LOCATION MATEWAN WV+KY PA VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Matewan very channery sandy loam in a wooded area on a 70 percent linear slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--2 to 0 inches; undecomposed hardwood leaf litter.
Oe--0 to 0.5 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moderately decomposed leaf litter; abrupt smooth boundary.
A--0.5 to 4 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) very channery sandy loam, gray (10YR 5/1) dry; moderate fine granular structure: very friable; many fine, medium, and coarse roots: 35 percent sandstone rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 8 inches thick)
BA--4 to 8 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very channery sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine, medium, and coarse roots, 45 percent sandstone rock fragments; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bw--8 to 30 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) extremely channery loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common medium and coarse roots; 60 percent sandstone rock fragments; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 22 inches thick)
C--30 to 33 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) extremely channery loam; massive; friable; fine coarse roots; 75 percent sandstone rock fragments; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
R--33+ inches; hard sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Mingo County, West Virginia; about 1.3 mile west of the confluence of Rockhouse Fork and Pigeon Creek, .26 mile north of the Buffalo Mountain Lookout tower, and .82 mile east-southeast of Hell's Knob; USGS Delbarton Quadrangle; lat. 37 Degrees 42 minutes 36 seconds N. and long. 82 degrees 12 minutes 52 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock range from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments, dominantly sandstone, range from 5 to 50 percent in the A horizon, 15 to 65 percent in the B horizon and 50 to 90 percent in the C horizon. Weighted average rock fragment content ranges from 35 to 75 percent in the particle-size control section. Rock fragments consist of dominantly subangular or angular channers, but also include cobbles, flagstones and gravel. Dominant size range is 1 to 10 inches. Parafragments by occur in some pedons, but they are not dominant. Reaction ranges from extremely through moderately acid where unlimed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. Fine-earth texture is loam, sandy loam or fine sandy loam.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 4 to 8. Fine-earth texture is loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam. Average clay content typically is between 8 and 15 percent but ranges up to 18 percent in the particle-size control section.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is sandy loam, loamy sand or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Bedrock is gray to brown sandstone of varying hardness and is commonly fractured without displacement. Some pedons may have a Cr horizon between 20 and 40 inches, but lithic contact occurs within 40 inches in these pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: The Berks, Blasdell, Brownstown, Brownsville, Cadosia, Calvin, Deadline, Highsplint, Jubin, Keyesville (T), Lippitt, Manlius, Nailkeg, Peaks, Sylco, Warwick, and Wyoming series are in the same family. Berks, Brownstown, Cardiff and Manlius soils have sola that contain less sand. Blasdell, Brownsville, Cadosia, Deadline, Highsplint, Jubin, Parker, and Warwick soils are deeper than 40 inches to bedrock. Calvin soils have hue of 5YR or redder in the B horizon. Deadline, Lippitt, Nailkeg and Peaks soils contain rock fragments of gneiss, schist, phyllite or granite. Judyville soils are used in LRR M in MLRAs 111 and 115. Keyesville (T) soils have a lithologic discontinuity and are moderately deep to paralithic contact. Sylco soils have an average clay content between 18 and 23 percent in the particle-size control section. Wyoming soils are formed in material from glacial outwash and contain rounded rock fragments.
Soils in similar families include Chenango, Dekalb, Handshoe, Hazleton, Oquaga and Tunkhannock. Chenango and Tunkannock soils formed in material from glacial outwash and contain rounded rock fragments. Dekalb and Hazleton soils have siliceous mineralogy and are mapped on similar landscapes. Handshoe soils are in a semiactive mineralogy class, formed in colluvium and are greater than 60 inches to bedrock. Oquaga soils have hue of 5YR or redder in the B horizon and formed in glacial till.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Matewan soils are on strongly sloping to very steep, uplands and ridges. Typical positions are ridgetops, upper sideslopes and noses. Slopes are usually convex with gradients of 3 to 80 percent. The regolith weathered from gray and brown acid sandstone in places interbedded with shale and siltstone. The climate is humid temperate with mean annual rainfall of 36 to 60 inches and mean annual temperature of 47 to 59 degrees F. The growing season ranges from 110 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Berks and Highsplint series and the Blairton, Cloverlick, Fedscreek, Gilpin, Guyandotte, Handshoe, Marrowbone, Pineville, Ramsey, Sharondale and Shelocta series. Blairton and Gilpin soils are fine-loamy and have an argillic horizon. Blairton soils also have iron depletions in the upper part of the argillic horizon. Cloverlick, Fedscreek, Guyandotte, Handshoe, Pineville, Sharondale and Shelocta soils are very deep or deep and formed in colluvium. Cloverlick, Guyandotte and Sharondale soils also have thicker and/or darker surface horizons. Marrowbone soils are coarse-loamy and have fewer rock fragments in the control section. Ramsey soils have bedrock within 20 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained to somewhat excessively drained with moderately rapid or rapid permeability. Runoff class is low on strong slopes and medium on steeper slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most Matewan soils are in forests of mixed hardwoods consisting of oaks, hickory and maple. Small areas have been cleared for hay, pasture or cultivation.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: This soil is most prevalent on the Cumberland Plateau of southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia. Other areas may include the Allegheny Plateau and Central Allegheny Plateau regions of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and possibly Ohio. Matewan soils replace areas previously mapped as Dekalb, but are still considered to have mixed mineralogy. The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 2003.
REMARKS: Matewan soils were proposed to fill the gap left with the reclassification of Dekalb to siliceous mineralogy, based primarily on data from the Allegheny Plateau and other areas of Pennsylvania. A review of lab data for soils sampled as Dekalb in West Virginia and Kentucky indicates that 7 of 11 pedons sampled were mixed and three were siliceous, while one was marginal. Resistant minerals range from about 60 to 89 percent with 78 to 85 being typical. Illite, kaolinite, and vermiculite are common clay minerals. The CEC activity class ranges from semiactive to superactive (3 semiactive, 2 active, 2 superactive), with active being most representative. With the addition of data from five pedons sampled since 1998 (referenced below) the CEC activity class tallies are 4 semiactive, 4 active, and 4 superactive.
In West Virginia, the Matewan series is generally found in the Kanawha geologic formation and in younger formations above, while the Dekalb series (siliceous) is found in the older New River formation below (all of Pennsylvanian Age). The Matewan series was proposed in Mingo County, West Virginia, in 1999 as part of the soil survey of Logan and Mingo Counties, West Virginia.
The 01/2005 revision changes the status from tentative to established. Additionally, competing series were updated and other minor edits were completed.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 8 inches (Oe, A and BA horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 4 to 30 inches (BA and Bw horizons).
3. Lithic contact - hard sandstone bedrock at 33 inches (R horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Data from characterization samples S86WV-059-003, S86WV-059-005, S81WV-109-006 and S83KY-195-015 were used to develop this series. Additional samples S98PA-129-001, S01WV-081-007, S02WV-019-006, S02WV-081-001, S02WV-081-002, and S02WV-081-005 are also available from the National Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, Nebraska.
MLRA: 125, 126
Revised: 8/1999-RNP,DHK; 1/2005-DHK