percent rounded quartz gravel; this horizon is dominantly feldspathic sand that is partially weathered; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Prince William County, Virginia; in Prince William Forest Park about .5 Mile south of State Route No. 234, about 300 feet west of Old Mine Road, and about 75 feet south of Burma Road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 30 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Substratum is stratified coastal plain sediments, dominantly of feldspathic sands. Rock fragments of rounded to subrounded quartz gravel range from 1 to 15 percent in the solum and substratum. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid; unless limed.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 5 and chroma of 0 to 4. Value of 4 or less with chroma of 3 or less are limited to thin A horizons. The A horizon is sandy loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam or loam.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 3 or 4. It is loam or sandy loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 4 to 8. Low chroma parent material mottling is common in some pedons. Texture is clay loam to clay.
The C horizon is multicolored in shades of brown, yellow, red and white. Texture is sandy loam to sandy clay.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Boden,
Braddock,
Buckhall,
Buffstat,
Casville,
Christian,
Clifton,
Clover,
Danripple,
Flagspring,
Goresville,
Groseclose,
Howell, Mount
Rush,
Muse,
Rapidan,
Sequoia,
Spears Mountain,
Totier,
Trappist,
Unison,
Warminster, and
Yellowbottom. Boden, Christian, Flagspring, Groseclose, Muse, Sequoia and Trappist soils have rock fragments of sedimentary rocks. Boden soils have sandstone bedrock between 40 and 60 inches. Braddock soils have red Bt horizons. Buckhall soils formed in residuum that weathered from granite gneiss and schist of the Northern
Piedmont Plateau. Buffstat soils have bedrock between 40 and 60 inches. Casville soils formed in residuum from felsic or intermediate igneous and metamorphic rock. Clifton soils formed in residuum weathered from intermediate and mafic igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks that are high in ferromagnesium minerals. Clover soils formed in residuum from Triassic age materials. Danripple soils formed on stream terraces in the Piedmont. Goresville Rapidan, Spears Mountain, Totier, and Warminster soils are redder than 5 YR in the Bt. Howell soils have hue of 2.5Y or 5Y in the lower part of the B horizon. Mount Rush soils have a parlithic contact 20 and 40 inches. . Unison soils have rock fragments of dominantly rounded and subrounded greenstone and granodiorate. Yellowbottom soils formed in residuum from sericite schist, phyllonite, phyllite, and metamonzagranite. None of the competing series are underlain with feldspathic sands.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Quantico soils are on medium to broad drainage divides of the older coastal plain terraces. Elevations generally range from about 150 to 350 feet. Slope gradients range from 0 to 25 percent. These soils developed in stratified fluvio-marine sediments that have a high content of feldspathic sands. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 45 inches and mean annual temperature ranges from 50 to 57 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Fairfax,
Chester,
Lunt and
Neabsco soils. The Fairfax and Chester soils are developed in residuum from gneiss and schist. The Fairfax soils are developed partly in Coastal Plain sediments and partly in residuum from piedmont rocks. The Lunt soils have a higher content of shrink-swell clays. The Neabsco soils have a fragipan in its subsoil.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is moderate to moderately rapid. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largest acreage is in hardwood and pine forest. Many areas are used for residential and commercial developments. Small acreage is used for the general crops, corn, soybeans, small grains pasture and hay. Native vegetation consists of northern red oak, Virginia pine, red maple, yellow-poplar and sweet gum.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Virginia and Maryland. Moderate extent in Prince William County, 8000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Prince William County, Virginia, 1985.
REMARKS: This soil has previously been included in the Caroline or Mattaponi series, both of which are in thermic temperature zones. Also, the Mattaponi soils have a water table and the Carolina soils are paleudults.
Revisions - DLK-JHE-DDR 5/85
The 12/2005 revision updates this soil to the 9th Edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy (2003). The CEC activity class placement is based on NASIS data from Prince William County, Virginia. Class placement may be revised in the future when laboratory data are reviewed or become available. In addition, horizon nomenclature and competing series were updated with this revision.
03/2022 revision: Oi had 1 to 0 inch depths, corrected to be 0 to 1 in horizon depths then added 1 inch to all horizon depths throughout the typical pedon.WJN
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.