LOCATION SCHULINE IL+MO

Established Series
Rev. CCM-DRG-TJE
03/2020

SCHULINE SERIES

The Schuline series consists of very deep, well drained soils on surface mined areas. Permeability is moderate in the surface layer and moderately slow and slow in the stratified substratum. These soils formed in materials that have been excavated and reclaimed during surface mining operations. Most areas have been covered with the surface layer of pre-mined soils. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 55 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, spolic, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Anthroportic Udorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Schuline silt loam - with a 2 percent convex slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 6 inches; mixed brown (10YR 5/3) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam, very pale brown (10YR 7/3) dry; moderate fine and medium granular structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; about 9 percent sand; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)

AC--6 to 10 inches; mixed brown (10YR 5/3), yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), and gray (10YR 5/1) silt loam, very pale brown (10YR 7/3) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few very fine and fine roots; moderate thick platy clods about 9 percent sand; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)

C1--10 to 21 inches; mixed light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; massive; firm; few very fine roots; few weak medium subangular blocky clods; few thin dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt coats on faces of clods; few dark concretions (iron and manganese oxides); about 30 percent sand; about 5 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)

C2--21 to 36 inches; mixed yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), brownish yellow (10YR 6/6), gray (10YR 5/1), and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loam; massive; firm; few dark concretions (iron and manganese oxides); about 30 percent sand; about 5 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 24 inches thick)

C3--36 to 54 inches; mixed yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), grayish brown (10YR 5/2), and brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) loam; massive; firm; weathered shale fragments in the lower part of the layer; about 30 percent sand; about 7 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 24 inches thick)

C4--54 to 60 inches; mixed yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 5/6), gray (10YR 5/1), and dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam; massive; friable; few dark concretions (iron and manganese oxides); about 40 percent sand; about 15 percent gravel; violently effervescent; slightly alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Perry County, Illinois; about 4 miles east of Pinckneyville; 1,600 feet north and 300 feet east of the center of sec. 22, T. 5 S., R. 2 W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The 10- to 40-inch control section averages about 7 percent coarse fragments and ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The clay content in the control section ranges from 18 to 35 percent and sand content ranges from 15 to 30 percent. The coarse fragments are dominantly gravel, but a few cobbles are present in most pedons. In some pedons soil fragments and isolated peds of relict genetic horizons of pre-mined soils are randomly distributed throughout, and are disordered relative to any plane in the profile. Some of the soil fragments have identifiable properties such as mottles, clay films, or coatings that are characteristic of their previous formation. The organic carbon content decreases irregularly with depth in most pedons because of mixing (and because of the presence of flakes and fragments of coal or other carbonaceous material). Some pedons contain one or more layers that were compressed during placement and grading of the soil material. These layers have high bulk density and low available water capacity, and impede movement of roots and water. Depth to bedrock is more than 5 feet.

The upper part of the series control section (A horizon) has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma dominantly of 3 or 4 but ranging from 1 through 6. It is silt loam, silty clay loam, clay loam, or loam.

Some pedons do not have the AC horizon.

The individual layers within the lower part of the series control section (C horizons) are variable in number and thickness. To a depth of 48 inches or more, the C horizon typically has hue of 10YR, or 7.5YR, value of 4 through 7, and chroma of 1 to 6. It is loam, clay loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam. Below a depth of 48 inches the C horizon has a wide range of colors, and colors are mixed. It is clay loam, loam, silty clay loam, silt loam, or silty clay, or the gravelly or channery analogs. Some pedons contain stones below a depth of 48 inches and they occur at random depth, spacing, and orientation. Some pedons contain strata, pockets, or soil fragments below a depth of 48 inches that do not contain free carbonates.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Lenzburg and Lenzwheel series are in a closely related family and have an active cation-exchange activity class.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Schuline soils are on nearly level to strongly sloping summits and back slopes of reconstructed landscapes. Slope gradients commonly are 1 to 10 percent, but range from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in materials that were excavated and reclaimed during surface mining operations. The upper 48 inches of the regolith is dominantly fine-earth material, with a few coarse fragments. Most areas have been covered with the surface layer of pre-mined soils. At depths greater than 48 inches the regolith is fine-earth material or a mixture of unconsolidated fine-earth material and rock fragments. The fine-earth material is dominated by calcareous loamy material that was glacial till before it was mined and contains components that, before mining, were loess or residuum weathered from interbedded siltstone, sandstone, shale, or limestone. Mean annual temperature varies from 53 to 57 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation varies from 36 to 44 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Lenzburg and Swanwick soils on surface mined areas, and the Ava, Darmstadt, Hosmer, Hoyleton, and Wakeland soils on adjacent unmined landscapes. Lenzburg soils are nearby; graded areas are on similar parts of the landscape, and ungraded areas are on steeper side slopes or parallel ridges. Swanwick soils are nearby on similar parts of the landscape. Ava, Darmstadt, Hosmer, and Hoyleton soils all have argillic horizons. In addition, Ava and Hosmer soils have Bx horizons, Darmstadt soils have natric horizons, and Hoyleton soils have color value of 3 or darker in the surface layer. The somewhat poorly drained Wakeland soils are coarse-silty and formed in alluvium on bottomlands.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Runoff is slow or medium. Permeability is moderate in the surface layer and moderately slow and slow in the stratified substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Schuline soils are used mainly for row crops or grass-legume mixtures for meadow or pasture.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Illinois and south western Indiana. Schuline soils have small extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Perry County, Illinois, 1983.

REMARKS: These soils were formerly mapped as mine spoils, surface mines, loamy Orthents, or other miscellaneous categories. They mostly result from mining technology and reclamation procedures adopted since about 1975.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of approximately 10 inches (Ap and AC horizons).

03/2020 Updated Taxonomic Class based on Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Data for several pedons in Illinois are on file at the SCS Illinois state office.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.