LOCATION TOWNLEY AL+AR GA TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Townley silt loam, on a convex 5 percent slope, in forest. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 2 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; friable; 5 percent (1/2 to 3 inch) shale fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
BA--2 to 6 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; 10 percent (1/2 to 3 inch) shale fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
Bt1--6 to 9 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; 10 percent (1/2 to 3 inch) shale fragments; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
Bt2--9 to 22 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) channery silty clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; 20 percent (1 to 3 inch) shale fragments; thin continuous red (2.5YR 4/8) clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
CBt--22 to 35 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) extremely parachannery silty clay; with common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and yellowish red (5YR 5/8) lithochromic mottles; moderate medium relict platy structure; firm; 85 percent (1 to 6 inch) moist shale fragments that can be crushed by strong force between the fingers; thin continuous clay films between horizontal plates; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
Cr--35 to 60 inches; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) level bedded consolidated very strongly acid shale with common medium streaks of very pale brown (10YR 7/4) and yellowish red (5YR 5/8).
TYPE LOCATION: Fayette County, Alabama; 100 feet north of centerline of County Highway 44 and about 1 mile northeast of intersection with State Highway 13 in the NW1/4NW1/4 sec. 18, T. 14 S., R. 11 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments, mostly shale or rarely sandstone channers and parachanners, range from 5 to 35 percent in the surface layer and upper part of the solum and from 5 to 95 percent in the lower solum and substratum. Reaction ranges from extremely to strongly acid, except where limed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Ap and AB horizons, where present, have hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma 3 to 6. Texture is fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam. Eroded horizons are redder with clay loam, silty clay loam, or clay textures.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma 4 to 8. Texture of the fine-earth is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
The BC horizon, where present, has similar textures to the Bt horizon, but it is commonly variegated throughout with lithochromic mottles in shades of brown, yellow, and red.
The CB or C horizons, where present, also have similar textures to the Bt horizon; are variegated in shades of gray, brown, red, or yellow; and are commonly made up of mostly relict weathered shale that grades with depth to more consolidated shale strata.
The Cr horizon is consolidated shale that can be ripped with heavy machinery.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Albertville, Badin, Bengal, Bonwier, Brockroad, Carnasaw, Catharpin, Coghill, Corryton, Cunningham, Cuthbert, Galilee, Kirvin, Luverne, Masada, Mayodan, McQueen, Nason, Peakin, Sweatman, Tatum, Uwharrie, and Vance series. Albertville, Bonwier, Brockroad, Catharpin, Coghill, Corryton, Cunningham, Cuthbert, Kirvin, Luverne, Masada, Mayodan, McQueen, Peakin, Sweatman, Tatum, Uwharrie, and Vance soils lack paralithic contacts within 40 inches of the soil surface. Badin soils have a lithic contact with 40 inches. Bengal and Carnasaw soils have an irregular boundary between the Bt horizon and the underlying tilted bedrock. Galilee soils lack shale fragments and allow more sand in the Bt horizon. Nason soils are weathered from schist and lack shale fragments in the Bt horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Townley soils are on ridgetops and side slopes of the dissected plateaus and mountains. Slopes
range from 2 to 45 percent. The regolith is clayey residuum weathered from shale or interbedded sandstone and shale. Average annual air temperature near the type location is 62 degrees F. and average annual precipitation is about 53 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Albertville series and the Enders, Hartsells, Hector, Linker, Montevallo, and Nauvoo series. Hartsells and Linker soils have less than 35 percent clay in their argillic horizons and weathered from sandstone. Hector and Montevallo soils are shallow and lack argillic horizons. Hector soils weathered from sandstone bedrock and Montevallo soils have more than 35 percent shale fragments in the subsoil. Nauvoo soils have less than 35 percent clay in the control section and weathered from sandstone bedrock at a depth of 40 to 60 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained with slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in forest. Cleared areas are used for growing cotton, corn, hay, and pasture.
Native forest is oak, hickory, dogwood, and pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee. Townley soils are moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Fayette County, Alabama; 1963.
REMARKS: These soils were formerly included in the Albertville and Enders series.