LOCATION HELENA NC+AL GA SC VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Helena sandy loam - in a cultivated field on a 4 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sandy loam; weak, medium, and coarse granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
E--8 to 12 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; few fine black concretions; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
BE--12 to 19 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) sandy clay loam; moderate medium prismatic structure that parts to moderate medium angular blocky; friable; sticky, plastic; few fine roots; few fine pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds; few medium quartz gravel; common fine faint pale brown (10YR 6/3) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bt1--19 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) clay; weak coarse angular blocky structure; firm; sticky, plastic; few fine roots; few fine pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds; few fine prominent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--24 to 39 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) clay; weak coarse subangular blocky and angular blocky structure; very firm, sticky, very plastic; few fine roots; few fine pores; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; many medium prominent gray (10YR 6/1) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt3--39 to 43 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; extremely firm, sticky, very plastic; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; few brown concretions; common medium distinct light gray (10YR 7/1) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 17 to 42 inches.)
BCg--43 to 46 inches; light gray (10YR 7/1) clay loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky, plastic; many coarse prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 14 inches thick)
C--46 to 60 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) sandy loam saprolite; many coarse prominent light gray (10YR 7/1) streaks; massive; friable; few coarse veins of gray clay; common fragments of granitic rock; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Durham County, North Carolina; 0.4 mile west of Mangum Store on SR 1603; 400 feet north on a farm road and 400 feet east in a cultivated field.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 5 feet. The soil is extremely acid to strongly acid except where the surface has been limed. Limed soils are typically moderately acid or slightly acid in the upper part. Gravel fragments range from 0 to 35 percent, by volume, throughout the profile. Some pedons may have few to common dark concretions in the upper part of the profile.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, coarse sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. In eroded phases the Ap horizon is clay loam or sandy clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, coarse sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The BE or BA horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 3 to 8. It is sandy clay loam or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 3 to 8. In some pedons, the lower Bt horizon has 5YR hues or is multicolored in shades of yellow, brown, gray, or red. Iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less occur within 24 inches of the upper boundary of the Bt horizon. Soft masses of iron accumulation in shades of yellow, brown, or red may also be present. Texture is dominantly clay loam, sandy clay, or clay in the fine-earth fraction, but some pedons have thin subhorizons of sandy clay loam.
The Btg horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Soft masses of iron accumulation in shades of yellow, brown, or red commonly are present. Texture is clay loam, sandy clay, or clay in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have thin subhorizons of sandy clay loam.
The BC and BCg horizons, where present, have colors similar to the Bt horizon or the Btg horizon, respectively. Texture is clay loam, sandy clay loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 3 to 8, or is multicolored in shades of gray, yellow, brown, red or white. The Cg horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2 and is typically multicolored in shades of yellow or brown. The C and Cg horizons are saprolite that has a texture of sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Bodies or seams of clay loam or clay are in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Annemaine, Beason, Cid, Craven, Creedmoor, Dogue, Eulonia, Gritney, Lignum, Maubila, Nemours, Nevarc, Peawick, Sacul, and Telfair series. Annemaine, Benson, Craven, Dogue, Eulonia, Gritney, Maubila, Nemours, Nevarc, Peawick, Sacul, and Wolftever soils lack a C horizon of saprolite. In addition, Annemaine, Eulonia, Nemours, Newco, and Sacul soils have redder hue, and Beason, Craven and Dogue soils contain more silt. Also, Peawick soils commonly have aluminum saturation greater than 50 percent. Cid soils have a lithic contact between depths of 20 and 40 inches. Creedmoor soils have a higher coefficient of linear extensibility, more exchangeable aluminum than Helena, and the C horizon is weathered Triassic saprolite. Lignum and Prosperity soils have paralithic contact within 40 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Helena soils are on broad ridges, toe slopes and heads of drains in the Piedmont uplands. Slopes are mostly between 2 and 10 percent and range from 0 to 15 percent. The soil formed in residuum weathered from a mixture of felsic, intermediate, or mafic igneous or high-grade metamorphic rocks such as aplitic granite or granite gneiss that is cut by dykes of gabbro and diorite, or mixed with hornblende schist or hornblende gneiss. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 37 to 69 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 58 to 65 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Appling, Cecil, Cullen, Durham, Enon, Hard Labor, Iredell, Louisburg, Mecklenburg, Pacolet, Prosperity, Rion, Santuc, Sedgefield, Vance, Wedowee, Wilkes, and Worsham series. Appling, Cecil, Hard Labor, Pacolet, and Wedowee soils have kaolinitic mineralogy. Cullen and Vance soils are well drained. Durham and Rion soils have less than 35 percent clay in the Bt horizon. Enon, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Sedgefield, and Wilkes soils have base saturation of more than 35 percent. In addition, Wilkes soils are loamy and shallow. All of these except for Iredell, Sedgefield, and Worsham soils are on landscape positions that have better surface drainage. Iredell, Prosperity, Santuc, and Sedgefield soils are in similar landscape positions to Helena. Worsham soils are in heads of drains and upland drainageways. Santuc soils have a fine-loamy particle size class
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; medium to rapid runoff; slow permeability. There is a perched water table in late winter and early spring.
USE AND VEGETATION: About two-thirds of this soil is used for crops and pasture. Common crops are tobacco, corn, soybeans, small grain, and vegetables. Less common are cotton and hay. The remaining acreage is in forests of mixed hardwood and pine. Native species include loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, sweetgum, willow oak, red oak, white oak, yellow-poplar, and American elm. Understory species include sourwood, flowering dogwood, winged elm, eastern cedar, hophornbean, eastern redbud, and sassafras.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The series is of large extent; the area is more than 300,000 acres.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Person County, North Carolina, 1928.
REMARKS: The August 1991 revision changed depth to bedrock from "more than 48 inches to more than 60 inches" to be consistent with one depth to bedrock class as shown on the Soil Interpretation Records for Helena.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to 12 inches (Ap and E horizons)
Argillic horizon - the zone between depths of 12 and 46 inches below the surface (BE, Bt1, Bt2, Bt3 and BCg horizons)
Aquic conditions - periodic episaturation and redox depletions within 24 inches of the upper boundary of the argillic horizon (beginning in the Bt1 horizon)
Revised: RLV 8/14/98
MLRA = 136
ADDITIONAL DATA:
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
NC0058 HELENA 0- 15 58- 65 85-240 37- 69 350- 900
NC0176 HELENA 0- 15 58- 65 185-240 37- 69 350- 900
NC0266 HELENA 0- 15 58- 65 185-240 37- 69 350- 900
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness NC0058 NONE 1.5-2.5 PERCHED JAN-APR 60-60 NC0176 NONE 1.5-2.5 PERCHED JAN-APR 60-60 NC0266 NONE 1.5-2.5 PERCHED JAN-APR 60-60SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- NC0058 0-12 SL FSL L 0- 5 90-100 5-20 1- 6 NC0058 0-12 SCL CL 0- 5 95-100 20-35 4- 8 NC0058 12-19 SCL CL 0- 5 95-100 20-35 4- 7 NC0058 19-43 CL SC C 0- 5 95-100 35-60 7- 13 NC0058 43-60 VAR - - - - NC0176 0-12 GR-FSL GR-L GR-COSL 0- 5 50- 75 5-20 1- 6 NC0176 0-12 GR-LCOS GR-LS GR-S 0- 5 50- 75 3-12 1- 4 NC0176 0-12 GR-CL GR-SCL 0- 5 50- 75 20-35 4- 8 NC0176 12-19 SCL CL SL 0- 5 95-100 20-35 4- 7 NC0176 19-43 CL SC C 0- 5 95-100 35-60 7- 13 NC0176 43-60 VAR - - - - NC0266 0-12 LS LCOS 0- 5 90-100 3-12 1- 4 NC0266 12-19 SCL CL 0- 5 95-100 20-35 4- 7 NC0266 19-43 CL SC C 0- 5 95-100 35-60 7- 13 NC0266 43-60 VAR - - - -
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll NC0058 0-12 3.5- 6.5 .5-2. 0- 0 2.0- 6.0 LOW NC0058 0-12 3.5- 6.5 .5-1. 0- 0 0.2- 0.6 LOW NC0058 12-19 3.5- 5.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.2- 0.6 MODERATE NC0058 19-43 3.5- 5.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.06- 0.2 HIGH NC0058 43-60 - - - - NC0176 0-12 4.5- 6.5 .5-2. 0- 0 2.0- 6.0 LOW NC0176 0-12 4.5- 6.5 .5-2. 0- 0 6.0- 20 LOW NC0176 0-12 4.5- 6.5 .5-1. 0- 0 0.2- 0.6 LOW NC0176 12-19 4.5- 5.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.2- 0.6 MODERATE NC0176 19-43 4.5- 5.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.06- 0.2 HIGH NC0176 43-60 - - - - NC0266 0-12 3.5- 6.5 .5-2. 0- 0 6.0- 20 LOW NC0266 12-19 3.5- 5.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.2- 0.6 MODERATE NC0266 19-43 3.5- 5.5 0.-.5 0- 0 0.06- 0.2 HIGH NC0266 43-60 - - - -