LOCATION GRAYFORD IN+KY OHEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Grayford silt loam on a 13 percent side slope in a pasture at an elevation of about 213 meters (700 feet) above MSL. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 15 cm (0 to 6 inches); brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. [13 to 25 cm (5 to 10 inches) thick]
Bt1--15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 inches); strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few faint strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay films on faces of peds; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--30 to 56 cm (12 to 22 inches); strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; many prominent reddish brown (5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; few fine very dark gray (10YR 3/1) iron and manganese concretions in the matrix; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. [Combined thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 0 to 43 cm (0 to 17 inches)]
2Bt3--56 to 84 cm (22 to 33 inches); yellowish red (5YR 5/6) loam; moderate medium angular and subangular blocky structure; firm; many distinct reddish brown (5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; many medium very dark gray (10YR 3/1) iron and manganese concretions in the matrix; 3 percent gravel; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
2Bt4--84 to 114 cm (33 to 45 inches); yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; many distinct reddish brown (5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; many medium very dark gray (10YR 3/1) iron and manganese concretions in the matrix; 3 percent gravel; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. [Combined thickness of the 2Bt horizon is 36 to 61 cm (14 to 24 inches).]
3Bt5--114 to 132 cm (45 to 52 inches); reddish brown (5YR 4/4) clay; weak very coarse blocky structure; very firm; many distinct reddish brown (5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; many medium very dark gray (10YR 3/1) iron and maganese concretions in the matrix; 3 percent subangular chert gravel; 10 percent subangular chert cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. [10 to 26 cm (4 to 14 inches) thick]
3R--132 to 152 cm (52 to 60 inches); indurated limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Jefferson County, Indiana; 1816 feet east and 1,130 feet north of the southwest corner, sec. 29, T. 4 N., R. 9 E., USGS Volga Indiana topographic quadrangle; lat. 38 degrees 45 minutes 18 seconds N. and long. 085 degrees 32 minutes 52 seconds W., NAD 27; UTM Zone 16, 626189 easting and 4290592 northing, NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches)
Depth to a lithic contact: 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches)
Thickness of the loess: 0 to 56 cm (0 to 22 inches)
Depth to clayey residuum: 89 to 140 cm (35 to 55 inches)
The PSCS averages less than 35 percent clay.
Rock fragments are of mixed lithology in the upper of the solum and mainly chert in the lower part.
Ap horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: silt loam
Clay content: 12 to 26 percent
Sand content: 5 to 25 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 10 percent gravel
Reaction: very strongly acid to neutral
A horizon [2 to 10 cm (1 to 4 inches)], where present:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 or 4
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: silt loam
Clay content: 12 to 20 percent
Sand content: 5 to 25 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 5 percent gravel
Reaction: very strongly acid or strongly acid
E horizon, where present:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 6
Chroma: 4 to 6
Texture: silt loam
Clay content: 12 to 26 percent
Sand content: 5 to 25 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 5 percent gravel
Reaction: very strongly acid or strongly acid
Bt or BE horizon:
Hue: of 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 4 to 8
Texture: silt loam or silty clay loam
Clay content: 22 to 33 percent
Sand content: 10 to 25 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 5 percent gravel
Reaction: very strongly acid or strongly acid, and the upper part ranges to neutral in limed areas
2Bt horizon:
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 4 to 8
Texture: commonly loam or clay loam, and less commonly silt loam
Clay content: 24 to 39 percent
Sand content: 20 to 35 percent
Rock fragment content: 1 to 10 percent gravel
Reaction: very strongly acid or strongly acid
The 3Bt horizon
Hue: 2.5YR or 5YR
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 4 to 8
Texture: silty clay, clay, or their gravelly analogues, and less commonly cobbly clay
Clay content: 42 to 80 percent
Sand content: 5 to 20 percent
Rock fragment content: 2 to 34 percent gravel and cobbles
Reaction: very strongly acid to moderately acid
3BC horizon, where present:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 or 4
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: silty clay, clay, or their gravelly analogues, and less commonly cobbly clay
Clay content: 42 to 80 percent
Sand content: 5 to 20 percent
Rock fragment content: 2 to 34 percent gravel and cobbles
Reaction: very strongly acid to neutral
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Alanthus, Athol, Bolton, Bookwood, Cateache, Culleoka, Door, Duffield, Dumfries, Ebbing, Frondorf, Hayter, Kell, Lamotte, Legore, Loudonville, Manassas, Mechanicsburg, Middleburg, Morrison, Myersville, Oatlands, Panorama, Pasturerock, Sowego, Spriggs, Sudley, Washington, Westmoreland, Wheeling, and Williamsburg series. The Bolton, Bookwood, and Washington soils are in a closely related family and have a CEC activity class of semiactive.
Alanthus, Athol, Bolton, Ebbing, Manassas, Middleburg, Morrison, Panorama, Sudley, and Washington soils are greater than 60 inches to a lithic contact. Bookwood, Cateache, Culleoke, Dumfries, Frondorf, Kell, Legore, Loudonville, Mechanicsburg, Myersville, Oatlands, Sowego, Spriggs, and Westmoreland soils have the depth to the base of the argillic horizon at less than 102 cm (40 inches). Door and Wheeling soils average more than 20 percent sand in the lower part of the series control section. Lamotte and Williamsburg soils have sola more than 152 cm (60 inches) thick. Duffield and Hayter soils contain less than 42 percent clay in the lower part of the argillic (Bt horizon). Pasturerock soils have the difference between mean summer and mean winter soil temperature less than 10 degrees C.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Grayford soils are typically on shoulders and backslopes of dissected till plains and sinkholes. Grayford soils formed in 0 to 51 centimeters (0 to 22 inches) of loess, till of Illinoian age, and residuum from limestone. The slope gradient is dominantly 6 to 25 percent, and ranges from 2 to 35 percent. Mean annual temperature ranges from 11 to 14 degrees C (52 to 57 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation ranges from 1016 to 1168 mm (40 to 46 inches). Frost free period is 170 to 200 days, and elevation ranges from 122 to 259 meters (400 to 850 feet) above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Blocher, Caneyville, Cincinnati, Hickory, Ryker, and Stinesville soils. The well drained, moderately deep, more clayey Caneyville soils are on lower lying backslopes of hills. The moderately well drained, very deep Blocher and Cincinnati soils are commonly on higher lying summits, shoulders and backslopes and the well drained Hickory soils are on backslopes of dissected till plains. The well drained, very deep Ryker and Stinesville soils are on summits, shoulders and backslopes of dissected till plains and sinkholes.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high (4.23 to 14.11 micrometers/s). Permeability is moderate. The potential for surface water runoff is low to high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for hay, pasture, and or are in forest. A few areas are used to grow corn, soybeans, and wheat. The native vegetation is mixed hardwood forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Indiana, southwestern Ohio, and north central Kentucky. Grayford soils are of moderate extent, and are dominantly in MLRA 114A, and to a lesser extent in MLRA's 121 and 122.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jennings County, Indiana; 1938.
REMARKS: The classification of this series is borderline between fine-loamy and fine-silty. The typical pedon averages about 14.6 percent fine and coarser sand in the particle-size control section. Also data from Owen County, IN (S92IN119-26) places this series in the Typic rather than Ultic subgroup of Hapludalfs. Therefore the classification of this series could change as more data is collected.
Representative component and horizon data is in DMU# 153531 and 153538.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this soil are: 1) ochric epipedon from 0 to 15 cm (0 to 6 inches) (Ap horizon); 2) argillic horizon - from 15 to 132 cm (6 to 52 inches) (Bt1, Bt2, 2Bt3, 2Bt4, 3Bt5 horizons); and 3) lithic contact - at 132 cm (52 inches).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Agricultural Experiment Station, Purdue University Soils Laboratory pedon number S77IN77-2.