LOCATION WESTBEND KYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Westbend silt loam on a southwest facing concave slope of 35 percent in a mixed pine and hardwood forest. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated).
A--0 to 2 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 8 inches thick)
BA--2 to 7 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; about 1 percent angular fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 19 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; 2 percent shale channers; common fine and medium roots; common distinct light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay films on fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--19 to 26 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium angular and subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine and medium roots; common distinct light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay films on surfaces of peds and coating fragments; few prominent light olive gray (5Y 6/2) silt flows lining root channels; 2 percent shale channers; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt3--26 to 33 inches; variegated yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and olive gray (5Y 5/2) channery silty clay loam; moderate medium angular and subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine and medium roots; common faint clay films on surfaces of peds; 15 percent shale channers; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 15 to 30 inches)
BC--33 to 37 inches; light olive gray (5Y 6/2) channery silty clay loam; common distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) lithochromic mottles; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine and medium roots; 20 percent shale channers; moderately acid; diffuse wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches)
C--37 to 45 inches; variegated light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) and olive (5Y 5/3) very channery silty clay loam; massive parting to weak coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; 40 percent shale channers and ironstone fragments; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches)
Cr--45 to 55 inches; weathered shale with light olive gray (5Y 6/2) silt coatings in cracks.
TYPE LOCATION: Powell County, Kentucky; about 1.7 miles west of Stanton and 150 feet south of the Mountain Parkway; USGS Clay City Quadrangle; 37 degrees, 49 minutes, 49 seconds N. Latitude and 83 degrees, 53 minutes, 17 seconds W. Longitude; NAD 1983.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum is 35 to 55 inches thick or more. Depth to bedrock is 40 to 60 inches or more. Channers and parachanners of siltstone and shale, as well as iron-rich siliceous and calcareous concretions (or fragments weathered from these concretions) range from 0 to 2 percent in the upper part of the solum; 0 to 20 percent in the lower part of the solum; and from 0 to 65 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to neutral in the surface layer; very strongly acid to neutral in the solum; and moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the substratum.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. It is silt loam, loam or silty clay loam.
The BA horizon (where present) has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 to 6. It is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 3 to 6. It is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The BC horizon (where present) has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 3 to 6. Fine-earth texture is silt loam, silty clay loam or silty clay.
The C horizon (where present) has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 3 or 4. Fine-earth texture is silt loam, silty clay loam, silty clay or clay.
The Cr horizon weathered interbedded shale and siltstone.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Marseilles, Mentor, Pottersville, Stubenville and Westmore series in the same family. The Marseilles and Westmore soils formed in a thin layer of loess and the underlying residuum. Mentor, Pottersville and Stubenville soils formed in lacustrine sediments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Westbend soils formed in residuum weathered from interbedded soft shale and siltstone of the Nancy Member of the Borden Formation. Most areas are eroded. Near the type location mean annual soil temperature is about 54 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is about 48 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berks, Bledsoe, Carpenter, Cruze, Jessietown, Muse and Rohan soils. Berks and Rohan soils are loamy-skeletal. Bledsoe, Cruze and Muse soils are fine. Carpenter soils are fine-loamy. Jessietown soils are moderately deep and more acid.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is high or very high. Permeability is moderately slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in second growth forest with mixed stands of Eastern hemlock, white oak, yellow-poplar, chestnut oak, American beech, scarlet oak, pitch pine, Virginia pine and various hickories. Minor species include red maple, northern red oak, black oak, black gum, sourwood and black cherry. A few of the less sloping areas are used for pasture and sites for houses and gardens.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky and possibly areas of southern Indiana and southern Ohio with shale and siltstone geology. Series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Powell County, Kentucky 1989.
REMARKS: Westbend soils were previously mapped as Carpenter or Lenburg soils.
Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon -- 0 to 2 inches (A horizon)
Argillic horizon -- 7 to 33 inches (Bt1, Bt2, & Bt3 horizons)
Paralithic contact at 45 inches (Cr)
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization sample S87KY-197-001. Further characterization may place in active class.