LOCATION UNICOI TN+NC VA

Established Series
MSH, BPS/Rev. MDJ
11/2013

UNICOI SERIES

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, mesic Lithic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Unicoi very cobbly sandy loam--forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)

Oe--0 to 3 cm, (0 to 1 inch); moderately decomposed pine needles and hardwood leaves.

Oa--3 to 5 cm (1 to 2 inches); highly decomposed litter in a fibrous root mat.

A--5 to 8 cm (2 to 3 inches); very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) very cobbly sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium, few coarse roots; 40 percent metasandstone cobbles and gravels by volume; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 15 cm, 1 to 6 inches thick)

BA--8 to 18 cm (3 to 7 inches); brown (10YR 5/3) very cobbly sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium, few coarse roots; 40 percent by metasandstone cobbles and gravels by volume gravels; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 13 cm, 0 to 5 inches thick)

Bw--18 to 43 cm (7 to 17 inches); yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) very cobbly sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine, medium, and coarse roots; 50 percent metasandstone cobbles and gravels by volume; strongly acid. (13 to 33 cm, 5 to 13 inches thick)

R--43 to 64 cm (17 to 25 inches); hard metasandstone bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION:
County: Johnson
State: Tennessee
USGS Quadrangle: Shady Valley TN/NC
Latitude: 36.5697222N (NAD 27)
Longitude: 081.9213889W (NAD 27)
Directions to the pedon: 800 feet south and 40 degrees east from McQueen Knob Lookout

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum Thickness: 18 to 51 cm (7 to 20 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: 18 to 51 cm (7 to 20 inches) to unweathered bedrock (lithic).
Depth Class: Shallow
Rock Fragment content: Surface layers may range 15 to 65 percent with subsurface horizons having 35 to 60 percent, by volume.
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, except where limed.
Content of Mica: None or few throughout

Range of Individual Horizons
A horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 1 to 4. Where value and chroma is 3 or less, surface horizons are less than 18 cm (7 inches) thick.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam.

AB or BA horizons (if they occur):
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6; or is multicolored in shades of brown and yellow.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam.

BE horizons (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8; or is multicolored in shades of brown and yellow.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam.

Bw horizon; BC horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 or 8; or is multicolored in shades of yellow or brown in the BC horizon.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam.

C horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 or 8; or is multicolored in shades of yellow, brown, or gray.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand saprolite.
Non-redoximorphic mottles (if they occur)--shades of brown, yellow, or gray mottles of relic rock material are in some pedons; thickness is 8 to 15 cm (3 to 6 inches).

Cr horizon (if it occurs):
Bedrock kind--weathered low-grade metasedimentary rocks such as arkose, metagraywacke, metasandstone, or quartzite.
Bedrock hardness--weakly to strongly cemented
Fracture interval--greater than 10 cm (4 inches)
Excavation difficulty--moderate or high

R horizon:
Bedrock kind--unweathered, hard, low-grade metasedimentary rock such as arkose, metagraywacke, metasandstone, or quartzite.
Bedrock hardness--Very strongly cemented to indurated
Fracture interval--greater than 10 cm (4 inches)
Excavation difficulty--Very high or extremely high

COMPETING SERIES:
Bugley soils - formed from schist and are found in the Piedmont, MLRA 136.
Rohan soils - Formed over fissile shale.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
MLRA using this series: Southern Blue Ridge--130B.
Landscape: Low and intermediate mountains.
Landform: Mountain slope, and ridges.
Geomorphic Component: Mountain top, mountain flank, and side slope.
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, and backslope.
Parent Material Origin: Low-grade metasedimentary rock such as arkose, metagraywacke, metasandstone, or quartzite; rock outcrops are common in most areas.
Parent Material Kind: Residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper solum.
Slope: Typically 15 to 75 percent, but range from 8 to 95 percent.
Elevation: 366 to 1,463 meters; (1,200 to 4,800 feet).
Frost-free period: 130 to 210 days.
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 8 to 14 degrees C (46 to 57 degrees F).
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1,300 millimeters (51 inches) near the Type Location.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
In addition to the competing Sylvatus series, these are:
Brookshire, Keener, Lostcove, Maymead, Northcove, Spivey, and Whiteoak soils-- in coves on foot and toe slopes, colluvial benches and fans. In addition Brookshire, Spivey, and Whiteoak soils have thicker, darker surface layers. Chestoa, Ditney, Harmiller, Jeffrey, Marbleyard, McCamy, Shinbone, Soco, and Stecoah, soils are on ridge tops and side slopes. In addition Chestoa and Jeffrey soils have thicker, darker surface layers and occur on ridges and side slopes of cool, north to east facing aspects. Ditney, Marbleyard and McCamy soils-- 51 to 102 cm (10 to 20 inches) to a lithic contact. Harmiller and Soco soils-51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches) to a paralithic contact; Shinbone and Stecoah soils--102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches) to a paralithic contact. Marbleyard and McCamy soils - have siliceous mineralogy; Marbleyard soils are loamy-skeletal and McCamy soils are fine-loamy.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage Class: Somewhat excessively drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep
Index Surface Runoff: Low runoff where forest litter has not been disturbed or only partially removed; low or medium runoff where litter has been removed.
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: High
Permeability Class (obsolete): Moderate rapid
Shrink-swell Class: Low
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland.
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--pitch pine, table mountain pine, Virginia pine, chestnut oak, scarlet oak, and hemlock. Understory species are dominantly mountain laurel, flowering dogwood, and sourwood.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130-B) of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia
Extent: Large--More than 100,000 acres.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Monroe County, Tennessee; 1974.

REMARKS:
Unicoi soils formerly were included in the Ramsey series and classified in Lithosols great soil group. The 12/97 revision placed Unicoi soils in a semiactive CEC activity class. The 3/99 revision updated the classification to 8th Edition to Keys to Soil Taxonomy (1998) standards and expanded the lower slope range from 8 to 7 percent to facilitate the correlation of Grayson County, Virginia. Fine sandy loam texture was added to the RIC for the Bw and C horizons. The 6/00 revision reflects the movement of the official type location from Monroe County, TN to Johnson County, TN. 10/13 revision verifies classification --11th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy. Note-mineral surface layers typically 3-5 inches thick

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon-- the zone from the 0 to 18 cm, 0 to 7 inches (Oe, Oa, A1, and BA horizons) b. Cambic horizon-- the zone from 18 to 43 cm, 7 to 17 inches (Bw horizon)
c. Lithic contact--the occurrence of hard bedrock at 43 cm, 17 inches (R horizon)

ADDITIONAL DATA:
Soil Characterization Data is available from the Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory (KSSL) website: http://ncsslabdatamart.sc.egov.usda.gov/querypage.aspx

SIR = TN0054; TN0148, Variant

Revised: 12/97-RLL, RRD; 3/99-DHK; 6/99, 10/01-MKC; 10/13-Semi tab format and minor changes to Range in Characteristics, MLRA 130-B.
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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.