LOCATION BRANTLEY AL+TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Brantley fine sandy loam, on a convex 3 percent slope, in cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; few fine roots;
slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--6 to 20 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay; strong medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots and pores; thin continuous clay films on faces of most peds; pockets of medium and fine black soft nodules and stains mostly in lower half of the horizon; medium acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--20 to 35 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) crushed; strong medium subangular blocky structure; firm; thin continuous clay films on faces of most peds; few medium and fine black soft and hard nodules and stains; interior of many peds is strong brown (7.5YR 5/6); strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt3--35 to 52 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay loam; ped interiors are mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and pale olive (5Y 6/3); strong coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; thin continuous clay films on faces of most peds; few medium and fine soft and hard black nodules and stains; few soft white pebbles of sandstone less than 1/2 inch in diameter; ped interiors have a sandy clay loam texture; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 30 to 50 inches.)
C--52 to 72 inches; mottled dark brown (7.5YR 4/4), yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), and light gray (5Y 7/2) fine sandy loam with areas of sandy clay loam; massive; friable; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Dallas County, Alabama; 0.8 mile north of Alabama Highway 14 on Alabama Highway 219 and 40 feet west of Alabama Highway 219. NE 1/4S1/4SW1/4 sec. 5, T. 17 N., R. 10 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches. A few medium and fine dark, soft to hard black nodules and stains are throughout the solum. Fragments of sandstone or ironstone range up to 10 percent in any horizon. Few fine flakes of mica are in the lower part of the Bt horizon and in the C horizon.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is fine sandy loam or loam and ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid. Some pedons have a thin E horizon with color, texture, and reaction similar to the A horizon. In severely eroded areas, the Ap horizon has color and texture similar to the upper part of the Bt horizon.
The upper part of the Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. It is clay loam or clay and ranges from very strongly acid to medium acid. Some pedons have a thin BA horizon with colors and textures similar to the upper part of the Bt horizon.
The lower part of the Bt horizon, or the BC horizon, present in some pedons, have hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma 3 to 8; or it is mottled in shades of yellow, brown, olive, or red. Some pedons have gray mottles. Texture is sandy clay loam or clay loam and reaction ranges from very strongly acid to strongly acid.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8 and is mottled in shades of yellow, brown, red, and gray; or it does not have a dominant matrix color but is mottled in various shades of yellow, brown, red, or gray. It is dominantly fine sandy loam, but includes loamy fine sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, or sandy clay loam. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to strongly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Canton Bend, Capshaw, Cowton, Enon, Gundy, Hampshire, Maben, Mecklenburg, Meth, Spray, and Zion soils in the same family. Canton Bend soils are on low stream terraces and have mica flakes in the upper part of the solum. Capshaw soils are underlain by limestone and have more clay in the lower subsoil horizons. Cowton and Maben soils have a solum thickness of less than 40 inches over soft shale. Enon, Gundy, Hampshire, Mecklenburg, and Zion soils are underlain by bedrock or saprolite weathered from acid crystalline rock within 60 inches of the surface. Meth soils have a solum thickness of more than 60 inches. Spray soils have a solum thickness of less than 20 inches over shale.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Brantley soils are on ridgetops and sideslopes of the Coastal Plain mostly in a discontinuous belt north of the Blackland Prairies. Slopes are commonly 0 to 10 percent, but range up to 35 percent on side slopes. The soil formed in medium and fine textured Coastal Plain sediments. Average annual air temperature near the type location is 67 degrees F., and average annual precipitation is about 51 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Greenville, Iuka, Lucy, Luverne, and Tadlock series. Greenville, Lucy, and Tadlock soils have thicker sola. Iuka soils are on flood plains and lack argillic horizons. Luverne soils have base saturation less than 35 percent at 50 inches below the top of the Bt horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to rapid runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the soil is cleared and used for growing cotton, soybeans, and pasture. The woodland is mostly mixed pines and hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama and possibly Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Brantley soils are moderately extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Dallas County, Alabama; 1977.
REMARKS: In the past these soils have been included with the Macon, Oktibbeha, Akron (Inactive), or Vaiden series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 6 inches (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 6 to 53 inches (Bt horizons).
Ultic Hapludalfs features - have base saturation of 35 to 60 percent at a depth of 50 inches below the top of the argillic horizon and a clay decrease of 20 percent or more from its maximum amount within a depth of 60 inches from the soil surface.
ADDITIONAL DATA: (S70Ala-24-4(1-5)) by Auburn University and the Alabama Highway Department are available for the typical pedon.