LOCATION TUSSAHAW GA+NC
Established Series
JRL-RHB
05/2026
TUSSAHAW SERIES
MLRA(s): 136 (thermic part)
Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Southeast
Depth Class: Moderately deep
Agricultural Drainage Class: Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Low to high
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: Moderately high
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Creep deposits over high-grade metamorphic rock residuum
Slope: 6 to 60 percent
Elevation: 274 to 610 meters (900 to 2,000 feet)
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 16 degrees C (61 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1295 millimeters (51 inches)
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, subactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Tussahaw channery sandy loam on a northeast facing, 20 percent slope in mixed hardwood forest. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)
A--0 to 8 centimeters (0 to 3 inches); dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and few medium roots; 18 percent fragments of sillimanite schist channers; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt1--8 to 23 centimeters (3 to 9 inches); brown (7.5YR 4/4) very channery sandy clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine flakes of mica; 35 percent fragments of sillimanite schist channers; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--23 to 51 centimeters (9 to 20 inches); strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) very channery sandy clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine flakes of mica; 50 percent fragments of sillimanite schist channers; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
C--51 to 69 centimeters (20 to 27 inches); yellowish red (5YR 4/6) very channery sandy clay loam; massive; friable; few fine flakes of mica; 60 percent fragments of sillimanite schist channers; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Cr--69 to 104 centimeters (27 to 41 inches); weathered sillimanite schist, multicolored in shades of red and brown.
R--104 centimeters (41 inches); hard, fractured sillimanite schist
TYPE LOCATION: Butts County, Georgia; 800 feet west of bridge at Georgia highway 16 and Ocmulgee River to Stark Road; 1600 feet to water plant; 1600 feet northeast along water plant access road to road cut. (USGS Lloyd Shoals Dam, Georgia topographic quadrangle.
Latitude--33.3122
Longitude-- -83.8389
Datum--WGS84
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to the Base of the Argillic: 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches) to soft bedrock and greater than 102 centimeters (40 inches) to hard bedrock
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: Greater than 183 centimeters (72 inches)
Rock Fragment Content: 15 to 70 percent, by volume, in the A and 35 to 70 percent in the B and C horizons; mostly gravel, channers, cobbles, and stones from sillimanite schist, mica schist, or quartz mica gneiss
Soil Reaction: Very strongly to strongly acid, except where limed
Other Features: Most pedons have few to common flakes of mica
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
A horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, chroma of 2 to 6. A horizons with moist value of 3 or less are less than 7 inches thick.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam
E horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 4 to 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam
BA horizon or BE horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 4 to 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam or loam
Bt horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 4 to 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy clay loam, clay loam, or loam
C horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 4 to 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy clay loam, clay loam, or loam
Cr horizon:
Type of bedrock--multicolored, weathered sillimanite schist with occasional interbeds of mica schist and quartz mica gneiss. Soil material often extends downward into nearly vertical cracks in this horizon.
R horizon:
Type of bedrock--unweathered fractured sillimanite schist, mica schist, or quartz mica gneiss
COMPETING SERIES:
Cliffside soils--have hard bedrock at a depth 51 to 102 centimeters (20 to 40 inches)
Lockhart soils--formed in material mostly weathered from porphyritic granite, have sola 102 to 152 centimeters (40 to 60 inches) thick and are very deep to bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Piedmont uplands
Landform: Interstream divides, ridges, and side slopes
Parent Material: Creep deposits over high-grade metamorphic rock residuum.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Bethlehem soils--are clayey; on similar landforms
Meansville soils--are loamy-skeletal and shallow to soft bedrock
Pacolet soils--are clayey and lack a Cr or R horizon; on similar landforms
Thomaston soils--are fine-loamy and have soft bedrock at a depth of 51 to 102 centimeters (40 to 60 inches)
Towaliga soils--are clayey and have a lithologic discontinuity; on similar landforms
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage class (Agricultural): Well drained
Index Surface Runoff: Low to high
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep, absent
Permeability: Moderate
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland and pasture
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--Hickory, dogwood, red oak, white oak and pine.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Georgia and North Carolina and possibly Alabama
Extent: Small
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Butts County, Georgia 2002
REMARKS: This soil was formerly included in the Hibriten series. The May 2026 revision changed the format. No data was changed.
Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon:
Ochric epipedon--The zone from 0 to 8 centimeters (0 to 3 inches) (A horizon)
Argillic horizon--The zone from 8 to 51 centimeters (3 to 20 inches) (Bt horizon)
Paralithic contact--The contact with weathered bedrock at 69 centimeters (27 inches)
ADDITIONAL DATA:
Data Map Unit ID: To be developed
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
TUSSAHAW 6-60 59-62 199-244 48-55 600-1200
FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness
NONE >6.0 - 20-40 SOFT
Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC-
0-3 CBV-SL STV-SL 10-60 35-90 7-20 2-6
0-3 GR-SL 0-20 30-55 7-20 2-6
0-3 CB-SL CH-SL 15-30 65-80 7-20 2-6
3-27 CBV-CL CBV-SCL VCH-SCL 20-70 35-90 10-35 2-8
27-41 WB - - - -
41-41 UWB - - - -
Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll
0-3 4.5-5.5 .5-2. 0-0 2.0-6.0 LOW
0-3 4.5-5.5 .5-2. 0-0 2.0-6.0 LOW
0-3 4.5-5.5 .5-2. 0-0 2.0-6.0 LOW
3-27 4.5-5.5 0.-.5 0-0 0.6-2.0 LOW
27-41 - - - -
41-41 - - - -
________________________________________
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.