LOCATION SHELBIANA KYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Palehumults
TYPICAL PEDON: Shelbiana loam - on smooth slightly concave 1 percent slope in hay field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 10 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loam; brown (10YR 4/3) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; few fine and medium sandstone gravels; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
AB--10 to 16 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam; brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; common faint very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) organoargillans on all surfaces of peds; few fine and medium sandstone gravels; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the surface horizons is 10 to 24 inches.)
Bt1--16 to 32 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky; friable; many distinct dark brown (10YR 3/3) organoargillans on all surfaces of peds; few fine and medium sandstone gravels; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--32 to 50 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky; friable; few distinct brown (10YR 4/3) organoargillans on all surfaces of peds; few fine and medium sandstone gravels; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
BC--50 to 65 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) irregular non-cemented iron depletions in the matrix; few fine and medium sandstone gravels; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt and BC horizon is more than 35 inches)
C--65 to 80 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam; massive; very friable; common medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) irregular non-cemented iron depletions in the matrix; few fine and medium sandstone gravels; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Pike County, Kentucky; in a hay field adjacent to the Pauley subdivision, about 1 mile north of Pikeville; 37 degrees, 29 minutes, 49 seconds N. Latitude and 82 degrees, 32 minutes, 02 seconds W. Longitude; USGS Pikeville Quadrangle; NAD 1983.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 40 to 72 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Content of subrounded gravels ranges from 0 to 5 percent in the solum and 0 to 50 percent in the substratum. The particle-size control section contains 10 to 40 percent sand; however, the weighted average of sand coarser than very fine sand is less than 15 percent. Reaction ranges from very strongly to moderately acid, unless limed.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4, but to a depth of 6 inches has value and chroma moist less than 4, dry value less than 6. It is loam, silt loam or fine sandy loam.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 8. It is commonly loam or silt loam and less commonly clay loam or silty clay loam. Some pedons have redoximorphic clay depletions in the lower part of the B horizon below 40 inches.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 8 or it is neutral with value of 3 to 8. Redoximorphic features are common and the horizon is often variegated without dominant hue or chroma. It is clay loam, silty clay loam, silt loam, loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loamy sand.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other soils in this family. The Bacona series is in similar family with active CEC activity class, but is found on the west side of the Northern Pacific Coast Range where mean annual precipitation is more than 65 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Shelbiana soils are on stream terraces and flood plains with slopes of 0 to 20 percent. These soils formed in old loamy alluvium that weathered from soils formed in Pennsylvanian sandstone, siltstone and shale. Near the type-location, the mean annual temperature is about 43 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 56 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Allegheny, Bonnie, Combs, Hayter, Nelse, Nolin, Philo, Pope and Whitley series. Allegheny and Hayter soils have ochric epipedons and they are fine-loamy. Bonnie soils are poorly drained and lack argillic horizons. Combs, Nelse, Philo and Pope soils are coarse-loamy and lack argillic horizons. Nolin soils have ochric epipedons and lack argillic horizons. Philo soils are moderately well-drained. Whitley soils have an ochric or thinner epipedon and less very fine sand.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, with low or medium runoff and moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for house and garden sites, residential and commercial development and few areas are used for cultivated crops, hay or pasture. Major crops grown are corn, tobacco, small grains, hay, vegetables, and fruits. Native vegetation was mostly hardwoods. Common trees are yellow-poplar, sweetgum, maples, beech, and oaks.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Kentucky and possibly in Virginia, West Virginia, and eastern Tennessee. The area is of small extent, about 5,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pike County, Kentucky, 1985. Source of the name is a small community in Pike County.
REMARKS: Shelbiana soils are in valleys of the Cumberland-Allegheny Plateau of eastern Kentucky and were mostly mapped with Allegheny, Ashton, or Huntington soils in the past.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Umbric epipedon - the zone from 0-16 inches (Ap, AB horizon).
Argillic subsurface horizon - the zone from 10-50 inches (AB, Bt1 & Bt2 horizons). The upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon has more than 10 percent weatherable minerals in the 20 to 200 micron fraction. Borderline data in Pike County and additional data in Bell and Harlan Counties support a change in classification from the Humic Hapludults. Amendments in Soil Taxonomy permitted classification change to Typic Palehumults.
2005 revision places series in semiactive CEC activity class and revises description, location, competing series and geographically associated soils as per "Keys to Soil Taxonomy 9th Edition, 2003" and "Field Book for describing Soils Version 2.0".
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization sample S84KY-195-2. Reference samples S85KY-13-1 (with thin sections) and S85KY-13-3 (similar soil).
Horizon Depth Total Clay F.C./T.C. (F.C./T.C.) Ratio
x .75 in less than 2m
Ap 0-10 20.3 2.8 0.14 ---
AB 10-16 25.6 5.8 0.23 0.17
Bt1 16-32 23.1 4.5 0.20 0.15
Bt2 32-50 25.8 5.5 0.22 0.17
Comments: Ratio of fine to total clay in the assumed argillic horizon after multiplying by 0.75 is greater than the ratio in the overlying eluvial horizon. Therefore, on the basis of fine to total clay ratio and evidence of clay films, the horizon qualifies as an argillic.