LOCATION MESSER LA+AR TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, siliceous, superactive, thermic Haplic Glossudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Messer silt loam, on a convex 1.0 percent slope, in woodland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 5 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt loam; common fine faint light brownish gray mottles; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; few fine pores; common fine brown concretions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (2 to 7 inches thick)
E--5 to 8 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam; common fine faint brown mottles; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; many fine pores; common fine brown concretions; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (3 to 4 inches thick)
Bw--8 to 31 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; many medium pores lined with white silt; many medium soft brown accumulations; common medium faint pale brown (10YR 6/3) vertical streaks; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (15 to 32 inches thick)
B/E--31 to 35 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots between peds; common fine pores; few distinct patchy clay films on horizontal faces of peds; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt (E) tongues and ped coatings that are 2 to 5 cm thick make up about 20 percent of the horizon; common medium soft yellowish red accumulations; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--35 to 63 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam with gray (10YR 6/1) coatings on peds; common medium prominent red (2.5YR 4/6) mottles in upper part; many coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles in lower part; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common fine pores; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; few medium soft yellowish red accumulations; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (18 to 36 inches thick)
Bt2--63 to 90 inches; pale olive (5Y 6/3) silty clay loam; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few faint clay films on horizontal faces of peds; few faint silt coats on vertical faces of peds; few medium dark brown concretions; medium acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Evangeline Parish, Louisiana; 10 miles west of Pine Prairie; 1.4 mile southwest of northeast corner of sec. 5; 50 yards northwest of road on a mound; NE1/4NE1/4 sec. 5, T. 3 S., R. 2 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 60 to 100 inches. Reaction of the A, E, Bw, B/E, and Bt horizons ranges from very strongly acid to medium acid. Reaction of the BC horizon ranges from very strongly acid to neutral.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or very fine sandy loam.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or very fine sandy loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is silt loam, loam, or very fine sandy loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is mottled in shades of red, yellow, or gray. Grayish silt tongues and ped coatings (E' material) make up 15 to 50 percent of the B/E horizon. Texture of the Bt horizon is loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam.
The BC horizon, where present, is in shades of gray, brown, or olive. Texture is loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Similar soils are Bowie, Duralde, Elysian, Evangeline, Frizzell, Glenmora, Muskogee, and Vidrine series. Bowie soils have B horizons that have less than 35 percent base saturation and more than 5 percent plinthite. Duralde, Evangeline, Glenmora, and Muskogee soils average more than 18 percent clay in the upper part of the B horizon. In addition, Duralde, Glenmora, and Muskogee soils have grayish mottles in the upper 30 inches. Elysian soils have more than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine sand in the B horizon. Frizzell soils have gray mottles in the upper 30 inches. Vidrine soils have more than 35 percent clay in the Bt horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Messer soils are on convex circular mounds and microridges on Pleistocene and Tertiary age silty alluvium. Circular mounds are as much as 100 feet in diameter and 1 foot to 3 feet high. In the natural state, mounds have slopes that range from 1 to 8 percent but average about 3 percent. After smoothing, slopes range from 0 to 1 percent. Climate is warm and humid. Mean annual air temperature ranges from about 60 to 70 degrees F. Average annual rainfall ranges from about 45 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Bowie, Frizzell, and Glenmora series, and the Beauregard, Caddo, Guyton, and Wrightsville series. Beauregard soils have plinthite in the B horizon, has less than 35 percent base saturation, and are at lower elevations. Frizzell and Glenmora soils have grayish mottles and are in intermound areas. Caddo and Guyton soils are gray throughout and are in intermound areas; whereas, Messer soils are on the mounds on the same landscape. Wrightsville soils have a fine textured control section and are in intermound areas.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Messer soils are moderately well drained. Runoff is medium to slow. Runoff is slow where mounds have been smoothed. Permeability is slow. A perched water table is at a depth of 2 to 4 feet for short periods, December through March.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used principally as woodland. Native vegetation was longleaf pine and bluestem grasses. Cleared and smoothed areas are cropped to cotton, rice, and soybeans.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Flatwoods of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas and possibly Oklahoma. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Evangeline Parish, Louisiana; 1970
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon..............0 to 8 inches (A,E)
Albic horizon..................5 to 8 inches (E)
Albic horizon....31 to 35 inches (E part of B/E)
Cambic horizon...............8 to 31 inches (Bw)
Argillic horizon...31 to 90 inches (B/E,Bt1,Bt2)
Glossic feature............31 to 35 inches (B/E)