LOCATION SALVISA KYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Mollic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Salvisa silty clay loam - cultivated. (Colors are of moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silty clay loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; moderate fine granular and subangular blocky structure; friable; many small roots; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 17 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; common small roots; many brown (10YR 5/3) clay films; very firm; 1 percent 1-2 mm black concretions; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 15 inches thick)
Bt2--17 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay; common fine faint light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) mottles; weak coarse angular blocky structure; very firm; common small roots; common clay films; 5 percent black concretions and soft material; neutral; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
C--21 to 28 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay; many medium faint mottles of light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4); massive; extremely firm; few small roots; 5 percent black concretions and concretionary material; mildly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
R--28 inches; interbedded limestone and calcareous shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Fayette County, Kentucky, in field in back of house on east side of Jacks Creek Road, about 250 yards north of Spears Road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to limestone or interbedded limestone and shale ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to mildly alkaline. Limestone fragments from 1 to 10 inches range from 0 to 10 percent in the solum, and 0 to 25 percent in the C horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value and chroma of 3 or less. Texture is silt loam, silty clay loam or sitly clay.
When present, the AB or BA horizon, has hue 10YR, value of 4, and chromas of 2 through 4. Texture is silty clay loam or silty clay.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 through 6, with mottles in shades of gray, brown or olive in the lower part. Texture is silty clay, clay or silty clay loam.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6, with mottles in shades of gray, brown, or olive or is mottled horizon in these shades. Texture is silty clay or clay.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Basco, Belpre, Brooke, Caleast, Fleming, and McAfee series of the same family. The Basco soils are developed under lower rainfall conditions (28 to 35 inches) and have interstratification of sandstone and shale. The Belpre soils have hues redder than 10YR and have a paralithic contact between 40 and 70 inches. The Brooke soils typically lack grayish mottles in the B horizon, but the 10YR and 2.5Y hue of the B horizons overlap that of the Salvisa soils. The Brooke soils, also have slow permeability, and generally a higher percent fragments in the C horizon. Caleast soils have sola and bedrock at a depth greater than 40 inches. Fleming and McAfee soils have B horizons in hues redder than 10YR and Fleming soils have soft clay shales at a depth of 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Salvisa soils are on ridgetops and sideslopes adjacent to streams and drainageways in the uplands. Slopes range from 2 to 30 percent. The soils formed in residuum from limestone or interbedded limestone and shale. Mean annual temperature ranges from 54 to 57 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 44 to 48 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Fairmount, Loradale, McAfee, and the Maury series. Fairmount soils have bedrock at a depth less than 20 inches. Loradale and Maury soils have bedrock at a depth greater than 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained with medium runoff and moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Now used chiefly for pasture and hay. Some areas are used for corn, small grains and tobacco. A few areas are idle or wooded. Originally vegetation was hardwoods with many grassy glades of grasses and sedges. Trees were chiefly white, overcup, black and red oaks, black walnut, black and honey locust, ash, hickory, hackberry, Yaupon, elm and maple, redcedars common in places.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Bluegrass region of Kentucky, chiefly the Inner Bluegrass. Extent is moderate.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mercer County, Kentucky, l930.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features in the pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 7 inches (Ap)
Argillic horizon: 7 to 21 inches (Bt1, Bt2)
Lithic contact at 28 inches