Re: Mollic versus Umbric epipedon

In each of the cases you cite, the soil has an umbric epipedon. Note that the base saturation criteria for the mollic epipedon (item 4 in the key) specifies that it is 50 percent or more "throughout". The criteria for the Umbric states that it is less than 50 percent "in some or all parts". For your examples, the epipedon has base saturation less than 50 percent in some part. Even though you have recognized 3 horizons for your description, the profile has just 1 epipedon, and it is correclty classified as an Umbric epipedon.