LOCATION SWANPOND WV+MDEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, mixed, active, mesic Vertic Paleudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Swanpond silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes in a corn field. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; friable; few very fine roots throughout; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 25 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay; weak coarse prismatic parting to moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; very sticky, very plastic; very few, very fine roots throughout; common
distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--25 to 32 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay; weak coarse prismatic parting to moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; very sticky, very plastic; very few very fine roots throughout; common
distinct clay films on faces of peds; few prominent black manganese stains on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Btss1--32 to 39 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay; moderate coarse prismatic parting to moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; friable; very sticky, very plastic; very few, very fine roots between peds; many prominent clay films on faces of peds; few fine prominent gray (10YR 6/1) redox depletions along faces of peds; common prominent black manganese stains on faces of peds; common slickensides; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Btss2--39 to 49 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay; moderate coarse prismatic parting to moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; firm; very sticky, very plastic; very few, very fine roots between peds; many prominent clay films on faces of peds; common coarse prominent gray (10YR 6/1) redox depletions along faces of peds; common prominent black manganese stains on faces of peds; common slickensides; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Btss3--49 to 65 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay; strong coarse prismatic parting to moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; firm; very sticky, very plastic; many prominent clay films on faces of peds; many coarse prominent gray (10YR 6/1) redox depletions along faces of peds; common slickensides; strongly acid. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 45 to 60 inches or more.)
TYPE LOCATION: Berkeley County, West Virginia; located about 1300 feet North 21 degrees West of the intersection of county routes 5/9 and 5/3 in the Greensburg area. USGS Martinsburg topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 28 minutes 24 seconds N; longitude 77 degrees 53 minutes 23 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock are more than 60 inches. Content of coarse fragments, commonly chert or limestone, ranges from 0 to 20 percent throughout. Reaction ranges from strongly acid
to slightly alkaline, unless the soil has been limed. Depth to redoximorphic features ranges from 30 to 40 inches.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value 3 or 4, and chroma of 3 through 5. It is silt loam or silty clay loam.
Some pedons have a thin BA horizon with hue of 10YR, value of 4, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR or 5YR value of 4 through 6, and chroma 4 through 8. Few to many redoximorphic features are present below a depth of 30 inches. It is typically clay, but some pedons have thin subhorizons of silty clay in the upper part.
The BC and C horizons, where present, have hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma 4 through 8, with few through many redoximorphic features. It is clay or silty clay.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known other series in this family. The Gepp, Oaklet, Rollinstone, and Swimley series are in related families. All of these soils are well drained, and do not have low chroma redoximorphic features within 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Swanpond soils are on nearly level to gently sloping, slightly convex to slightly concave, broad, topographically low upland areas. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. These soils are formed in residuum weathered from limestone bedrock of Ordovician and Cambrian Age. Climate is humid temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 33 to 42 inches, and the mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 54 degrees F. The number of frost free days ranges from 155 to 180.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the well drained Carbo, Endcav, Hagerstown and Opequon soils on higher adjacent upland slopes; and the Tentative, moderately well drained, fine-loamy, Funkstown soils along lower concave upland drainageways and headslopes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Runoff is slow to medium. Permeability is slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for cultivated crops, pasture and hay. Some areas are used for urban development. A small acreage is in woodland of mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Great Valley of West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania and possibly Virginia. The acreage is small.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Berkeley County, West Virginia, 1995.
REMARKS:
1. These soils were formerly mapped as members of the Pickaway or Carbo soil series.
2. Diagnostic horizons and features in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 7 inches.
b. Argillic horizon--the zone from 7 to 65 inches.
....c...Common slickensides starting at 32 inches
SIR = WV0136
MLRA = 147