LOCATION SIMODA WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, frigid Typic Fragiudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Simoda channery loam - wooded in an extremely stony area on a 12 percent, east-facing slope, at 4300 feet elevation, in an open stand of red spruce, shrubs, and native grass. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 5 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) channery loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many fine medium and coarse roots; 25 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary (2 to 8 inches thick).
BA--5 to 13 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) channery loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure parting to weak medium granular; friable; many fine and medium roots; common dark brown (10YR 3/3) krotovinas; 25 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary (0 to 9 inches thick).
Bw1--13 to 22 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; common dark brown (10YR 3/3) krotovinas; few faint silt coatings on faces of peds; 25 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--22 to 26 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery loam; moderate coarse platy structure; firm; few fine and medium roots; common dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) coatings on faces of peds; few faint silt coatings on faces of peds; 30 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 10 to 20 inches).
Bx--26 to 40 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery sandy loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate coarse platy; very firm, brittle; few fine roots; common light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions and yellowish red (5YR 5/8) iron concentrations; few distinct silt coatings on faces of peds; 30 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary (6 to 25 inches thick).
C--40 to 65 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery silty clay loam with pockets of silty clay weathered from shale; massive; friable; common light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; 20 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
R--65 inches; interbedded sandstone and shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Pendleton County, West Virginia; near the summit of Spruce Mountain, approximately 1.4 miles west-northwest of Simoda, and 1.25 miles east of Seneca Creek. Circleville topographic quadrangle; Latitude 38 degrees, 44 minutes, 19 seconds, N. Longitude 79 degrees, 29 minutes, 55 seconds W;NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 50 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 40 to 72 inches. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 15 to 30 inches. Rock fragments range from 5 to 35 percent in the solum and from 5 to 50 percent in the C horizon. The soil ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid throughout.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is loam or silt loam.
The BA horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is loam, silt loam, or sandy loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam. It has weak or moderate, fine through coarse subangular blocky or platy structure and friable to firm consistence.
The Bx horizon has redoximorphic features and has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is loam, silt loam, sandy loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam. It has weak or moderate prismatic and platy structure. Consistence is firm or very firm and brittle.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is sandy loam through silty clay loam. It has friable to firm consistence.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Simoda soils are on nearly level to strongly sloping broad ridgetops and upland depressions on mountains. Simoda soils formed in residuum weathered from interbedded sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Slope gradients range from 0 to 15 percent. The climate is humid continental with long winter snow cover. . Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 47 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 60 inches and is evenly distributed throughout the year. Annual frost-free days range from 90 to 130. Elevation ranges from 3500 to 5000 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gauley, Mandy, and Trussel series. Gauley and Mandy soils are well drained, do not have a fragipan, and have bedrock at less than 40 inches. Trussel soils are poorly drained and formed in colluvium.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained with slow to rapid runoff. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan and slow in the fragipan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are growing native grasses and shrubs with scattered red spruce, maple, black cherry, and hawthorn.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern West Virginia and possibly Maryland and Pennsylvania. The acreage of this series is small. MLRA 127.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pendleton County, West Virginia, 1988. The name is from a community in Pendleton County.
REMARKS: 1. This soil was formerly included in the Cookport series.
2. The Bw horizon is considered to be a marginal argillic horizon, but laboratory data is not available.
3. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 5 inches (A horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - The zone from 13 to 26 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
c. Fragipan - The zone from 26 to 40 inches (Bx horizon).