LOCATION ZOAR WV+PA VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aquic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Zoar silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches, brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
BA--8 to 11 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 19 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; common fine roots; few distinct clay films on ped faces; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bt2--19 to 23 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, plastic, slightly sticky; common fine roots; common medium distinct olive yellow (5Y 6/6) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) iron concentrations; few distinct clay films on ped faces; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (3 to 12 inches thick)
Bt3--23 to 38 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) silty clay; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure arranged in coarse prisms; firm, plastic, slightly sticky; few fine roots; many medium prominent light olive gray (5Y 6/2) and light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) iron depletions; few prominent clay films on prism faces, few distinct clay films on ped faces; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick) (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 20 to 35 inches)
Cg--38 to 65 inches, gray (10YR 6/1) clay loam; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) iron concentrations; massive; firm; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Randolph County, West Virginia; 1 mile northeast of village of Elkwater on east side of Secondary Road No. 56.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 50 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 65 inches. Depth to the base of the argillic horizon ranges from 30 to 50 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 3 percent throughout. The particle size control section averages from 35 to 50 percent clay. Unlimed soils are strongly acid or very strongly acid. Redoximorphic features with chroma of 2 or less are at depths of 16 to 32 inches.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is loam, silt loam or silty clay loam.
Undisturbed pedons commonly have an E horizon 3 to 6 inches thick with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 or 4.
The BA horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is silty clay, silty clay loam or clay. Iron depletions and concentrations are present in the middle to lower part of the Bt horizon.
Some pedons have a BC horizon that is gray and has redoximorphic features, and is 0 to 15 inches thick. Texture is silty clay or silty clay loam.
The C horizon has a hue of 5YR to 10YR value of 4 to 7 and chroma of 1 to 6. Texture is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay or clay. Varving is evident in the C horizon of some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: The Donlonton series is currently the only other competitor in the same family. Donlonton soils formed in old marine sediment on the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain, contain moderate amounts of glauconite in the profile, and have texture of sandy clay or sandy clay loam in the Bt horizon.
The Licking, Tygart and Vincent series are in similar families. Licking and Vincent soils have base saturation greater than 35 percent at 50 inches below the top of the argillic horizon. The Tygart soils have evidence of wetness immediately below the Ap horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Zoar soils are on nearly level to strongly sloping terraces. They formed in acid Lacustrine (slackwater) sediments. Slope gradients range from 0 to 15 percent. The climate is humid temperate. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 49 degrees to 57 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches. Frost free days range from about 145 to 180.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Allegheny, Monongahela and Tygart soils on terraces, the Ernest and Vandalia soils on colluvial foot slopes, and the Berks, Gilpin, Weikert, Westmoreland, and Upshur soils on uplands. All these soils except the competing Tygart soils, and the Upshur and Vandalia soils have less than 35 percent clay in the control section. Upshur and Vandalia soils have rock fragments in the control section and have more than 35 percent base saturation.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff potential is negligible to medium. Permeability is slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are mainly used for cropland, pasture or urban uses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Appalachian Plateau of Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent. MLRA's 126, 127, 130, and 147.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jackson and Mason Counties, West Virginia, 1958.
REMARKS: Some pedons included with Zoar soils in mapping in West Virginia have unconforming reddish clay, lower B and C horizons of 2.5YR or 10R hue.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 11 to 38 inches (Bt1, Bt2, and Bt3 horizons).
Aquic feature - Redoximorphic features with chroma of 2 or less within 24 inches below the upper boundary of the argillic horizon.
ADDITIONAL DATA: SIR: WV0027