LOCATION SIMODA WV
Established Series
JWB, CRS, SJT/Rev. JRT
12/2017
SIMODA SERIES
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, active, frigid Aquic Fragiorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Simoda highly organic silt loam, in a forested area at an elevation of about 1313 meters (4307 feet). (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 3 centimeters (0 to 1 inch); slightly decomposed leaf litter from red spruce and northern hardwoods; extremely acid (pH 3.8); abrupt smooth boundary.
Oe--3 to 6 centimeters (1 to 2 inches); moderately decomposed leaf litter from red spruce and northern hardwoods; extremely acid (pH 3.7); abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the O horizons is 0 to 14 cm [0 to 6 inches])
A--6 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches); dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) highly organic silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; 1 percent sandstone channers and 2 percent sandstone gravel; ultra acid (pH 3.4); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 14 cm [1 to 6 inches] thick)
E--10 to 28 centimeters (4 to 11 inches); brown (7.5YR 4/2) channery loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; 2 percent sandstone flagstones, 3 percent sandstone gravel, and 10 percent sandstone channers; extremely acid (pH 3.9); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 25 cm [0 to 10 inches] thick)
Bs--28 to 51 centimeters (11 to 20 inches); 95 percent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and 5 percent brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; weakly smeary; 10 percent sandstone gravel; extremely acid (pH 4.1); clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the spodic materials is 8 to 60 cm [4 to 24 inches])
2Bx1--51 to 62 centimeters (20 to 24 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) gravelly loam; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky; firm; brittle; high excavation difficulty; 5 percent fine faint yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron between peds; 15 percent sandstone gravel; very strongly acid (pH 4.5); clear smooth boundary.
2Bx2--62 to 102 centimeters (24 to 40 inches); brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly loam; moderate very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate thick platy; firm; brittle; high excavation difficulty; 2 percent medium faint light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions on faces of peds and 8 percent fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) masses of oxidized iron in the matrix surrounding redox depletions; 25 percent sandstone gravel; very strongly acid (pH 4.7); abrupt wavy boundary (Combined thickness of the 2Bx horizons is 14 to 64 cm [6 to 25 inches]).
3C--102 to 165 centimeters (40 to 65 inches); yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery silty clay loam with pockets of silty clay weathered from shale; massive; friable; 5 percent prominent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; 20 percent sandstone channers; very strongly acid (pH 4.7); clear wavy boundary.
3R--165 centimeters (65 inches); interbedded sandstone and shale.
TYPE LOCATION:
County: Pendleton County
State: West Virginia
USGS Quadrangle: Circleville, West Virginia
Latitude (Decimal Degrees, WGS 1984): 38.738603
Longitude (Decimal Degrees, WGS 1984): -79.498383
Directions to the pedon: In Pendleton County, WV; from the junction of Highways WV-28 and US-33 at Judy Gap; drive about 1.1 miles north on Highway WV-33/28; turn left onto Briery Gap Rd (WV-33/4); drive 2.4 miles on WV-33/4 then bear right onto Forest Service Road FS-112; drive along FS-112 for about 2.6 miles then turn right on Forest Service Road FS-274, which is a gated road; drive 0.9 miles on FS-274 to where the road ends at a washed out culvert; then by foot north along a trail about 0.2 miles; the pedon is located about 100 feet west of the trail.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to the top of the Spodic: 10 to 53 cm (4 to 21 inches).
Depth to the base of the Spodic: 22 to 72 cm (9 to 33 inches).
Depth to the top of the Fragipan: 38 to 82 cm (15 to 32 inches).
Depth to the base of the Fragipan: 64 to 125 cm (25 to 48 inches).
Solum Thickness: 64 to 125 cm (25 to 49 inches).
Depth to Bedrock: 100 to 152 cm or more (40 to 60 inches or more).
Depth Class: Deep or very deep.
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 50 to 100 cm (20 to 39 inches).
Rock Fragment content: 0 to 60 percent, by volume, in the O, A, E or upper transitional horizons; 5 to 35 percent, by volume, in the Bh, Bhs, and Bs horizons; 5 to 60 percent, by volume in the Bx, C or lower transitional horizons.
Soil Reaction: Ultra acid to very strongly acid.
Other Soil Features: The upper solum commonly contains mixed or combined horizons and horizons with broken or irregular boundaries. Therefore, the properties described in the range of individual horizons are applied to discrete parts of intermingled horizons. Pedons may have one or more lithologic discontinuities within the series control section. The clay content can exceed 18 percent in individual horizons but the weighted average is less than 18 percent in the particle-size control section.
Range of Individual Horizons:
A horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam.
Other features-some pedons are highly organic.
E horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 4.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
Other features--some pedons meet the requirements of an albic horizon.
Bh horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 2.5 through 4, and chroma of 1 through 3.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, silt loam, and less commonly clay loam, or sandy clay loam; however clay loam and sandy clay loam occur in individual horizons and not throughout the entire spodic horizon.
Structure--weak or moderate, fine to coarse subangular blocky.
Other features--weakly or moderately smeary.
Bhs horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3, and chroma of 3 through 6, or has a value of 4 and chroma of 3.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, silt loam, and less commonly clay loam, or sandy clay loam; however clay loam and sandy clay loam occur in individual horizons and not throughout the entire spodic horizon.
Structure--weak or moderate, fine to coarse subangular blocky.
Other features--weakly or moderately smeary.
Bs horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 8.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, silt loam, and less commonly clay loam, or sandy clay loam; however clay loam and sandy clay loam occur in individual horizons and not throughout the entire spodic horizon..
Structure--weak or moderate, fine to coarse subangular blocky.
Other features--weakly or moderately smeary.
Bx horizon
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, sandy clay loam, loam, or clay loam.
Structure--weak or moderate prismatic parting to subangular blocky or platy.
Other features--firm or very firm consistence; and brittle manner of failure.
Redoximorphic features--iron masses in shade of red, yellow, or brown and iron depletions in shades of brown, yellow, olive, or gray.
C horizon
Color--hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 8.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, sandy clay loam, loam, clay loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam. Pockets of silty clay or clay occur in some pedons.
Other features--friable to firm consistence.
Redoximorphic features--iron masses in shade of red, yellow, or brown and iron depletions in shades of brown, yellow, olive, or gray.
COMPETING SERIES:
Shinglehouse soils--have an argillic horizon, formed in frost-churned residuum or thin localized glacial till, and do not contain lithologic discontinuities.
Series in closely related families:
Empeyville soils--have isotic mineralogy.
Moira (inactive) soils--have mixed mineralogy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
MLRA(s): 127 (Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mountains).
Landscape: Plateau, mountains.
Landform: Mountain slope, hillslope.
Geomorphic Component: Mountaintop, mountainflank, interfluve, side slope, head slope.
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, footslope, backslope.
Parent Material Origin: Acid interbedded sandstone, siltstone, and shale.
Parent Material Kind: Colluvium or colluvium over residuum.
Slope: 0 to 35 percent.
Elevation: 1067 to 1524 meters (3500 to 5000 feet).
Frost-free period: 90 to 148 days.
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 6.3 to 7.3 degrees C. (43 to 45 degrees F.).
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1319 to 1490 mm (52 to 59 inches).
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Leatherbark soils - are somewhat poorly drained, do not have a fragipan, and do not have a spodic horizon.
Mandy soils - have a depth class of moderately deep, do not have a fragipan, and do not have a spodic horizon.
Gaudineer soils - are well drained and do not have a fragipan.
Gauley soils - have a depth class of moderately deep, are well drained, and do not have a fragipan.
Snowdog soils - do not have a spodic horizon.
Trussel soils - are poorly drained and do not have a spodic horizon.
Wildell soils - have a depth class of moderately deep, are well drained, and do not have a fragipan.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Moderately well drained.
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Thin, moderately deep, common.
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None.
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None.
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible through high.
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high or high above the fragipan; moderately low in the fragipan, and moderately low or moderately high below the fragipan.
Permeability Class (obsolete): Moderately slow to moderately rapid above the fragipan; very slow or slow in the fragipan, slow to moderate below the fragipan.
Shrink-swell Potential: Low.
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland
Dominant overstory: Red spruce, red maple, yellow birch, American beech, hemlock, black cherry.
Dominant understory: Red spruce, American beech, yellow birch, striped maple, service berry.
Dominant ground cover: Ferns, clubmosses and wood sorrels.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Eastern West Virginia and possibly Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Extent: Small.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pendleton County, West Virginia, 1988.
REMARKS: The name is from a community in Pendleton County. This soil was formerly included in the Cookport series.
The 2017 revision reclassifies the series from Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, frigid Typic
Fragiudepts to Coarse-loamy, siliceous, active, frigid Aquic Fragiorthods and re-defines the parent material concept from residuum to colluvium. These revisions are based on field projects conducted during 2014 through 2017 and laboratory analysis of two sampled pedons. The typical pedon was relocated but occurs in the same map unit delineation as the original typical pedon. The particle-size class is border-line fine-loamy/coarse-loamy.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 28 cm (0 to 11 inches) (Oi, Oe, A, E horizons)
Albic horizon--the zone from 10 to 28 cm (4 to 11 inches) (E horizon)
Spodic horizon--the zone from 28 to 51 cm (11 to 21 inches) (Bs horizon)
Fragipan--the zone from 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches) (2Bx1, 2Bx2 horizons)
Aquic conditions-the zone from 51 to 165 cm (20 to 65 inches) (2Bx1, 2Bx2, 3C horizons)
Other soil features identified with this pedon:
Lithologic discontinuity--at the upper boundary of the 2Bx1 horizon at 51 cm (20 inches).
Series control section--the zone from 0 to 150 cm (0 to 59 inches)
Lithic contact--the contact at 165 cm (65 inches)
ADDITIONAL DATA: KSSL characterization data is available for pedons S2015WV071001 and S2015WV083001.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.