LOCATION SHENVAL VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Paleudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Shenval loam - cultivated field
(Colors are for moist soil)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; few worm channels and casts; 3 percent of manganese concretions up to 2 mm. in diameter; less than 2 percent cobblestones; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 17 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky, plastic; few fine roots; few fine pores; thin continuous clay films; 10 percent oxide concretions up to 1 inch in diameter; 5 percent cobblestones; medium acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--17 to 35 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky, plastic; few very fine roots; few fine pores; thin continuous clay films; 20 percent oxide concretions up to 1 inch in diameter; 5 percent cobblestones; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bt horizons 15 to 40 inches)
2Bt3--35 to 85 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; strong fine angular blocky structure; friable, sticky, plastic; thin continuous clay films; 1 percent fragments of quartz and chert up to 1 inch in diameter; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Rockingham County, Virginia; 2 1/2 miles west of New Market, 1600 feet south of intersection of U. S. Highway #260 and farm lane and 900 feet northwest of Hertzler Spring.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is more than 60 inches. Depth to hard bedrock, commonly limestone, is more than 6 feet and depth to the lithologic discontinuity ranges from 24 to 40 inches. The content of coarse fragments ranges from 0 to 30 percent by volume in the A horizon and 0 to 20 percent by volume in individual layers of the B horizon. They usually consist of rounded sandstone pebbles and cobblestones above the lithologic discontinuity and chert of quartz fragments below. Oxide concretions range from 2 to 25 percent above the lithologic discontinuity and are lacking below. The soil is strongly acid or medium acid in the A horizon unless limed, and very strongly to medium acid in the B horizons.
Ap horizons have hues of 7.5YR or 10YR, values of 4 or 5, and chromas of 2 to 6. Ap horizons are loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam and their gravelly and cobbly analogues.
Bt and 2Bt horizons have hues of 2.5YR or 5YR, values of 4 to 6, and chromas of 4 to 8. Mottles in shades of brown or yellow are present in the 2Bt horizons of most pedons. Bt horizons are heavy clay loam or clay and the 2Bt horizons are clay. Average content of clay in the particle-size control section ranges from 35 to 60 percent. BE horizons are present in some pedons.
The C horizon has mixed colors of red, brown, yellow, and olive. Textures range from sandy loam to clay but are dominantly clayey.
COMPETING SERIES: The Baxter, Maury, Springwood and Vertrees series are in the same family. The Baxter soils have a cherty control section. Maury and Vertrees soils lack a lithologic discontinuity. Springwood soils have solums les than 60 inches. The Alto, Braddock, Braxton, Fauquier, Frederick, and Hagerstown series are in closely related families. Alto and Braxton soils have soil temperatures above 59 degrees F. The Braddock and Fauquier soils have sola less than 60 inches thick and Braddock soils also have a base saturation of less than 35 percent. Frederick soils have kaolinitic mineralogy and a base saturation of less than 35 percent. Hagerstown soils either have sola less than 60 inches thick or clay content decreases by more than 20 percent within 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Shenval soils are nearly level to moderately steep soils on high stream terraces, benches and colluvial fans. Slopes range from 2 to 25 percent, commonly being 2 to 15 percent. Shenval soils formed in 24 to 40 inches of old alluvium derived from sandstone, shale, and limestone soils over residuum weathered from limestone. The mean annual precipitation is about 35 inches near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Monongahela soils on the terraces and the Edom and Frederick soils on the uplands. The Monongahela soils have fragipans. The Edom soils have illitic mineralogy and a thinner solum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils are used for growing cultivated crops or pasture. Crops are corn, small grain, and mixed hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia; possibly Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. This series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Augusta County, Virginia, 1977.
REMARKS: These soils were formerly included with the Etowah series which is now classified in a thermic family.
Revisions 12/2005 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 Tazewell 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.
Rev. JMG, ELC, MAV
12/2004
ADDITIONAL DATA: Some chemical and physical data of typifying pedon. Lab. No.'s S72VA165-5 and 6 or VPI No.'s 73-1182 and 3.