LOCATION SUGARGROVE              TN

Established Series
Rev. DLN/JCJ/JLN
04/2011

SUGARGROVE SERIES


The Sugargrove series consists of moderately deep to deep, well drained soils on uplands. They formed in residuum weathered from interbedded siltstone, limestone, and shale. Slopes range from 2 to 25 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults

TYPICAL PEDON: Sugargrove gravelly silt loam--idle. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap -- 0 to 7 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; common fine pores; about 18 percent fragments of chert and channers of siltstone; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick.)

BA -- 7 to 13 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine and few medium roots; common fine pores; about 20 percent fragments of chert and channers of siltstone; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick.)

Bt1 -- 13 to 17 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly silty clay loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; common fine pores; few fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films between peds and on fragments; about 20 percent fragments of chert and channers of siltstone; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bt2 -- 17 to 32 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly silty clay loam; few medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) mottles; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; common fine pores; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds and on fragments; about 20 percent fragments of chert and channers of siltstone; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons ranges from 16 to 45 inches).

Bt/C -- 32 to 41 inches; approximately 60 percent is Bt; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly silty clay; few fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) and pale brown (10YR 6/3) and few fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) mottles; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; common fine pores; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds and on rock fragments; approximately 40 percent is C; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) gravelly silty clay; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and few fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) mottles; massive parting to moderate medium platy and blocky structure; firm; about 35 percent fragments of chert and channers of siltstone; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick.)

Cr--41 to 49 inches; horizontally bedded, interlayered strata of siltstone and chert; common medium distinct clay films on vertical and horizontal faces of fragments; very strongly acid.

R -- 49 inches; hard, gray, limestone bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Sumner County, Tennessee: 1.8 miles north of Westmoreland along Pleasant Grove Road from intersection with U.S. Highway 31E, 150 feet west along John Davis Road and 40 feet north of road.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 25 to 55 inches. Depth to soft bedrock ranges from 20 to 60 inches. Depth to hard bedrock is 40 inches or more. Most pedons have a Cr horizon, commonly between 24 and 50 inches, above hard siltstone or less commonly limestone bedrock. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid. Content of rock fragments range from 10 to 35 percent in A, E, and upper part of the Bt horizons and from 15 to 60 or more percent in the lower part of the Bt and C horizons. Most pedons have transition horizons with colors and texture similar to adjacent horizons.

The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture of the fine earth is silt loam or loam.

The E horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 or 4 or hue of 2.5Y, value of 5 to 6 and chroma of 4 or 6. Texture of the fine earth is silt loam or loam.

The Bt horizon, in upper part, has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 4 or 6. Some pedons have mottles in shades of brown and red. Texture of the fine earth is silt loam or silty clay loam.

The Bt horizon, in the lower part, has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 4 to 8. Mottles are in shades of brown and red. Texture of the fine earth is silt loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.

The C horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 3 to 8 with mottles in shades of red, brown, yellow, or gray. Some pedons do not have a dominant matrix color.

The Cr horizon is interbedded, highly weathered siltstone and cherty limestone.

The R layer is hard, grayish to brownish siltstone or limestone.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cheaha, Fruithurst, Rion, Rome, Sherless, Sherwood, State, Tidings, and Wickham series in the same family. Cheaha soils are less than 40 inches to hard bedrock. Fruithurst soils have weathered slate at 20 to 40 inches. Rion soils formed in residuum of crystalline rocks of the Piedmont uplands and are underlain by saprolite. Rome and State soils have a solum thickness greater than 60 inches. Sherless and Sherwood soils do not contain coarse fragments of chert. Wickham soils formed in stratified materials and do not have a paralithic contact within 60 inches.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sugargrove soils are on sloping to moderately steep uplands. Slopes range from 2 to 25 percent. The soil formed in residuum weathered from interbedded limestone, siltstone, and shale. Near the type location average annual air temperature is about 58 degrees F. and average annual precipitation is about 48 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Dickson, Mountview, Sengtown, Ocana, Hawthorne, and Sulphura soils. Dickson soils are on broad uplands and have a fragipan. Mountview and Sengtown soils, commonly above the Sugargrove soils, and do not have a paralithic contact within 60 inches. Ocana soils, on flood plains, do not argillic horizons. Hawthorne and Sulphura soils, on adjacent landscapes, are less than 40 inches deep to rock.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Sugargrove soils are well drained. Runoff is medium. Permeability is moderate to moderately rapid.

USE AND VEGETATION: About one-half of the acreage is cleared and used mainly for pasture. The remainder is in oak-hickory forest.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Highland Rim in Tennessee and possibly the Pennyroyal in Kentucky. The area is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Macon County, Tennessee, March, 1992. Sugargrove soils were formerly mapped in the Frankstown and Bodine series.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - 0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon)

Argillic horizon - 13 to 41 inches (Bt1, Bt2, and the Bt part of the Bt/C horizons).

Paralithic contact - variable between 20 and 60 inches.

ADDITIONAL DATA: The pedon described has data by NSSL - pedon 85PO273.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.