LOCATION SULLIVAN TN+AL GAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, active, thermic Dystric Fluventic Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Sullivan loam--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam, moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--7 to 19 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few sandstone pebbles; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--19 to 32 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few sandstone pebbles; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 8 to 45 inches thick)
C1--32 to 46 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; few thin strata of pale brown silt loam; massive; very friable; few sandstone pebbles; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 18 inches thick)
C2--46 to 58 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; common medium faint dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) mottles; massive; about 20 percent by volume of sandstone pebbles; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Hawkins County, Tennessee; one mile north of junction of U.S. Highway 11E and Tennessee Highway 66A; 200 feet north of bridge that crosses over Cloud Creek; 100 feet east of creek.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock is more than 5 feet. Reaction is most commonly medium acid to neutral, but some pedons range to strongly acid. Coarse fragments range from 0 to 15 percent by volume in the upper 40 inches and from 0 to 50 percent below.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 and chroma of 2 to 4. Some pedons have an Ab horizon with hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 4 and chroma of 2 or 3.
Some pedons have a thin A horizon with a value of 3 and chroma of 2 or 3. The A horizon is loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam.
The Bw horizon and Bwb horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 or 4. Some pedons have a few mottles of 2 chroma or less below 24 inches. Texture is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 or 4. Some pedons have few or common mottles of chroma 2 or less. The fine earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam and are commonly in alternating layers.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Similar soils in closely related families are the Chagrin, Hamblen, Hannahatchee, Ocana, Sensabaugh and Tuckahoe series. Chagrin, Hannahatchee, Ocana, Sensabaugh and Tuckahoe soils all have mixed mineralogy. Chagrin and Sensabaugh soils are also mesic. Hamblen soils have mottles of 2 chroma or less within 24 inches of the soil surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sullivan soils are on flood plains. Most areas are occasionally flooded. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. The soil formed in loamy alluvium washed from soils formed from limestone, sandstone, and shale. Near the type location, mean annual temperature is 58.7 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 42 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Hamblen series and the Sequatchie and Whitwell series. The latter two are on the adjacent low terraces and have argillic horizons. A large number of upland soils underlain by limestones, dolomites, and shales are associated with Sullivan soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the areas are used for growing corn, hay, and pasture. The native vegetation is mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys, Highland Rim, and Nashville Basin provinces in Tennessee, and possibly in Alabama and Georgia. The series is of moderate extent. About 3,000 acres are in Hawkins County.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hawkins County, Tennessee; 1974.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: from the surface to about 7 inches (Ap horizon)
Cambic horizon: from 7 to about 32 inches (Bw horizon)