LOCATION SCHLOSS VATentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Schloss channery loam, on a 12 percent slope, forested. (Colors are for moist soil)
A--0 to 2 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) channery loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium and common coarse roots; 20 percent rock fragments of mostly sandstone; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
E--2 to 4 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) channery loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine and medium and common coarse roots; 20 percent rock fragments of mostly sandstone; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
BE--4 to 12 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) channery fine sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular; friable; many fine and common medium roots; common fine discontinuous pores; 30 percent rock fragments of mostly sandstone; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bw--12 to 20 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) very channery fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium roots; common fine discontinuous pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 40 percent rock fragments of mostly sandstone; very strongly acid; clear wavy. (6 to 15 inches thick)
C--20 to 24 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) very channery sandy loam; massive; common fine roots in fractures between rock fragments; 55 percent rock fragments of mostly sandstone; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
R--24 inches; red sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Shenandoah County, Virginia; 3.5 miles northwest of the intersection of VA-691 and VA-789, 100 feet south of VA-691 on Devils Hole Mountain in the George Washington National Forest.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 15 to 30 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments of mostly channer or flag-size sandstone make up 15 to 35 percent of the A and E horizons, 20 to 55 percent of the B horizon, and 35 to 70 percent of the C horizon. The soil is very strongly acid or strongly acid.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. The A and E horizons are loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction.
The B horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Some pedons do not have a C horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Sherando and Wallen series in the same family and the Berks, Calvin, Dekalb, Hazleton, and Lehew series in closely related families. Sherando soils are more than 60 inches deep to bedrock. Wallen soils have 7.5YR or yellower B horizons. All of the other competing soils have mixed sand mineralogy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Schloss soils are on mountain ridgetops and side slopes. Slopes range from 2 to 70 percent. These soils formed in residuum weathered from mostly sandstone with some interbedded siltstone and shale. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 40 inches and mean annual temperature ranges from 48 degrees F to 56 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the competing Wallen soils, these are the Drall, Gilpin, and Zepp (tentative) series. Drall and Zepp soils are more than 40 inches to bedrock. Gilpin soils have an argillic horizon and are fine-loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; runoff ranges from medium to very rapid; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in woodland consisting of oaks, hickories, and Virginia pine. Huckleberry and mountain laurel are mostly in the understory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia and possibly Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia. This soil is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES PROPOSED: Shenandoah County, Virginia, 1984.
REMARKS: These soils have previously been included in the Lehew series. The major diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are the alluvial E horizon from 2 to 4 inches and the cambic horizon from 12 to 20 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Mineralogy and particle size data from the site location are available from the NSSL and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Note: CEC class based on similar soils.
The 1/2006 revision updates this soil to the 9th Edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy (2003). The CEC activity class placement is based on similar soils and not on laboratory data. Class placement may be revised in the future when laboratory data are reviewed or become available.
Competing series, pedon description (including horizon nomenclature and/or descriptive terms), and other sections on the OSD were not revised.
Previous revision dates: 2/85