LOCATION WATAHALA VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over clayey, siliceous over mixed, subactive, mesic Typic Paleudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Watahala on a 38 percent south facing slope in a wooded area at an elevation of 1,635 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated)
Oe-- 0 to 1 inch; partially decomposed twig and leaf litter.
A-- 1 to 3 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) gravelly loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine roots; 25 percent chert gravels; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
E-- 3 to 14 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly loam; weak medium and fine granular structure; very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine and medium roots; 25 percent chert gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.(0 to 15 inches thick)
BE-- 14 to 23 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; 25 percent chert gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 14 inches thick)
Bt1-- 23 to 36 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) gravelly loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 30 percent chert gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 19 inches thick)
2Bt2-- 36 to 63 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) clay; few coarse prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) mottles; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few very fine and fine roots; common distinct and few prominent clay films on faces of peds; 1 percent chert gravel; very strongly acid. (10 to 40 or more inches thick)
TYPE LOCATION: Lee County, Virginia; 0.95 mile north northeast of the intersection of Highway VA-699 and the Virginia-Tennessee state line; 1.41 miles southeast of the intersection of Highways US-58 and VA-699. U.S.G.S. Wheeler topographic quadrangle; Latitude 36 degrees 36 minutes 39 seconds N and Longitude 83 degrees 31 minutes 15 seconds W; NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock are more than 60 inches. Depth to the 2Bt horizon ranges from 20 to 50 inches. Coarse fragments are mostly chert, but may include limestone and sandstone and are mostly gravel or cobble size. Percent coarse fragments range from 10 to 45 in individual horizons above the 2Bt, but the control section averages less than 35 percent. Percent coarse fragments range from 0 to 35 in the 2Bt horizon. Reaction is extremely acid to strongly acid in the upper part of the solum, and very strongly acid to strongly acid in the 2Bt horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
Some pedons have an Ap horizon with hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
The BE horizon or an EB in some pedons have hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 or 6. It is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 or 8. It is loam, silt loam, clay loam or silty clay loam with 18 to 35 percent clay.
The 2Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 6 or 8. It is silty clay or clay, with 25 percent more clay than the overlying horizon and more than 43 percent clay
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Poynor soils, in a closely related family, are loamy-skeletal over clayey.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Watahala soils formed in residuum from chert or cherty limestones over residuum from more pure limestone and are on uplands in limestone valleys. Slope gradients range from 2 to 60 percent. Climate is humid continental. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 51 to 58 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 42 to 46 inches, and elevation ranges from 1,200 to 2,800 feet above sea level. Surface stones are common in places and stony to extremely stony phases are recognized.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Blackthorn, Bolton, Brushy, Caneyville, Carbo, Edom, Elliber, Frederick, Hagerstown, McClung, Mertz, and Murrill series. Blackthorn, Mertz, and Murrill formed in moderately deep to very deep colluvial sediments over limestone residuum. Bolton soils have a base saturation more than 35 percent in the lower parts of the solum and have a 20 percent or more clay decrease within 60 inches. Brushy soils have chert bedrock within a depth of 40 inches. Caneyville and Carbo soils have limestone bedrock within a depth of 40 inches, a clayey subsoil horizon within a depth of 20 inches, and are less cherty. Elliber soils have less than 27 percent clay and more than 35 percent rock fragments in the subsoil. Frederick and Hagerstown soils have a clayey subsoil layer within 20 inches of the surface; additionally, Hagerstown soils have a base saturation of more than 35 percent in the lower parts of the solum. McClung soils have less than 35 percent clay in the solum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff potential is low to high. Permeability is moderate to moderately rapid above the 2Bt horizon, and moderately slow to moderate in the 2Bt horizon.
USE AND VEGETATION: The soils are used for the production of timber and related natural resources. Some areas are used for pasture or have been developed for homesites. Some less sloping areas are used for row crops. The overstory in most areas consists of white oak, red oak, eastern white pine, black locust, chestnut oak, yellow-poplar, red maple, black birch, white ash, and black cherry. The understory contains mountain laurel, huckleberry, azalea, flowering dogwood, sassafras, black locust, black gum, wild grape, red maple, multi-flora rose, Virginia creeper, black birch, black berry and ferns.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 128 and 147, Appalachian Ridge and Valley areas of Virginia and northern Tennessee. Series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lee County, Virginia, 1997.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a) Ochric epipedon: The zone from 1 to 23 inches. (A, E, and BE horizons).
b) Argillic horizon: The zone from 23 to 63 inches. (Bt1 and 2Bt2 horizons).
c) Abrupt textural change occurs at 36 inches (top of the 2Bt horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Soils now within the range of the Watahala series were correlated as Frederick, gravelly phase in several published soil surveys.
Laboratory analyses for physical and chemical characteristics were run on 9 pedons from Alleghany, Bath, Lee, and Russell Counties, Virginia. (S95VA-017-50, S95VA-005-001, S94VA-005-030, S94VA-105-006, S94VA-105-007, S94VA-105-008, S95VA-167-007, S95VA-167-008, S95VA-167-009)
Additional contributors to this series were JDS and RRD.