LOCATION MURRILL WV+MD PA VA

Established Series
Rev. KOS-JCL
05/2001

MURRILL SERIES

The Murrill series consists of deep, well drained soils. Permeability is moderate above 40 inches and moderate or moderately slow below 40 inches. They formed in colluvial materials derived largely from acid sandstones and shales on side slopes, fans and benches. Slopes range from 0 to 70 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 52 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults

TYPICAL PEDON: Murrill channery loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil)

Ap--0 to 9 inches, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) channery loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, slightly plastic; 20 percent sandstone rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)

E--9 to 15 inches, brown (10YR 5/3) channery loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; 30 percent sandstone rock fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)

Bt1--15 to 21 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery light silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few thin clay films on faces of peds; 30 percent sandstone rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)

Bt2--21 to 39 inches, dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) channery sandy loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; many thin yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; 30 percent sandstone rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (10 to 30 inches thick)

Bt3--39 to 60 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) channery sandy clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky and coarse platy structure; firm, slightly sticky, plastic; few patchy black coatings on faces of peds; 30 percent sandstone rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 24 inches thick)

2B--60 to 80 inches, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) clay loam; pale brown (10YR 6/3), red (2.5YR 4/6) and gray (10YR 6/1) mottles; strong medium coarse blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; common discontinuous black coatings on faces of peds; strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION:Monroe County, West Virginia: 2 miles south of Sweet Springs, along West Virginia Route 3, opposite a church.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is 60 inches or more. Depth to limestone bedrock is greater than 6 feet. Bedrock may be of sandstone where limestone has weathered out. Rock fragments range from 10 to 30 percent in the upper part of the solum and from 0 to 40 percent in the 2B horizon. Reaction, unless limed, ranges from medium acid to very strongly acid.

The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4, dry values are more than 5.5. In uncultivated areas, there is a thin dark colored A1 horizon less than 5 inches thick. The fine-earth fraction is loam, sandy loam or silt loam.

The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. Its texture is similar to the Ap horizon.

The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 4 through 6. Some subhorizon of the Bt has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR. The fine-earth fraction is silty clay loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam, silt loam or loam. Some pedons contain a small proportion of brittle peds.

The 2B horizon has mixed colors in hues of 2.5YR through 10YR, commonly with red and gray mottles. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, clay loam and loam. Structure is weak, moderate or strong. Pressure faces are common, and clay films are usually present.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Albermarle, Allegheny, Allenwood, Arcola, Arendtsville, Aura, Bedington, Birdsboro, Bucks, Butano, Chester, Chetwynd, Chilmark, Clymer, Collington, Edgemont, Edneytown, Elsinboro, Eubanks, Frankstown, Freehold, Gilpin, Glenelg, Leck Kill, Matapeake, Meadowville, Nixon, Pineville, Quakertown, Rayne, Shelocta, Shouns, Syenite, Tate, Thurmont, Ungers, and Whiteford series in the same family. All except Allenwood, Aura, Bedington, Chetwynd, Shelocta and Shouns soils have sola less than 60 inches. Allenwood and Shouns soils have hue of 5YR or redder throughout the Bt horizon. The Aura soils contain quartzose pebbles in the solum and are on coastal plains. The Bedington and Shelocta soils do not have a lithologic discontinuity in the solum and have rock fragments that are predominantly shale. The Chetwynd soils have less clay and more sand in the lower part of the solum.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Murrill soils are on upland side slopes, fans, and benches. Most landscape surfaces are concave, and sinkholes in karst topography are common features. Slopes range from 0 to 70 percent. The soil formed in colluvium derived from acid sandstones and shales with some components of limestone or highly calcareous shales over residuum of limestone. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 45 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 48 to 56 degrees F.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Frederick, Edgemont and Hagerstown soils and the Dekalb, Duffield, and Elliber series. Dekalb soils have sola less than 40 inches thick and do not have an argillic horizon. Duffield soils have more than 35 percent base saturation and lack the clay loam to clay B horizon below 40 inches. Elliber soils have skeletal solums and lack the clay loam to clay B horizon below 40 inches.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is medium to rapid on sloping areas and slow to ponded in sinkholes. Permeability is moderate above 40 inches and moderate or moderately slow below 40 inches.

USE AND VEGETATION: Much has been cleared and used for crops, orchards and pastures. Woodlands contain mainly hickory, yellow-poplar, ash, dogwood, elm and beech.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. The soils are of large extent.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE:Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED:Bedford area, Virginia, 1901.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).

Argillic horizon - The zone from 15 to 60 inches (Bt1, Bt2, and Bt3 horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data from the Murrill series are available on two profiles from Clinton County, Pennsylvania, identification numbers 1819 and 1829; sampled in 1968.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.