LOCATION CHAVIES KY+MD OH PA TN VA WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Chavies fine sandy loam--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 10 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
BE--10 to 18 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine pores; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick.)
Bt--18 to 35 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium subangular and angular blocky structure; friable; thin continuous clay films; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (15 to 36 inches thick)
BC--35 to 44 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; thin discontinuous clay films; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
C--44 to 65 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy sand; massive; loose; few fine dark concretions; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Greenup County, Kentucky; 30 yards north of end of farm road, 1/8 mile south of Ohio River, and 1 mile down stream from C&O Railroad bridge at Siloam.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum thickness ranges from 30 to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is more than 5 feet. Sandstone or quartzitic pebbles from less than 1/4 to about 3 inches, range from 0 to 15 percent by volume in the solum and 0 to 30 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral.
The Ap horizons have hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. They are fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, silt loam, or loamy sand.
The Bt horizons have hues of 10YR through 5YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. They are silt loam, fine sandy loam, or loam. Some pedons have mottles in shades of brown in the lower B horizons.
The C horizons have colors like the Bt horizons and some pedons are mottled in shades of brown and gray. Textures are the same as the Bt, but also include loamy sand or sandy loam and their gravelly analogues or are stratified.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cranston, Highfield, Lewisberry, and Tracy series. Cranston soils have 15 to 45 percent siltstone fragments in the B horizon. Highfield soils have coarse fragments of metarhyolite, shist, rhyolite, and sandstone. Lewisberry soils have 20 to 50 percent coarse fragments in the lower solum. Tracy soils formed in glacial outwash with a fairly high portion of shale fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Nearly level to steep stream terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 55 percent. The soils formed in mixed alluvium. Near the type location the mean annual air temperature is 55 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 48 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Elk, Lakin, and Wheeling series. Elk soils have fine-silty control sections. Lakin soils have sandy particle size control sections, and are excessively drained. Wheeling soils have fine-loamy particle size control sections.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff ranges from low to high. Permeability is moderately rapid. Flooding frequency is none to rare. Depth to water table is more than 6 feet.
USE AND VEGETATION: Almost all of the soil is used for cropland. Corn, hay, small grains, soybeans, and pasture are the principal crops. Some of the soil is used for growing truck crops and fruit. Native vegetation is forest of hickory, birch, beech, maple, elm, yellow poplar, sycamore, gums, some pines, and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and possibly Tennessee. The soil is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Laurel-Pulaski Area, Kentucky; 1966.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon: 0 to 10 inches (Ap)
Argillic horizon: 18 to 35 inches (Bt)