LOCATION ZEPP VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, active, mesic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Zepp very channery loam, on a 20 percent west-facing slope, forested. (Colors are for moist soils.)
A--0 to 4 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) very channery loam; weak very fine and fine granular structure; friable; many fine and medium and common coarse roots; 40 percent sandstone channers; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
BA--4 to 10 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium and few coarse roots; few medium discontinuous pores; 20 percent sandstone channers; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--10 to 23 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) channery loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; common fine discontinuous pores; 20 percent sandstone channers; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--23 to 48 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) very channery sandy loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; few fine discontinuous pores; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 35 percent sandstone channers; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 25 to 40 inches thick.)
2Bt3--48 to 57 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) channery clay loam; moderate fine and medium blocky and subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; few fine discontinuous pores; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; 30 percent shale channers; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
2C--57 to 65 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) extremely channery clay loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, nonplastic; 60 percent shale channers; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Shenandoah County, Virginia; west side of Little North Mountain, approximately 0.5 mile north of VA-600, and 75 feet east of Cove Run in the George Washington National Forest.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments of sandstone and shale channers make up 5 to 45 percent of individual horizons in the solum (average less than 35 percent in the particle-size control section) and 20 to 70 percent of the substratum. Colluvium or residuum discontinuities are common in most pedons below a depth of 40 inches. The soil ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The BA horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The Bt horizons have hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is sandy loam, or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The 2Bt horizons have hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is loam or clay loam in the fine earth fraction.
The 2C horizon has a color range the same as that of the 2Bt horizons. It is loam or clay loam in the fine earth fraction. Discontinuities are in residuum from shale with matrix and mottle colors in shades of red, brown, and gray.
COMPETING SERIES: The only known series in this family are the Clymer soils. Clymer soils have bedrock less than 60 inches. Downer, Massanutten, Phalanx, and Woodmansie series are in closely related families. Downer, Phalanx, and Woodmansie soils formed in coastal plain sediments and have less rock fragments throughout the solum. Massanutten soils are 20 to 40 inches to bedrock. Nolansburg soils have more sand below 40 inches and do not have a lithologic discontinuity. Dunellen, Jefferson, and Rigley soils are in related families. Dunellen and Rigley soils have mixed mineralogy. Jefferson soils are in a fine-loamy family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Zepp soils are on sideslopes, benches, fans and footslopes, often below sandstone escarpments. Slopes range from 2 to 55 percent. The regolith is colluvium from acid sandstone, siltstone, and a minor component of shale. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 40 inches, and the mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 56 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gilpin, Lehew, and Wallen series on uplands. These soils are on residual landscape positions and have bedrock at depths of less than 60 inches. Additionally, Lehew and Wallen soils have more rock fragments.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff is medium to very rapid; permeability is moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded, but less steep areas are used for crops and pasture. Native forests have yellow-poplar, northern red oak, Chestnut oak, hickory, Virginia pine, and shortleaf pine as the dominant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, and possibly Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Shenandoah County, Virginia, 1988.
REMARKS: These soils have previously been included in the Rigley series.
The major diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface to a depth of 10 inches (A and BA horizons).
b. Argillic horizon - The zone from 10 to 57 inches (Bt and 2Bt horizons).
c. Lithologic discontinuity - The change in parent material at 48 inches.
The 12/2005 revision updates this soil to the 9th Edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy (2003). The CEC activity class placement is based geographically associated soils and NASIS data from Page and Shenandoah Counties, Virginia. Class placement may be revised in the future when laboratory data are reviewed or become available. In addition, horizon nomenclature and competing series were updated with this revision.
Previous revision JSO-LWH-MHC 5/89
ADDITIONAL DATA: Particle size, chemical, and sand mineralogy data from the site location are available from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.