LOCATION KELL ILEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Kell silt loam - wooded. (Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 3 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; common fine and medium roots throughout; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
E--3 to 7 inches; 60 percent dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) and 40 percent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; weak thin platy structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; few fine round iron-manganese concretions; 1 percent shale pebbles; few subrounded quartz pebbles; moderately acid; acid; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 13 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; strong fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; very few distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) iron stains on faces of peds; few distinct brown (10YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; common fine round iron-manganese concretions; 1 percent shale pebbles; few subrounded quartz pebbles; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
2Bt2--13 to 18 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few medium roots between peds; few distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) iron stains on faces of peds; many distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; common fine round iron-manganese concretions; 1 percent shale pebbles; few subrounded quartz pebbles; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
2Bt3--18 to 25 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few medium roots between peds; few distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) iron stains on faces of peds; few distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; common fine round iron-manganese concretions; 10 percent shale pebbles; few subrounded quartz pebbles; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of 2Bt horizon is 10 to 18 inches.)
2BC--25 to 35 inches; 50 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and 50 percent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) very channery silty clay loam; massive; firm; few medium roots in cracks; few prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) iron stains on rock fragments; 50 percent shale fragments .5 to 10 inches across; extremely acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
2Cr--35 to 60 inches; 50 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and 50 percent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2); few prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) iron stains on rock fragments; extremely acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Jefferson County, Illinois; about 8 miles northeast of Mt. Vernon, 1975 feet west and 1175 feet north of the southeast corner of section 15, T. 3 S. and R. 3E. USGS Opdyke, Illinois quadrangle; Latitude 38 degrees, 15 minutes, 40.3 seconds North; Longitude 88 degrees, 51 minutes, 27.9 seconds West; NAD 27; UTM Zone 16S 0337465E 4236221N.; Elevation 450 feet above mean sea level.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to a paralithic contact ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Weighted average rock fragment content is less than 35 percent in the upper 20 inches or all of the of the argillic horizon, whichever is less. Rock fragments consist of sandstone, siltstone, or shale.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. A horizons with value and chroma of 3 are less than 7 inches thick. The texture is silt loam, loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam. Sand content ranges from 10 to 30 percent, and rock fragment content ranges from a few pebbles to 10 percent. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to very strongly acid.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is silt loam or loam. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 10 percent. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid except pedons that have been limed range to neutral.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, values of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture of the Bt horizon is silt loam or silty clay loam. Sand content ranges from 10 to 30 percent, and rock fragment content ranges from a few pebbles to 10 percent. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to very strongly acid.
The 2Bt and 2BC horizons have hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 8. Texture of the fine earth fraction is loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam. Rock fragment content ranges from 15 to 60 percent. Rock fragments consist of pebbles, cobbles, and/or channers of shale, sandstone, and siltstone. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to extremely acid.
The 2Cr horizon is rippable, weathered, level bedded shale, sandstone, or siltstone.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Athol, Cateache, Culleoka, Door, Duffield, Dumfries, Ebbing, Frondorf, Grayford, Hayter, Lamotte, Legore, Loudonville, Manassas, Mechanicsburg, Morrison, Myersville, Oatlands, Panorama, Spriggs, Sudley, Westmoreland, Wheeling, and Williamsburg series. Of these, only the Culleoka, Frondorf, Loudonville, and Spriggs series have a lithic or paralithic contact at depths of less than 40 inches. Culleoka soils do not have rounded or subrounded quartzite pebbles in the series control section. Loudonville soils have a mean annual soil temperature of less than 55 degrees F. Spriggs soils have saprolite and/or hornblende lithologies immediately below the paralithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kell soils are on side slopes of hills. Slopes range from 10 to 60 percent. Kell soils formed in till, pedisediment, or other forms of glacial drift and in residuum from acid sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 53 to 57 degrees F, mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 48 inches, frost free days range from 175 to 210 days, and elevation ranges from 360 to 600 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Grantsburg, Hickory, and Zanesville soils on side slopes and summits above the Kell soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is rapid or very rapid. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded or used for pasture. Forest areas have oak, hickory, poplar, dogwood, persimmon, and sassafras as the dominant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern and southeastern Illinois and possibly southern Indiana. The series is of small extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jefferson County, Illinois, 1993.
REMARKS: Kell soils are in areas near the southern extent of the Illinois glacier and on side slopes in other areas that have thin layers of glacial drift (till) overlying level bedded shale and sandstone.
Diagnostic horizons and soil features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (A and E horizon);
Albic horizon- the zone from 3 to 7 inches;
Argillic horizon - the zone from 7 to 25 inches (Bt1, 2Bt2, and 2Bt3 horizons).
A paralithic contact at 35 inches (Cr horizon).