LOCATION MONTALTO MD+DE PA VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Montalto silt loam - on a 4 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable, slightly sticky; many fine and medium roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
BE--7 to 11 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic many fine and medium roots; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 27 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) silty clay; moderate medium blocky and subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky and plastic; common fine and medium roots; thin distinct clay films; 5 percent by volume hard gravel of hypersthene and norite gabbro; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--27 to 45 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; continuous prominent clay films; few prominent black (10YR 2/1) clay films; 5 percent by volume cobbles of gabbro; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt is 31 to 44 inches)
C1--45 to 52 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) silt loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; very few fine roots; 2 percent by volume stones; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 36 inches thick)
C2--52 to 62 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) loam; massive; very friable; 2 percent by volume stones; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Cecil County, Maryland; two and one-half miles northwest of Rising Sun.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 40 to 60 inches. The depth to bedrock ranges from 5 to 12 feet. Rock fragments ranging in size from pebbles to boulders, occur in any or all parts of many pedons but do not exceed 30 percent by volume. Some pedons have a surface cover of stones of up to 15 percent. The soil is very strongly acid to slightly acid and acidity decreases with depth unless limed.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4 with value of 3 confined to thin A1 horizons. The A horizon is loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The BE horizon has hue of 10R through 5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 4 through 8. It is silt loam to silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bt horizons have hue of 10R through 5YR in many pedons becoming redder with depth, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 4 through 8. The fine-earth fraction is dominantly clay or silty clay, but a subhorizon may be silty clay loam or clay loam that is high in silt and low in sand.
The BC horizon has hue of 10R through 5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 4 through 8. The fine-earth fraction is loam, silt loam, clay loam or silty clay.
The C horizon has wide range of color and is variegated in many pedons. Texture ranges from silt loam to clay loam and silty clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Alsup, Ebal, Fauquier, Lenberg, Needmore, Norton, Orenda, Peabody, Pisgah, and Poplimento series in the same family. Alsup soils have sedimentary bedrock at 40 to 60 inches. Ebal soils contain more than 15 percent by volume rock fragments in the upper part of the B horizon and have a lithologic discontinuity within the solum. Fauquier and Needmore soils have sola less than 40 inches thick. Lenberg soils have a paralithic contact within a depth of 40 inches. The Norton soils have rock fragments dominated by quartz or gneiss. Orenda soils formed in residuum from metamorphic rocks. Peabody soils are moderately deep to sedimentary bedrock. Pisgah soils have Bt horizons of 7.5YR or yellower hue and have angular chert fragments throughout the solum. Poplimento soils formed from residuum from sedimentary rocks and do not have hues redder than 5YR in the B horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Montalto soils occupy uplands of the northern Piedmont Plateau and Blue Ridge. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. The Montalto soils formed in residuum from basic igneous rocks, most commonly diabase or gabbro. The climate is temperate and humid with mean annual temperature ranging from 45 to 55 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation of 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Kelly, Legore, Mount Lucas, Neshaminy, Relay, and Watchung soils. Kelly and Mount Lucas soils have low chroma mottling in the Bt horizon. They are in lower positions on the landscape than the Montalto series. Legore, Mount Lucas, and Relay soils have less than 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Legore and Relay soils occupy positions on the landscape simlar to those of the Montalto soils. Watchung soils are poorly drained and dominantly gray in color. They are on upland flats and depressions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate to moderately rapid in the A horizon, slow to moderately slow in the B horizon, and moderate in the C horizon. Runoff is medium to rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for growing general farm crops, pasture, and orchards. Native vegetation includes black oak, yellow poplar, black locust, and black walnut.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1909.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Argillic horizon - the zone from 11 to 45 inches (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons).
b. Ultic Udalfs feature - base saturation (by sum of cations) of more than 35 percent but less than 60 percent at a depth of 1.25m below the top of the argillic horizon.