LOCATION MCAFEE             KY

MCAFEE SERIES

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Mollic Hapludalfs
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

TYPICAL PEDON: McAfee silty clay loam, in cultivation (Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise stated)

Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silty clay loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)

Bt1--7 to 15 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; many fine roots; common clay films on faces of peds; few 1/2 to 2 mm black concretions; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)

Bt2--15 to 25 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silty clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; common fine roots; many clay films on faces of peds; few 1/2 to 2 mm black concretions; 2 percent small white fragments of chert; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)

C--25 to 30 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) clay; massive; extremely firm; few 1/2 to 2 mm black concretions; 5 percent small white fragments of chert; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)

R--30 inches; limestone bedrock, hard and level-bedded.

TYPE LOCATION: Jessamine County, Kentucky; 200 yards east of the road to Jessamine Children's Home, 3/4 mile south of intersection with East Maple Street, Nicholasville, Kentucky.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to limestone bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Fragments of chert from 2 mm to 3 inches across, or fragments of limestone, from 1 to 6 inches across, range from 0 to 15 percent in the solum, and from 0 to 25 percent in the C horizon. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to neutral in the solum and from slightly acid or mildly alkaline in the C horizon.

The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value less than 4, and chroma 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

The BE horizon (where present) is up to 8 inches thick with colors and textures similar to that of the upper Bt horizon.

The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR to 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. The lower subhorizon of the Bt horizon is required to have hue of 5YR. Some pedons have lithochromic mottles in shades of brown or red. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay or clay. A BC horizon, up to 10 inches thick, with colors and textures similar to the lower Bt horizon is in some pedons.

The C horizon also has colors and textures similar to that of the lower Bt horizon. Lithochromic mottles in shades of gray, brown or red are common. Fine-earth texture is silty clay or clay.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Belpre, Brooke, Caleast, Fleming and Salvisa series in the same family. Belpre and Caleast soils are deep. Brooke and Salvia soils do not allow 5YR colors in the argillic horizon. Fleming soils have paralithic contact within 40 inches.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: McAfee soils are on gently sloping to steep uplands with gradients of 2 to 50 percent. Some areas are karst while others are associated with limestone outcrops. Annual precipitation ranges from 44 to 48 inches with a mean of 45 inches. Temperature ranges from 54 to 57 degrees F. with a mean of 54 degrees.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cynthiana, Fairmount, Faywood, Lowell and Maury series. Cynthiana and Fairmount soils are shallow. Fairmount soils do not have an argillic horizon. Cynthiana, Faywood, Lowell and Maury soils do not have mollic epipedons. Faywood and Lowell soils do not allow 5YR colors in the argillic horizon. Lowell and Maury soils are deep.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained with moderately slow permeability. Runoff is medium on slopes less than 5 percent, high on slopes between 5 and 20 percent, and very high on slopes greater than 20 percent.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing corn, small grains, burley tobacco and hay or as pasture. Original vegetation was hardwoods interspersed with grassy glades. Forests were elm, maple, oak species, ash, hickory, hackberry, redbud, black and honey locust, Kentucky coffee tree, black walnut, Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) and eastern red cedar.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Bluegrass region of Kentucky.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Lexington, Kentucky

Extent is large.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mercer County, Kentucky; 1930.

REMARKS: The McAfee series was classified as Reddish Brown Lateritic soils intergrading to the Lithosols in the 1938 system.