LOCATION WINTERGREEN VA
Established Series
Rev. MHC,SKT,MKC
01/2023
WINTERGREEN SERIES
Soils of the Wintergreen series are very deep, well drained, and moderately permeable. They formed mainly in colluvium derived dominantly from a mixture of crystalline rocks, but include alluvial material also. They are on footslopes of ridges, colluvial fans, and adjacent small high terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 45 percent. Mean and annual precipitation is about 46 inches and mean annual temperature is about 55 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, subactive, mesic Typic Paleudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Wintergreen loam, on a 5 percent slope in woodland. (colors are for moist soil)
A--0 to 3 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) loam; weak fine granular structure; friable, slightly sticky; many fine, medium, and coarse roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 7 inches thick)
E--3 to 7 inches; yellowish red (7.5YR 4/6) loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky; common fine, medium, and coarse roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 24 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky, plastic; few fine and medium roots; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; very stongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--24 to 35 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; few fine roots; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt3--35 to 62 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; few fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) mottles throughout and few fine prominent pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2) mottles below 50 inches; weak coarse platy structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; very stongly acid. (combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 40 to 60 or more inches)
TYPE LOCATION: Nelson County, Virginia. 0.5 mile east 80 degrees of Highways VA-668 and VA-653 and 0.9 mile northwest 300 degrees of Highways VA-653 and VA-650.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is 60 inches or more. Depth to hard bedrock is more than 60 inches. Thickness of the colluvium or alluvium is quite variable and ranges from about three to more than 20 feet, but is dominantly greater than 6 feet. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the A, Ap, E, BA, and BE horizons and the upper part of the Bt horizon; and from 0 to 60 percent in the lower part of the Bt horizon and the C horizon. Rock fragments consist mostly of gravel, cobbles, and stones of igneous and metamorphic rock. Flakes of mica are in some pedons. The soil is extremely acid through strongly acid unless limed.
The A horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 6. Where value is 2 or 3, the horizon is less than 6 inches thick. The A horizon has texture of sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine earth fraction.
The Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 6. Where value is 2 or 3, the horizon is less than 6 inches thick. The Ap horizon has texture of sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine earth fraction. Some eroded pedons have a surface layer that is sandy clay loam, clay loam or silty clay loam, and include hue of 5YR.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 3 through 8. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine earth fraction.
The BE or BA horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 8. It is sandy clay loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, or clay in the fine earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10R or 2.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 6 or 8 with value of 3 limited to individual subhorizons. Some pedons have subhorizons with hue of 5YR. Some pedons have reticulate mottling in the lower part of the Bt. The Bt is clay loam, sandy clay, silty clay loam, or clay in the fine earth fraction.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 10R or 2.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 6 or 8. Some pedons have hue of 5YR. Some pedons are mottled or streaked in shades of red, yellow, and brown. This horizon is generally coarser in texture than the Bt and commonly contains a higher content of rock fragments. It is sandy clay loam, clay loam, sandy clay, silty clay loam, or clay in the fine-earth fraction.
The C horizon, where present, has hue of 10R through 7.5YR, value of 3 through 8, and chroma of 1 through 8. Texture is sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, clay, or sandy clay in the fine earth fraction.
The 2C horizon, where present, has hue of 10R through 7.5YR, value of 3 through 8, and chroma of 1 through 8. Texture is sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, clay, or sandy clay in the fine earth fraction.
COMPETING SERIES:
Christiana,
Dunmore,
Shottower, and
Tumbling soils are in the same family. Christiana soils formed in marine clays in coastal plain sediments, and do not have fragments of crystalline rock. Dunmore soils formed ion residuum and have fragments of limestone or dolomite. Shottower soils formed in alluvium and dominantly have fragments of limestone, shale, siltstone, and sandstone. Tumbling soils formed in colluvium and have fragments of sandstone, quartz, and shale.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wintergreen soils are on footslopes of ridges, colluvial fans, and adjacent small high stream terraces. The adjacent high stream terraces are usually too small to recognize as distinctly different landforms. Slopes range from 0 to 45 percent. The soils developed in colluvium and alluvium derived dominantly from a mixture of crystalline rocks. The mean annual temperature ranges from about 50 degrees to 57 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation ranges from about 40 to 55 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the
Brandywine,
Brevard,
Culpeper,
Drayke,
Edgemont,
Eubanks,
Hayesville,
Monongahela,
Thurmont,
Trego,
Unison and
Zoar series. Brandywine soils have a cambic horizon and a sandy- skeletal particle size control section. Brevard, Edgemont, Eubanks, and Thurmont soils have a fine-loamy particle size control section. Culpeper and Hayesville soils are in residuum, have a significant clay decrease in the solum and occur on upland landscape positions. Drayke soils have dark red colors throughout the Bt horizon. Monongahela and Trego soils have a fragipan. Unison soils have yellowish brown colors throughout. Zoar soils are moderately well drained.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to very rapid surface runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils are forested. Some of the acreage is used for growing cultivated crops and pasture. Crops include corn, small grain, hay, apple and peach orchards, berries, and vegetables. Natural vegetation consists of mixed hardwoods, dominated by oaks and dogwood, with some hickory, yellow poplar, and Virginia pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, and possibly Maryland, North Carolina, and West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nelson County, Virginia, 1992.
REMARKS: Formerly included with the Braddock soils.
The 3/99 revision updates classification to the 8th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy. The 3/99 revision also changes mineralogy class from kaolinitic to mixed based on 11 pedon samples from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (009-1, 009-2, 029-1, 029-2, 125-1, 125-2, 067-1, 067-2, 067-3, 141-1, 141-2). This soil is also placed in the subactive CEC activity class based on data from these samples.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon from 0 to 7 inches (A and E horizons).
2. Argillic horizon without significant decrease in clay content from 7 to 62 inches (Bt horizon).
MLRA=130
SIR=VA0373, VA0374 (GRAVELLY), VA0375 (STONY)
REVISED=5/27/92, MHC; 2/99-MKC
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data available for 5 pedons from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Pedons VA-125-2, VA-125-13, VA-125-23, VA-125-30, VA-125-70, VA-125-71.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.