LOCATION TIDINGS GAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Tidings gravelly silt loam - forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 2 inches; very dark gray (5Y 3/1) gravelly silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots and pores; few worm castings with pores; 30 percent gravel; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
E--2 to 4 inches; olive (5Y 5/3) gravelly silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; few medium roots; many fine pores and few medium pores; 25 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
BE--4 to 16 inches; pale olive (5Y 6/3) gravelly silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few to common fine roots; many fine and medium pores; many wormcasts; 15 percent gravel; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 13 inches thick)
Bt1--16 to 25 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) gravelly silty clay loam; moderate medium angular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; many fine pores; 15 percent gravel; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--25 to 36 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) gravelly silty clay loam; common fine distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and pale olive (5Y 6/3) mottles; moderate medium angular and subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; many fine pores; 15 percent gravel; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined Bt horizon thickness is 13 to 31 inches)
C--36 to 44 inches; mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), yellow (5Y 7/6), light gray (5Y 7/2), and pinkish gray (5YR 6/2) weathered sandstone and shale gravelly silty clay loam saprolite: massive with shale and siltstone rock structure: firm; 35 percent coarse fragments by volume; very strongly acid. (6 to 16 inches thick)
Cr--44 to 50 inches; mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), yellow (5Y 7/6), light gray (5Y 7/2) and pinkish gray (5YR 6/2) weathered shale and sandstone; fragments and fractures coated and filled with light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) and pale olive (5Y 6/3) silty clay loam.
TYPE LOCATION: Chattooga County, Georgia; 1.5 miles west of country store in Tidings on U.S. Highway 27, 0.4 mile south on Silver Hill Road, 0.3 mile east on dirt road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches; depth to consolidated bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid in all horizons, except surface horizons which have been limed. Gravel content ranges from 15 to 35 percent by volume in each horizon. The average weighted clay content of the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon ranges from 18 to 35 percent; and silt content from 40 to 60 percent.
The A horizon has hue of 5Y, 2,5Y, or 10YR, value of 3, 4, 5, or 6, and chroma of l, 2, 3, 4, or 6. It is gravelly fine sandy loam, gravelly silt loam or gravelly loam.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 5Y, 2,5Y, or 10YR, value of 5, 6, or 7, and chroma of 2, 3, or 4. It is gravelly fine sandy loam, gravelly silt loam or gravelly loam.
The BE horizon, where present, has hue of 5Y, 2.5Y, or 10YR, value of 6 or 7, and chroma of 3, 4, 6, or 8. It is gravelly fine sandy loam, gravelly silt loam or gravelly loam.
The Bt1 horizon has hue of 2.5Y, 10YR, or 7.5YR, value of 5, 6, or 7, and chroma of 4, 6 or 8. With none to common brown, yellow, and olive mottles. It is gravelly loam, gravelly silty clay loam or gravelly sandy clay loam or gravelly clay loam. The Bt2 horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR, value of 5, 6 or 7 and chroma of 4, 6 or 8. Mottles in shades of olive, yellow, brown, and red are common or many. It is gravelly sandy clay loam, gravelly silty clay loam, gravelly clay loam or in some pedons it is gravelly clay.
The BC horizon, where present, is mottled brown, yellow, olive, and gray. It is gravelly loam, gravelly silt loam, or gravelly silty clay loam.
The C horizon is mottled with colors in shades of gray, olive, yellow, brown and red. It is gravelly loam or gravelly silty clay loam. The Cr horizon is mottled with colors like the C horizon. It is weathered shale or interbedded shale and sandstone soft bedrock.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cheaha, Fruithurst, Rion, Rome, Sherless, Sherwood, state, and Wickham series of the same family and the Apison, Hartsells, Holston, and Linker series of closely related families. Apison, Holston, Rion, State and Wickham soils have less than 15 percent gravel in the solum. Cheaha, Hartsells and Sherless soils have bedrock at depths less than 40 inches. Fruithurst soils contain quartz and state coarse fragments in the solum. Linker and Sherwood have Bt horizons that are red throughout. Rome soils have a solum thickness of more than 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Tidings soils occur on smooth plateaus, ridgetops, side slopes, and hilltops with dominant slopes of 10 to 40 percent, but ranging from 2 to 70 percent. The soil formed in materials weathered from sandstone containing strata of siltstone and shale. The mean annual temperature is about 60 to 65 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is about 50 to 55 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Apison, Gorgas, Hartsells, Holston, Linker, and Montevallo series and the Albertville, Conasauga, Crossville, Cunningham, Hector, and Townley series. Albertville, Conasauga, Cunningham, and Townley soils have a clayey control section and Consauga soils are moderately well drained. Crossville and Hector soils lack argillic horizons; Gorgas soils have bedrock within 20 inches of the soil surface.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Principal use is woodland consisting of mixed hardwood and pine. Some areas are cropped to cotton, corn, or soybeans; others are used for hay or pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Chattooga County, Georgia; 1975; Chattooga, Floyd, and Polk Counties, Georgia survey area.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to approximately 16 inches (A, E and BE horizons).
Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 16 to 36 inches (Bt1, Bt2 horizons).