LOCATION PEABODY WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Peabody silty clay loam on a 40 percent Northeast facing slope under mixed hardwoods at an elevation of 1380 feet. (Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise stated.)
Oi-- 1 to 0 inches, slightly decomposed organic material.
A-- 0 to 2 inches, brown (7.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; slightly sticky and non-plastic when wet; many very fine and fine roots; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1-- 2 to 10 inches, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; sticky and plastic when wet; many fine and medium roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2-- 10 to 22 inches, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) silty clay; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; sticky and plastic when wet; few fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear wavy.(combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 12 to 38 inches.)
C-- 22 to 27 inches, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) channery silty clay; massive; firm; slightly sticky and slightly plastic when wet; 30 percent shale and siltstone fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 9 inches thick)
Cr-- 27 inches, weathered red clay shale and siltstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Wetzel County, West Virginia; 100 yards Northwest of the intersection of Lowman Ridge Road and the north fork of Richwood Run Road near Chutes Cemetery, 1-1/4 miles south of Kingston, West Virginia. USGS Big Run topographic quadrangle; Latitude 39 degrees, 33 minutes, 46 seconds N. and Longitude 80 degrees, 35 minutes, 20 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The particle size control section averages 35 o 50 percent clay. Soft shale and siltstone rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent in the A, Ap, BA and Bt1 horizons, from 0 to 25 percent in the Bt2 and Bt3 horizons, from 0 to 45 percent in the BC horizon (if present), and 15 to 70 percent in the C horizon.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture of the fine earth material is silt loam or silty clay loam. Reaction is very strongly acid to strongly acid, unless limed.
Some pedons have a BA horizon 4 to 6 inches thick with hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 6. Texture of the fine-earth material is silt loam. Reaction is very strongly acid to strongly acid.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture of the fine-earth material is silty clay loam, silty clay or clay. Reaction is very strongly acid to strongly acid.
Some pedons have a BC horizon up to 9 inches thick with hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture of the fine-earth material is silty clay or silty clay loam. Reaction is very strongly acid to strongly acid.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture of the fine-earth material is silty clay loam or silty clay. Reaction is very strongly acid to neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Montalto, Needmore and Zion series, with other series possibly added once they are updated to the 8th Edition of Soil Taxonomy. Montalto soils are very deep and formed in igneous bedrock. Needmore soils have hue of 7.5YR or yellower in the solum and substratum, and formed in calcareous shales of the ridge and valley province. The Zion soils formed in igneous or metamorphic bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Peabody soils are on upland ridgetops, benches and hillsides. Slopes range from 3 to 70 percent but are typically greater than 15 percent. The soil formed in residuum derived from interbedded olive yellow siltstone and red clay shales, and sometimes thin layers of fine grained sandstone. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 47 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 50 to 55 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gilpin, Skidmore, Sensabaugh, Upshur, and Vandalia soils. Gilpin soils are fine-loamy, have hue of 7.5YR or yellower in the Bt horizon, and are on similar landscape positions. The loamy-skeletal Skidmore soils and the fine-loamy Sensabuagh soils are on adjacent narrow floodplains. Upshur soils are greater than 40 inches deep to bedrock. Vandalia soils are very deep and on colluvial slopes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderately slow and slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are mainly used for woodland, pasture, hayland, and some cropland. Mixed hardwood, mainly oaks, yellow poplar and hickory are dominant tree species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western West Virginia, and possibly Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wetzel County West Virginia, 1988. Peabody is the name of a town in Wetzel County.
REMARKS: (1) Peabody soils have previously been included in the Upshur series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon).
b. Argillic horizon - the zone from 2 to 22 inches (Bt1, Bt2, horizons).