LOCATION WHEATON MDEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, acid, mesic Typic Udorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Wheaton channery silt loam in a cemetery area on a 2 to 8 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) channery silt loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick.)
C1--6 to 13 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) loam; massive; friable; common fine roots; few fine pores; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
C2--13 to 20 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/2) loam; massive; friable; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
C3--20 to 38 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) channery loam; massive; friable; 15 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
C4--38 to 68 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) loam; massive; friable; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Montgomery County, Maryland: 1 mile west of Wheaton; 1/4 mile east on Veirs Mill Road from the intersection with Aspen Hill Road, then 2000 feet south on unnamed road to Parklawn Cemetery and 750 feet west of road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the A horizon ranges from 2 to 10 inches. Depth to rock is greater than 5 feet. Rock fragments, mostly of hard quartzite or flat schist, range from 2 to 15 percent throughout. The fine-earth fraction has greater than 50 percent silt and very fine sand. Soil reaction ranges from moderately acid to very strongly acid.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR, value of 3 through 5 and chroma of 2 through 6. It is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The C horizons have hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 8. They are silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
COMPETING SERIES: No known competing series. The Wheaton series is a product of man's altering the profiles of Glenelg, Chester, Gaila, and in places, the Elioak series. These are altered areas for urban dwellings, lawns, golf fairways, cemeteries, picnic areas, and playgrounds. The Glenelg, Chester, Gaila, and Elioak series all have Bt horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wheaton soils are nearly level to sloping on uplands in the northern Piedmont Plateau, with slopes ranging from 0 to 15 percent. The climate is temperate and humid with a mean annual temperature of 45 to 55 degrees F and mean annual precipitation of 38 to 44 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Glenelg, Chester, Gaila, Brinklow, Blocktown, and Occoquan soils. Codorus, Comus, and Hatboro soils are on nearby floodplains. Glenville and Baile soils are on nearby lower landscapes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the areas are used for urban and recreational purposes.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont area of Maryland, possibly Virginia and District of Columbia.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Montgomery County, Maryland; 1989.
REMARKS: Previously revised by JHB-SD in 2/90. The 3/2004 revision places ths soil in a semiactive cation-exchange ativity class.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 6 inches.