LOCATION MENTOR OHEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Mentor silt loam, 6 to 12 percent slopes in a meadow. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many roots; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
E--8 to 11 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; weak medium platy structure and weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common roots; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 18 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common roots; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds and thin clay films in pores; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--18 to 31 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) light silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common roots; thin continuous brown (7.5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds, patchy reddish brown (5YR 4/4) on some faces; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt3--31 to 35 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) light silty clay loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few roots; thin and medium continuous brown (7.5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; patchy thin films in pores; patchy pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt coatings with strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 20 to 43 inches.)
BCt--35 to 44 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; weak coarse angular blocky structure; friable; few roots; thin patchy light gray (10YR 7/1) clay films; thin patchy dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) clay films in pores; layered pale brown (10YR 6/3) iron depletions and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation on faces of peds; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
2C1--44 to 50 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; massive; firm; few medium prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions with brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) masses of iron accumulation on the outsides; strongly acid; diffuse wavy boundary.
2C2--50 to 60 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and grayish brown (10YR 5/2) stratified fine sandy loam, loam, and silt loam; massive; friable; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Stark County, Ohio; Plain Township; NW1/4, SE1/4 sec. 10; T. 11 N., R. 8 W.; 2.75 miles east of North Canton, 1,660 feet north of Easton Street, 100 feet east northeast of pine plantation.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the base of the argillic horizon ranges from 30 to 50 inches. Solum thickness ranges from 36 to 60 inches. Carbonates are present below 50 inches in some pedons. Depth to the base of the ochric epipedon ranges from 6 to 10 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 2 percent in the solum and 0 to 10 percent in the C horizon below a depth of 50 inches. Rock fragments in the gravelly substratum phase range from 5 to 35 percent in the lower part of the solum and from 15 to 35 percent in the substratum.
The Ap horizon has value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 2 or 3. Some pedons have an A horizon 2 to 4 inches thick that has value of 2 to 4. They are very strongly acid to neutral.
The E horizon has value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. It is very strongly acid to neutral.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Some pedons have masses of iron accumulation in the Bt horizon and iron depletions below the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon. It is silty clay loam or silt loam. Thin (less than 2 inches) strata of
textures ranging from fine sandy loam to clay are present in many pedons. Clay content ranges from 15 to 35 percent. Sand content is less than 15 percent in the lower part. It is slightly acid to strongly acid.
The BCt or BC horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is silt loam or silty clay loam. It is strongly acid to neutral.
The 2C horizon is stratified. It has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. Adjacent strata are commonly of different color. It is dominantly silt loam or silty clay loam with strata of loam or sandy loam and thin lenses of silty clay. Sand content averages 5 to 30 percent. The gravelly substratum phase includes gravelly analogs of sandy loam and sandy clay loam. It is strongly acid to slightly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Baraboo, Blackhammer, Cadiz, Dodge, Dubuque, Hackers, Jackson, Jemerson, Knowles, La Farge, Lomira, Marseilles, Minnith, Palsgrove, Pottersville, Russell, Sandview, Stubenville, Uniontown, Weingarten, Westbend, Westmore, and Yellowriver series. Baraboo, Dubuque, Knowles, La Farge, Marseilles, Palsgrove, and Westbend soils have bedrock within 60 inches. Blackhammer and Russell soils have more than 15 percent sand in the lower part of the argillic horizon. Cadiz, Jemerson, and Yellowriver soils are not stratified in the C horizon. Dodge, Lomira, Pottersville, Stubenville, and Uniontown soils have carbonates within 50 inches. Hackers soils have hue of 5YR or redder in some part of the argillic horizon. Jackson soils average more than 30 percent sand in the lower part of the series control section. Minnith soils have a 2B within 40 inches of the surface. Sandview and Westmore soils have more than 35 percent clay in the lower part of the series control section. Weingarten soils have a 2Btb in the lower part of the solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Mentor soils are on treads and risers on terraces, dissected lake plains, and silty outwash plains. They formed in stratified glaciolacustrine or terrace deposits derived from materials high in sandstone and shale. Slope ranges from 0 to 70 percent. Elevation is 600 to 1200 feet. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30
to 40 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 49 to 54 degrees F. Mean summer temperature is about 72 degrees F. The frost-free period is 150 to 195 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Mentor is a member of the drainage sequence that includes the moderately well drained
Glenford soils, somewhat poorly drained
Fitchville soils, poorly drained
Sebring soils, and very poorly drained
Luray soils.
Chagrin and
Lobdell soils are on adjacent flood plains.
Chili and
Wheeling soils are on nearby gravelly
terraces. Nearby upland soils derived from till include
Wooster,
Rittman, and
Ellsworth soils, and members of their drainage sequences.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The depth to an intermittent apparent water table is 3.5 to 6 feet between February and March in most years. The gravelly substratum phase does not have a water table within 6 feet. Permeability is moderate. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to very high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Areas with slopes less than 18 percent are mostly cleared and used as cropland. Corn, wheat, oats, soybeans and mixed hay are the principal crops. Steeper areas are in woodland or permanent pasture. Original vegetation is deciduous forest. Oak, maple, beech, hickory, and ash are the dominant species in wooded areas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central to northeastern Ohio. MLRA's 99, 100, 111, 114, 124, 126, 139. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lake County, Ohio, 1925.
REMARKS: Some areas may be Oxyaquic. Some areas with slopes of more than 18 percent may have a seasonal high water table below 6 feet. There are no existing series for these conditions. These areas may be recorrelated as new series when their areas of use are updated.
A gravelly substratum phase is recognized. It may be recorrelated as a new series when its area of use is updated.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
ochric epipedon - 0 to 11 inches (Ap, E);
argillic horizon - 11 to 35 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3);
aquic conditions - 44 to 60 inches.