Etowah Series

\<@32\>The Etowah series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately
permeable soils on high stream terraces, alluvial fans, and footslopes.
These soils formed in alluvium or colluvium that is commonly underlain
by limestone residuum below a depth of 40 inches. Slopes range from 0 to
35 percent. These soils are fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic
Typic Paleudults.

\<@32\>Typical pedon of Etowah silt loam in a cultivated area in Meigs
County, Tennessee; 300 yards west of Flag Pond Bridge across Sugar Creek
on River Road.

\<@23\>Ap---0 to 7 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) silt loam; moderate
fine granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; moderately
acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)

\<@33\>Bt1---7 to 13 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) silty clay loam;
moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots
and pores; few thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid;
gradual smooth boundary.

\<@33\>Bt2---13 to 24 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) silty clay loam;
moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots and
pores; many thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; few fine fragments
of chert; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

\<@33\>Bt3---24 to 38 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) silty clay loam;
moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many thin patchy
clay films on faces of peds; few fragments of chert; strongly acid;
gradual smooth boundary.

\<@33\>Bt4---38 to 54 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay loam;
common fine and medium distinct red (2.5YR 4/6) mottles; moderate fine
subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots and pores; many thin
patchy clay films on faces of peds; few fragments of chert; strongly
acid; gradual wavy boundary.

\<@33\>Bt5---54 to 70 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay loam;
common fine distinct red and few fine distinct light yellowish brown
mottles; strong fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots
and pores; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; few fine and medium
fragments of chert; strongly acid. (The combined thickness of the Bt
horizons ranges from 50 to more than 60 inches.)

\<@8\>The solum is more than 60 inches thick. Depth to bedrock, commonly
limestone, ranges from 6 feet to more than 15 feet. The content of
coarse fragments is commonly less than 5 percent but ranges from 0 to 15
percent in each horizon, except in the A or Ap horizon, where it ranges
from 0 to 20 percent. Some pedons contain fine flakes of mica. Reaction
is strongly acid or very strongly acid, except the surface layer where
lime has been recently applied.

\<@32\>The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4,
and chroma of 2 to 4. The fine-earth texture is dominantly silt loam. In
places, however, it is loam or silty clay loam.

\<@32\>Some pedons have a transitional horizon between the A or Ap
horizon and the Bt horizon. The transitional horizon has textures and
colors similar to those of the master horizons.

\<@32\>The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and
chroma of 6 to 8. In the lower part, it has few or common mottles in
shades of red, yellow, and brown. The texture is silty clay loam or clay
loam.

\<@32\>The 2Bt horizon, where present, has the same range in colors as
the Bt horizon. The 2Bt horizon is silty clay or clay.