LOCATION VANDERGRIFT PA+OH WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, mesic Aquic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Vandergrift silty clay loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) silty clay loam; pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; 4 percent soft shale chips; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
BA--9 to 14 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; 5 percent rock fragments of sandstone and shale; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bt1--14 to 21 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) silty clay; strong fine and medium angular blocky structure; firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common distinct clay films on faces of peds and in pores; 4 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 9
inches thick)
Bt2--21 to 34 inches; red (10R 4/6) and dark red (2.5YR 3/6) silty clay; weak coarse angular blocky structure parting to moderate very fine angular blocky; firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; few fine prominent light gray (10YR 6/1), light brownish gray (10YR 6/2), and pale brown (10YR 6/3) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)
Bt3--34 to 46 inches; red (10R 4/6) and dusky red (10R 3/4) silty clay; weak coarse angular blocky structure parting to weak very fine angular blocky; firm, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; common faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; few fine prominent light gray (10YR 7/1) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
Bt4--46 to 56 inches; dusky red (10R 3/4) silty clay; weak coarse angular blocky structure parting to weak very fine angular blocky; firm, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; common fine prominent light gray (5Y 7/1) iron depletions and yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
C--56 to 66 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) and brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) channery silty clay loam; massive and weak fine platy structure; friable, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; clay films lining pores and root channels; common black coatings; 15 percent shale fragments;
common fine prominent light gray (5Y 7/1) iron depletions; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)
R--66 inches; dark red (10R 3/6) and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) shale and siltstone with common black coatings along bedding planes.
TYPE LOCATION: Armstrong County, Pennsylvania; Wayne Township, 2.5 miles southwest of Dayton, 1/2 mile west of intersection of Route 03128 and T547, 450 feet south along farm lane.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 35 to 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is 40 to 80 inches. Rock fragments of weathered shale, siltstone, and sandstone are less than 10 percent of the solum and range from 0 to 90 percent of the C horizon. Illite, kaolinite, and vermiculite clay minerals are rather evenly distributed with a relatively high amount of interstratified montmorillonite. The soil, unless limed, ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid in the A horizon, very strongly acid through slightly acid in the B horizons, and strongly acid through mildly alkaline in the C horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Dry color value is 6 or more. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The B horizon has hue of 10R through 7.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 6 with hue of 7.5YR restricted to BA horizons. Redoximorphic features are in hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 5 through 7, and chroma of 1 through 8. Texture is silty clay, silty clay loam, or clay in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is angular blocky but some pedons have subangular blocky and prismatic structure. Consistence is firm or very firm and slightly through
very sticky.
The C horizon has hue of 10R through 10YR, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6, and has redoximorphic features. Texture is silt loam to clay in the fine-earth fraction.
The clay shale or siltstone bedrock ranges from light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) through brown (10YR 4/3) to dark red (10R 3/6) and is calcareous in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the only series in this family at this time. As other series are evaluated for cation exchange activity class, this may change.
Branchville,
Celina,
Hartville,
Guernsey,
Loudon, and
Tarlton are in the active CEC class.
Licking is in the semiactive CEC class.
Lewisburg,
Poorhouse, and
Whippany series have not been evaluated and may become competitors. None of these soils have hue of 5YR or redder in the solum. Whippany soils have
hue of 5YR or redder only in the lower part of the B horizon, but it is not dominant.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Vandergrift soils are on hilltops, hillsides, benches, and footslopes with dominant slope of 3 to 8 percent, but ranges from 0 to 25 percent. These soils often are on relatively narrow, contour oriented, areas and are commonly in a complex with Wharton, Cavode, or Ernest soils. The soils weathered from interbedded calcareous and noncalcareous, red and gray shale, siltstone, and some limestone. The climate is humid and temperate; mean annual
precipitation ranges from 36 to 45 inches; mean annual air temperature ranges from 47 to 59 degrees F.; and the growing season ranges from 140 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The competing
Guernsey,
Cavode,
Ernest,
Gilpin,
Upshur,
Weikert, and
Wharton soils are nearby. All of these soils except Upshur do not
have reddish hues. Upshur soils do not have low chroma iron depletions in the solum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well and somewhat poorly drained. Runoff is moderate to rapid. Permeability is slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly cleared and in cropland, idle or urban land. Woodlands are mixed hardwoods mainly oak, hickory, maple, tulip poplar, and walnut.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Pennsylvania southeastern Ohio and northwestern West Virginia. MLRA 124 and 126. The soils of this series are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 1965.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 14 inches. (Ap and BA horizons).
b. Argillic horizon - the zone from 14 to 56 inches (Bt horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data are available on four pedons sampled in Pennsylvania. Sample numbers are S68PA-3-9 (1-9), S72PA2-2 (1-9), S72PA4-1 (1-11), and S72PA4-2 (1-8).