LOCATION SUMERDUCK VA

Established Series
DGS, DRH-MAV Rev. MDJ
03/2022

SUMERDUCK SERIES

The Sumerduck series consists of very deep, moderately well to somewhat poorly drained soils formed in alluvium and slope alluvium from schist, phyllite, metamonzonite and gneiss in the Northern Piedmont. Permeability is moderately slow. Slope ranges from 0 to 7 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 41 inches, and mean annual air temperature is about 54 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aquic Hapludults

TYPICAL PEDON: Sumerduck loam in woods at 350 feet elevation. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated)

A--0 to 4 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly-sticky; common very fine, common fine, common medium, common coarse and many very coarse roots; common very fine and fine dendritic tubular pores; 5 percent subrounded quartz gravels; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt1--4 to 11 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few distinct clay films on ped faces; few very fine, common fine, few medium and common coarse roots; common very fine dendritic tubular pores; 8 percent quartz gravels; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt2--11 to 23 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common prominant clay films on ped faces; few fine and medium, common coarse and very coarse roots; common very fine dendritic tubular pores; 4 percent quartz gravels; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt3--23 to 31 inches; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8) clay loam; weak very coarse prismatic parting to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common distinct clay films on ped faces; few very fine and fine, common medium, and few very coarse roots; common very fine dendritic tubular pores; many coarse prominent pinkish gray (7.5YR7/2) iron depletions; 5 percent quartz gravels; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

C1--31 to 41 inches; brownish yellow (10YR6/8) and yellowish red (5YR5/8) silt loam; weak thin and medium platy structure; friable; slightly sticky; few medium and coarse roots; very few very fine dendritic tubular pores; common medium prominent light gray (7.5Y7/1) iron depletion; 2 percent quartz and schist gravels; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

2C2--41 to 100 inches; yellowish red (5YR5/8), strong brown (7.5YR5/8), yellow (10YR7/8) and light gray (7.5YR7/1) silt loam; massive; friable; slightly sticky; few medium roots; very few very fine tubular pores; strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Fauquier County, Virginia; approximately 1,650 feet northwest of the junctions of VA-651 and VA-632N, 7,550 feet southeast of the junctions of Highways VA-651 and VA-637; Richardsville, Virginia USGS 7.5 Minute Quadrangles
Latitude: 38 degrees, 27 minutes, 48.59 seconds north. Longitude: 77 degrees, 43 minutes, 52.43 seconds west. NAD27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the argillic horizon is 10 to 35 inches. The thickness of the solum is 20 to 40 inches. Reaction is extremely acid to strongly acid, unless limed.

The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam or silt loam. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 20 percent. Rock fragments are mainly rounded medium and coarse metaquartzite schist gravels and cobbles.

Some pedons have an Ap horizon that has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam or silt loam. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 20 percent. Rock fragments are mainly rounded medium and coarse metaquartzite schist gravels and cobbles.

Some pedons have a BA or BE horizon. It has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 3 to 8. It is loam, silt loam or silty clay loam. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 20 percent. Rock fragments are mainly rounded medium and coarse metaquartzite schist gravels and cobbles.

The Bt horizons have hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 8. It is loam, clay loam or silty clay loam. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 20 percent. Rock fragments are mainly rounded medium and coarse metaquartzite schist gravels and cobbles.

The C horizon is variegated and variable in color. It is silt loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam or silty clay loam. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 40 percent, mainly subangular medium and coarse metaquartzite and schist gravels. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid.

COMPETING SERIES: Cotaco, Delanco, Dillard, Russett, and Sheva soils are in the same family. Cotaco soils formed in colluvium and alluvium of acid sandstone, siltstone, and shale on footslopes, fans, and low stream terraces. Delanco soils formed in alluvium of micaceous crystalline rock on terraces, heads of drainageways, and footslopes. Dillard soils formed on toeslopes and stream terraces. Russett soils formed in sandy and loamy deltaic and fluvio-marine sediments of the coastal plain. Sheva soils are moderately deep to soft bedrock and formed in residuum of Triassic-aged sedimentary rock.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sumerduck soils formed in alluvium and slope alluvium from schist, phyllite, metamonzonite and gneiss in the Northern Piedmont. Sumerduck soils are in drainageways that are subject to frequent, extremely brief, flash flooding events with little or no deposition or erosion. Slope gradients range from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 53 to 57 degrees F, mean annual precipitation ranges from 387 to 44 inches, frost free days range from 165 to 203 days, and elevation ranges from 100 feet to 400 feet above sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Penhook (tentative), Yellowbottom (tentative), Goldvein, and Brinklow soils. The well drained Penhook and Yellowbottom (tentative) soils are on summits, shoulders and backslopes of sidelopes on adjacent ridges. The moderately well drained Goldvein soils are on summits and shoulders of sideslopes and headslopes. The well drained Brinklow soils are on steeper backslopes of side slopes.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well to somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff potential is negligible to medium. Permeability is moderately slow.

USE AND VEGETATION: Soils are mainly in woodlands. Small areas have been cleared for cropland, hayland, and pasture. Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods, but much has been harvested and replanted to pine.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 136 (mesic) and 148. The soils are of small extent.

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

SERIES PROPOSED: Fauquier County, Virginia, 2004.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1) ochric epipedon - from 0 to 4 inches (A horizons) 2) argillic horizon - from 4 to 31 inches (Bt horizons)
2016 Update was to change the status to Established.

02/2005 added statement about frequent, extremely brief, flash flooding in the geographic setting.

03/2022 Oi layer was removed from the typical pedon description because /freshly fallen, or undecomposed leaf litter or simlar undeceomposed material should not be included as a surface layer in the soil description. The typical pedon originally had a Oi layer described as undecomposed leaf material or similar undecomposed material.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.