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Bethlehem soil series

A soil profile of Bethlehem soil. (Soil Survey of Polk County, North Carolina; by Scott C. Keenan, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

 

The Bethlehem series consists of well drained, moderately deep soils on ridgetops and side slopes in the upper part of the Piedmont. They formed in residuum weathered from the high-grade metamorphic rocks such as sillimanite schist, phyllite schist, and mica schist. Slopes range from 2 to 45 percent. Near the type location, mean annual air temperature is 58 degrees and mean annual precipitation is 49 inches.

 

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults

 

The solum ranges from 20 to 40 inches thick over a Cr horizon of weathered bedrock. Hard bedrock is deeper than 40 inches. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid unless limed. Content of flakes of mica ranges from few to common in the A and upper B horizons, and from few to many in the lower B and C horizons. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 60 percent by volume in the A horizon, from 0 to 35 percent in the E, BA, BE, and Bt horizons, and from 15 to 60 percent in the BC and C horizons. Fragments are dominantly gravel or cobbles.

 

USE AND VEGETATION: Approximately half of the acreage is cleared. Chief crops are hay, corn, and pasture. The remainder is in mixed hardwoods and pines including shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, scarlet oak, chestnut oak, white oak, and black oak. Common understory plants are sourwood, flowering dogwood, greenbrier, sassafras, grape, poison ivy, American holly, and blueberry.

 

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. This series is of moderate extent.

 

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/B/BETHLEHEM.html

 

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#bethlehem

 

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Uploaded on May 11, 2021
Taken in January 2000