LOCATION SPEARS MOUNTAIN VA+NCTentative Series
MLRA(s): 136
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
Depth Class: moderately deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: very deep, absent
Index Surface Runoff: low to high
Permeability: moderate
Landscape: piedmont
Landform: ridge, hill
Hillslope Profile Position: summit, shoulder, back slope
Geomorphic Component: interfluve, noseslope, sideslope
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): 55 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 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 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--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--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, located 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; Saint Joy topographic quadrangle; lat. 37 degrees 31 minutes 52.7 seconds and long. 78 degrees 43 minutes 20.7 seconds, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to top of Argillic horizon: 4 to 12 inches
Depth to base of Argillic horizon: 16 to 35 inches
Depth to Soft Bedrock: 20 to 40 inches
Depth to Bedrock: greater than 40 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: >72 inches
Rock Fragments: 0 to 25 percent, by volume, throughout
Soil Reaction: extremely acid to strongly acid, except where limed
Other Features: Flakes of mica, none to common throughout
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-- has hue of 10YR through 5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 4 or 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)-- texture of 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)-- texture of 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
COMPETING SERIES:
In same family:
Braddock soils--do not flood and formed in colluvium and alluvium derived dominantly from a mixture of crystalline rocks; on footslopes of ridges and colluvial fans and adjacent high terraces primarily in MLRA 130
Buffstat soils-deep soils formed in residuum from sericite schist or graphitic schist; on hills and ridges
Cassville soils-very deep soils, formed in residuum from felsic or intermediate igneous or metamorphic rock
Christian soils--formed in residuum from interbedded limestone, sandstone, siltstone, and shale; on hills and ridges
Clifton soils-very deep soils, formed in residuum weathered from intermediate and mafic igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks that are high in ferromagnesium minerals
Clover soils--formed in residuum weathered from Triassic materials of the
Piedmont uplands; on ridges and hills
Danripple soils--formed in old alluvium
Flagspring soils-very deep soils, formed in colluvium from cherty limestone over residuum from limestone and tripoli on ridge tops
Groseclose soils-very deep soils, formed in materials weathered from limestone, shale, siltstone, and sandstone
Howell soils--formed in fine unconsolidated sediments containing detectable amounts of diatomaceous earth and/or glauconite; on uplands in the northern part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain
Mount
Rush soils (Tentative)-moderately deep, formed in clayey residuum weathered from mixed felsic and mafic metamorphic and igneous rocks
Muse soils-deep or very deep soils, formed in residuum or colluvium from shale and siltstone
Sequoia soils-moderately deep soils, formed in residuum of shale and siltstone
Totier soils--formed in residuum weathered from red shale of Triassic age; on Piedmont uplands
Unison soils--have a seasonal high water table at a depth of more than 72 inches below the soil surface and formed in colluvium and alluvium 3 to 6 feet thick derived from a mixture of basic rocks or basic and acidic crystalline rocks; on footslopes, alluvial fans, or stream terraces primarily in MLRA 130-Blue Ridge
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
In subactive family:
Diana Mills-deep to paralithic contact
Littlejoe-deep to paralithic contact
Penhook soils-Deep to paralithic contact
Strawfield soils-Moderately deep to lithic contact
Tick soils-deep to densic contact, formed in lacustine sediments
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: piedmont
Landform: ridge, hill
Hillslope Profile Position: summit, shoulder, back slope
Geomorphic Component: interfluve, noseslope, sideslope
Parent Material: residuum weathered from schist, phyllite or other fine grained rock
Elevation: 400 to 1600 feet
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 52 to 57 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation: 40 to 50 inches
Frost Free Period: 165 to 200 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Bentley soils-very deep capping soils, from mixed crystalline rock colluvium and old alluvium over residuum
Bugley soils - 10 to 20 inches to bedrock and more than 35 percent rock fragments in control section
Drapermill soils -- 18 to 35 percent clay in control section
Fairystone soils -- more than 35 percent rock fragments in control section
Littlejoe soils -- 40 to 60 inches to bedrock
Penhook soils - more than 60 inches to bedrock
Strawfield soils which are moderately deep to hard bedrock
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage class (Agricultural): well drained
Index Surface Runoff: low to high
Internal Free Water Occurrence: very deep, absent
Permeability: moderate
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: woodland
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded-mixed hardwoods and pines.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Virginia, possibly North Carolina
Extent: small
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES PROPOSED: Buckingham County, Virginia, 2003.
REMARKS: Spears Mountian soils were previously mapped as.Badin soils when same area was considered to be located in the thermic temperature regime.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 1 to 7 inches (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon--the zone from 7 to 28 inches (Bt horizon)
Series control section--the zone from 0 to 38 inches
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- 50 400-1600FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness NONE 6.0-6.0 - 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 - - - -