LOCATION SALACOA                 TN+GA

Established Series
RLL-HCD
02/2022

SALACOA SERIES


The Salacoa series consists of very deep, well drained soils on uplands. These soils formed in colluvium and the underlying residuum from interbedded sandstone, siltstone and shale. They are on benches, foot slopes and lower portions of side slopes and back slopes. Slopes range from 5 to 65 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, thermic Typic Hapludalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Salacoa silt loam-woodland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Oi--0 to 1 inch, slightly decomposed leaf litter.

A--1 to 6 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable, many fine and common medium roots; 11 percent shale channers; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt1--6 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine and few medium and coarse roots; few distinct clay films on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 21 percent sandstone gravel and shale channers; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bt2--21 to 36 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly silt loam; many medium prominent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) mottles; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few distinct clay films on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 29 percent sandstone gravel and shale channers; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

BC--36 to 63 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) very gravelly silt loam; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; 35 percent sandstone gravel and shale channers; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.

Cr--63 inches; soft shale interbedded with reddish sandstone and siltstone.

TYPE LOCATION: Rhea County, Tennessee; about 7.1 miles east of Dayton on State road 30, 4.2 miles north on State Road 302, 1.8 miles east on Breedenton Ferry Road, 0.5 mile north on Smith Bend Road and 650 feet southeast of Smith Bend Road; in Rhea County, Tennessee; USGS Decatur Quadrangle.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to rippable shale, sandstone, or interbedded shale and sandstone bedrock is greater than 5 feet. Rock fragments of shale channers and sandstone gravel, range from 0 to 30 percent above 40 inches and 0 to 50 percent below 40 inches. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to very strongly acid throughout.


The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam or loam.

The BA or BE horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam.

The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. If present, mottles are in shades of brown, red and yellow. Some pedons also have a subhorizon with hue of 2.5YR. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, silty clay loam or clay loam.

The BC or C horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Mottles, if present, are in shades of red, brown or yellow. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, silty clay loam or clay loam.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Karma, Mocksville, Poindexter and Teksob series. The Karma soils formed in loamy alluvium from mafic and crystalline parent material and are on terraces in the Western Coastal Plain and Arkansas Valley and Ridges. Mocksville soils formed in residuum weathered from mafic and crystalline parent material in the Piedmont Uplands. Poindexter soils are moderately deep and formed in residuum from basic and/or acidic rocks in the Piedmont Uplands. Teksob soils formed in loamy alluvium on terraces in the Western Lowlands of Arkansas and the lower Mississippi River Valley.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Salacoa soils are on benches, foot slopes and lower portions of side slopes and back slopes. These soils formed in colluvium from interbedded sandstone, siltstone and shale. Slopes range from 5 to 65 percent. Near the type location mean annual air temperature is about 59 degrees F and mean annual precipitation is about 55 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Apison, Townley, Sunlight, Montevallo, Corryton, Shady, Whitwell and Hamblen series. Apison soils are moderately deep to a paralithic contact. Townley soils are moderately deep to a paralithic contact and are in a fine family. Sunlight and Montevallo soils are shallow to a paralithic contact and are in a loamy skeletal family. Corryton soils are in a fine family. Shady, Whitwell and Hamblen soils are in the valleys below.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderate
permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most cleared areas are used for growing pasture, hay, and row crops. Steeper areas are used mostly as woodland. The native vegetation is mixed hardwoods with some Virginia pine and shortleaf pine.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 128; The Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys of Tennessee, Georgia, and possibly Alabama. The series is of small extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: 2005, Knox County, Tennessee.

Remarks: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this soil are:

Ochric epipedon -from 1 to 6 inches (A horizon)

Argillic horizon - from 6 to 63 inches (Bt1, Bt2 and BC horizons)

02/2022 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.