LOCATION BIGBEE MS+AL FL GA LA TNEstablished Series
TYPICAL PEDON: Bigbee loamy sand on a nearly level 1 percent slope in pasture.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) loamy sand; structureless; loose; few fine roots; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 11 inches thick)
C1--8 to 17 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/8) loamy sand; structureless; loose, very friable; few fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
C2--17 to 32 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sand; structureless; loose; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the upper part of the C horizon is 20 to 40 inches.)
C3--32 to 80 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) sand; structureless; loose; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Clay County, Mississippi; 7 miles east of intersection of U. S. Highway 45W on Mississippi Highway 50; 1.5 miles east on gravel road and 2 miles northeast on gravel road and north into pasture; SE1/4NW1/4 sec. 8, T. 17 S., R. 8 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of sand and loamy sand exceeds 80 inches and these soils do not have lamellae. Reaction is very strongly acid to medium acid, except the surface layer in areas that have been limed. These soils have a water table ranging from 20 to 40 inches for about two weeks each year and of a depth ranging 40 and 70 inches from one to two months each year.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sand, or fine sand.
The upper part of the C horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 4 to 5; mottles, if present, are in shades of brown. Texture is loamy sand, sand, or fine sand. The particle-size control section, 10 to 40 inches, is 5 to 10 percent silt plus clay.
The lower part of the C horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 6 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 6; and mottles, if present, are few to common in shades of brown and yellow. In addition, some pedons have grayish mottles below a depth of 40 inches. The lowest part is fine sand or sand. Few pockets of uncoated sand grains are in the lower part of the C horizon. Many pedons are underlain by gravel 6 to 16 feet below the surface.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Alaga, Alpin, Arenosa, Cainhoy, Darden, Foxworth, Glentosh, Lakeland, and Tonkawa series in the same family and the closely related Adamsville, Chipley, Eustis, Gainesville, Kershaw, Kenansville, Lake, Pactolus, St. Lucie, Seabrook, and Wando Series. Alaga soils have 10 to 25 percent silt plus clay in the particle-size control section. Alpin soils have lamellae beginning at a depth of 40 to 70 inches. Arenosa, Darden, and Tonkawa soils are in areas with less precipitation and are drier in the moisture control section. Cainhoy soils have a E horizon over a Bh horizon which is below a depth of 80 inches. Foxworth soils have a fluctuating seasonal high water table between a depth of 40 and 80 inches and are not subject to flooding. Glentosh and Lakeland soils do not have a water table within a depth of 80 inches. Adamsville, Gainesville, Lake, and St. Lucie soils have a hyperthermic temperature regime. Adamsville, Chipley, Pactolus, and Seabrook soils have mottles of chroma 2 or less because of wetness within a depth of 40 inches, and the water table is within 40 inches of the surface for longer periods during the year; also Pactolus, Seabrook, and Wando soils have 10 to 25 percent silt plus clay in the 10 to 40 inch control section. Eustis and Kenansville soils have a Bt horizon. Kershaw soils have less than 5 percent silt plus clay in the 10 to 40 inch control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bigbee soils are on low terraces along streams in the Southern Coastal Plain and Eastern Gulf Coast Flatwoods Major Land Resource areas. These are nearly level to gently sloping soils; slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. The soils formed in marine or fluvial sandy deposits. The climate is warm and humid. The average annual precipitation is 52 inches and average annual temperature is 64 degrees F., near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Alaga series and the closely related Bassfield, Cahaba, Latonia, and Nugent series. Well to somewhat excessively drained Alaga soils are on similar to slightly higher slopes. Well drained Bassfield, Cahaba, and Latonia soils, which are also commonly on low terraces but farther away from the stream channel and less likely to be flooded, have loamy Bt horizons. Excessively drained Nugent soils, which are on natural levees, have a sandy texture with thin strata of finer material in the upper 40 inches of the soil.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; rapidly permeable; and slow runoff. Depth to water table ranges from 20 to 40 inches for short periods and 40 to 70 inches for one to two months during high rainfall periods and the permanent water table is at about 8 feet from the surface. The soil is flooded for brief duration during high rainfall periods.
USE AND VEGETATION: Bigbee soils are used for growing hay, pasture, truck crops, and pine trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Geneva County, Alabama; 1974.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to about 8 inches (Ap horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Chemical and Physical analyses for one pedon are in manuscript of Soil Survey of Jones County, Mississippi (scheduled for publication 1986).