LOCATION STRAWFIELD VA
Established Series
MAV/Rev. JAK/DTA
06/2026
STRAWFIELD SERIES
MLRA(s): 136 (mesic part)
Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Southeast
Depth Class: Moderately deep
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high
Shrink-Swell Potential: Low
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Residuum from felsic schist and phyllite
Slope: 2 to 60 percent
Elevation (type location): 1480 feet
Frost Free Period (type location): 193 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 13 degrees C (56 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1295 millimeters (51 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, parasesquic, mesic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Strawfield loam on a 9 percent slope, in a planted pine forest (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)
Ap--0 to 5 centimeters (0 to 2 inches); brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay loam; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine through medium roots; 5 percent subrounded quartz gravels and subangular phyllite channers; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 20 centimeters (0 to 8 inches) thick)
BA--5 to 23 centimeters (2 to 9 inches); strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine through medium roots; 5 percent subrounded quartz gravels and subangular phyllite channers; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--23 to 41 centimeters (9 to 16 inches); red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine and fine roots; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--41 to 56 centimeters (16 to 22 inches); red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, moderately plastic; few very fine roots; many distinct clay films on vertical faces of peds; 60 percent phyllite parachanners; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 25 to 89 centimeters (10 to 35 inches) thick.)
R--56 centimeters (22 inches); hard phyllite bedrock; very strongly cemented; very high excavation difficulty.
TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Virginia, located 1,500 feet south 83 degrees east of the intersection of State Routes 40 and 890, in planted pine plantation: USGS Sandy Level, Virginia topographic quadrangle.
Latitude--36.9783
Longitude-- -79.6167
Datum--WGS84
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to top of the Argillic horizon: 5 to 25 centimeters (2 to 10 inches)
Depth to the base of the Argillic horizon: 38 to 102 centimeters (15 to 40 inches)
Thickness of Argillic horizon: 25 to 89 centimeters (10 to 35 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 183 centimeters (72 inches)
Rock Fragment Content: 0 to 50 percent, by volume, in the A and upper B horizons, 35 to 75 percent in the lower B and C horizons
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, except where limed
Shrink-swell Potential: Low
Mica content: 0 to 20 percent, by volume, mica flakes
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
A or Ap horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 3 to 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--clay loam, loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam saprolite
BA or AB horizon (where present):
Color---has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 4 or 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--clay loam, loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam
Bt horizon:
Color--hue of 10R to 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 (where present):
Color--hue of 10R to 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 (where present):
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 6 or 8, or is variegated in shades of these colors
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam or silt loam saprolite
R horizon:
Color--multicolored
Texture--hard phyllite bedrock
COMPETING SERIES:
None
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Residuum from felsic schist and phyllite
Slope: 2 to 60 percent
Frost Free Period: 175 to 205 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 11 to 14 degrees C (52 to 57 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1016 to 1651 millimeters (40 to 65 inches)
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Buffstat soils--are 102 to 152 centimeters (40 to 60 inches) to bedrock
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--are fine-loamy
Fairystone soils--have more than 35 percent rock fragments in control section
Littlejoe soils--are 102 to 152 centimeters (40 to 60 inches) to bedrock
Penhook soils--are more than 152 centimeters (60 inches)) to bedrock
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Medium
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Pasture, cropland, and woodland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--corn, soybeans, small grain, hay.
Where wooded--mixed hardwoods, pines.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Virginia
Extent: Small
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Virginia, 2004.
REMARKS: The June 2026 revision changed the format. No data was changed.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 23 centimeters (0 to 9 inches) (A and BA horizons)
Argillic horizon--the zone from 23 to 56 centimeters (9 to 22 inches) (Bt horizon)
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data are available from NRCS-Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, NE (Lab Pedon Number: 99P0265; User Pedon ID: 99VA067003).
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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.