LOCATION SPEARS MOUNTAIN VA
Established Series
WFK, HTS, Rev. MHC/DTA
07/2026
SPEARS MOUNTAIN SERIES
MLRA(s): 136 (mesic part)
Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Southeast
Depth Class: Moderately deep
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Low to high
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Residuum weathered from schist, phyllite or other fine grained rock
Slope: 2 to 55 percent
Elevation (type location):
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 13 degrees C (55 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1143 millimeters (45 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Spears Mountain loam on a 9 percent slope, in a planted pine forest (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)
Ap--0 to 18 centimeters (0 to 7 inches); yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and non plastic; many fine, medium and coarse roots; 10 percent gravel; strongly acid (pH 5.3); gradual smooth boundary.
Bt--18 to 71 centimeters (7 to 28 inches); red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; friable, sticky and slightly plastic; common fine, medium and coarse roots; 5 percent gravel; many medium distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid (pH 5.3); abrupt irregular boundary.
Cr--71 to 152 centimeters (28 to 60 inches); mottled reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) and yellow (2.5Y 7/6) highly weathered sericite schist that crushes to silt loam.
TYPE LOCATION: Buckingham County, Virginia, about 2,450 feet east north east 73 degrees of the intersection of State Routes 604 and US Highway 60 and 5,500 feet west 270 degrees of the intersection of State Routes 636 and US Highway 60, in planted pine plantation; USGS Saint Joy, Virginia topographic quadrangle.
Latitude--37.5314
Longitude-- -78.7225
Datum--WGS84
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to top of Argillic horizon: 10 to 30 centimeters (4 to 12 inches)
Depth to base of Argillic horizon: 41 to 89 centimeters (16 to 35 inches)
Depth to Soft Bedrock: 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to Hard Bedrock: Greater than 102 centimeters (40 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 183 centimeters (72 inches)
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 25 percent, by volume, throughout
Content of Mica: None to common, throughout
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, except where limed
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
A or Ap horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 3 through 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam
BA or AB horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 10YR through 5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 4 or 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam
Bt horizon:
Color--hue of 10R through 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 6 or 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--silty clay loam, clay loam, silty clay, or clay. The particle-size control section averages more than 30 percent silt, more than 40 percent silt plus very fine sand, or less than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine sand.
BC or BCt horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 10R through 10YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 6 or 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam
C horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 2.5YR through 10YR or multicolored, value of 4 through 6, chroma of 6 or 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam or silt loam saprolite
COMPETING SERIES:
Buffstat soils--are deep and formed in residuum from sericite schist or graphitic schist; on hills and ridges
Casville soils--are very deep and formed in residuum from felsic or intermediate igneous or metamorphic rock
Clover soils--formed in residuum weathered from Triassic materials of the
Piedmont uplands; on ridges and hills
Danripple soils--are very deep and formed in old alluvium
Diana Mills--are deep to soft bedrock and formed in mixed felsic and mafic metamorphic and igneous rocks
Littlejoe soils--are deep to soft bedrock
Penhook soils--are deep to soft bedrock
Strawfield soils--are moderately deep to hard bedrock
Totier soils--formed in residuum weathered from red shale of Triassic age; on
Piedmont uplands
Warminster soils--formed in residuum of Triassic red shale; on summits, shoulders, and back slopes of
Piedmont hills, ridges, interfluves, and side slopes
Yellowbottom soils-very deep soils, formed in residuum of sericite schist, phyllonite and metamonzagranite
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Residuum weathered from schist, phyllite or other fine grained rock
Elevation: 122 to 488 meters (400 to 1600 feet)
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 11 to 14 degrees C (52 to 57 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 102 to 127 centimeters (40 to 50 inches)
Frost Free Period: 165 to 200 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Bentley soils--are very deep capping soils and formed from mixed crystalline rock colluvium and old alluvium over residuum
Bugley soils--are 25 to 51 centimeters (10 to 20 inches) to bedrock and have more than 35 percent rock fragments in control section
Drapermill soils--have 18 to 35 percent clay in control section
Fairystone soils--have more than 35 percent rock fragments in control section
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Low to high
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland
Dominant Vegetation: Where forested-mixed hardwoods and pines
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Virginia, and possibly North Carolina
Extent: Small
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Buckingham County, Virginia, 2003.
REMARKS: Spears Mountian soils were previously mapped as Badin soils when the same area was considered to be located in the thermic temperature regime. Badin is thermic and Spears Mountain is mesic. The July, 2026 revision established the series and updated the format. No data was changed.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 2 to 18 centimeters (1 to 7 inches) (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon--the zone from 18 to 71 centimeters (7 to 28 inches) (Bt horizon)
ADDITIONAL DATA: This pedon described as VA-029-473
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
2-55 52-57 165-200 40-50 400-1600
FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness
NONE >6.0 20-40 SOFT
Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC-
0-7 CN-SIL CN-VFSL CN-L 0-10 60-75 10-27 3-8
0-7 CN-SICL 0-10 60-75 27-40 6-10
0-7 SIL L 0-5 75-100 10-27 3-8
0-7 SICL 0-5 75-100 27-40 6-10
7-28 SIC SICL CN-SICL 0-5 60-100 35-55 7-12
28-60 WB - - - -
Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll
0-7 3.5-6.5 1.-3. 0-0 0.6- 2.0 LOW
7-28 3.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6- 2.0 MODERATE
28-60 - - - -
________________________________________
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.