Tusquitee soil series
A typical profile of Tusquitee gravelly loam. Tusquitee soils are very deep, have thick, dark surface layers, and formed from local colluvium. They occur in coves and drainageways on low or intermediate mountains predominantly in the eastern and western parts of Buncombe County, NC. (Soil Survey of Buncombe County, North Carolina; By Mark S. Hudson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Tusquitee series arev on gently sloping to very steep benches, foot slopes, toe slopes, and fans in coves in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. Near the type location, mean annual air temperature is about 52 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 52 inches. Slope ranges from 2 to 95 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, isotic, mesic Humic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Reaction is very strongly acid to slightly acid, in the A horizon, unless limed. The Bw and lower horizons are very strongly acid to moderately acid. In the upper 40 inches, content of rock fragments, dominantly of gravel to stone size, ranges up to 35 percent. Below 40 inches, rock fragment content may range up to 60 percent. Content of mica flakes ranges from few to common.
USE AND VEGETATION: About one-half of the acreage has been cleared and is used for corn, small grain, tobacco, truck crops, clover, lespedeza, and pasture. Wooded areas consist mostly of yellow poplar, white oak, northern red oak, black locust, white ash, black birch, yellow birch, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, black cherry, cucumber tree, yellow buckeye, American beech, and sugar and red maples.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia and possibly Georgia and South Carolina. The series is of large extent.
The 12/97 revision places the Tusquitee series in a fine-loamy, isotic, mesic Umbric Dystrochrepts family. This series was formerly placed in a coarse-loamy, mixed, mesic Umbric Dystrochrepts family. Laboratory PSA (pipette) method and corresponding field texture estimates (feel method) indicate control section clay contents of generally 12 to 24 percent, with most pedons marginally coarse-loamy. However, chemical lab data for similar competing series indicate that sufficient amorphous, clay-sized materials occur in the particle-size control section to place this soil in a fine-loamy family. Average clay contents are generally less than 25 percent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_carolina...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TUSQUITEE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#tusquitee
Tusquitee soil series
A typical profile of Tusquitee gravelly loam. Tusquitee soils are very deep, have thick, dark surface layers, and formed from local colluvium. They occur in coves and drainageways on low or intermediate mountains predominantly in the eastern and western parts of Buncombe County, NC. (Soil Survey of Buncombe County, North Carolina; By Mark S. Hudson, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Tusquitee series arev on gently sloping to very steep benches, foot slopes, toe slopes, and fans in coves in the Southern Blue Ridge mountains, MLRA 130B. Near the type location, mean annual air temperature is about 52 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 52 inches. Slope ranges from 2 to 95 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, isotic, mesic Humic Dystrudepts
Solum thickness ranges from 40 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Reaction is very strongly acid to slightly acid, in the A horizon, unless limed. The Bw and lower horizons are very strongly acid to moderately acid. In the upper 40 inches, content of rock fragments, dominantly of gravel to stone size, ranges up to 35 percent. Below 40 inches, rock fragment content may range up to 60 percent. Content of mica flakes ranges from few to common.
USE AND VEGETATION: About one-half of the acreage has been cleared and is used for corn, small grain, tobacco, truck crops, clover, lespedeza, and pasture. Wooded areas consist mostly of yellow poplar, white oak, northern red oak, black locust, white ash, black birch, yellow birch, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, black cherry, cucumber tree, yellow buckeye, American beech, and sugar and red maples.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia and possibly Georgia and South Carolina. The series is of large extent.
The 12/97 revision places the Tusquitee series in a fine-loamy, isotic, mesic Umbric Dystrochrepts family. This series was formerly placed in a coarse-loamy, mixed, mesic Umbric Dystrochrepts family. Laboratory PSA (pipette) method and corresponding field texture estimates (feel method) indicate control section clay contents of generally 12 to 24 percent, with most pedons marginally coarse-loamy. However, chemical lab data for similar competing series indicate that sufficient amorphous, clay-sized materials occur in the particle-size control section to place this soil in a fine-loamy family. Average clay contents are generally less than 25 percent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/north_carolina...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/T/TUSQUITEE.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#tusquitee