LOCATION SMITHDALE MS+AL AR KY LA MO OK TN TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Smithdale sandy loam--in forest.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise
stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
E--4 to 11 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 38 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) sandy clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common thin clay films on peds; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--38 to 52 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) sandy loam;
weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; sand grains coated and bridged with clay and oxides; few fine quartz pebbles; few fine mica flakes; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt3--52 to 80 inches; red (2.5YR 5/6) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; sand grains bridged and coated with clay and oxides; few pockets of pale brown (10YR 6/3) sand grains; few fine quartz pebbles; few fine mica flakes; strongly acid. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is more than 50 inches)
TYPE LOCATION: Montgomery County, Mississippi; 0.75 mile east of the Big Black River on Mississippi Highway 407 and 50 feet north into woods, SE1/4SW1/4 sec. 31, T. 18 N., R. 7 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 60 to more than 100 inches. All horizons are very strongly acid or strongly acid, except for the surface layer in areas that have been limed.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4, and chroma of 1 to 3; in some pedons there is a thin A horizon less than 5 inches thick in hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. The Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6, or it has hue of 2.5Y, value of 5, and chroma of 2. The A horizon is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand. The E horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand.
Some pedons have a BA or BE horizon in hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. The range in texture is the same as for the E horizon.
The upper part of Bt horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 6 to 8. Some pedons have few to many mottles in shades of red and brown. Texture is clay loam, sandy clay loam, or loam. The upper 20 inches of the Bt horizon has 18 to 33 percent clay and 15 to 45 percent silt. The lower part of the Bt horizon has the same range in color as the upper part, except that it commonly has from few to many pockets of pale brown to brownish yellow sand grains. It is loam or sandy loam. Some pedons have chert, quartz, or ironstone gravel that constitute as much as 10 percent of the volume. The Bt horizon has moderate or weak subangular blocky structure, or it has weak prismatic structure that parts to subangular and angular blocky.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Apison, Cahaba, Durham, Emporia, Euharlee, Granville, Hartsells, Kempsville, Linker, Nauvoo, Oktaha, Olla, Pirum, Sipsey, Spadra, Stringtown, and Suffolk series in the same family and Bama, Cowarts, Heidel, Marvyn, McLaurin, Nectar, Pikeville, Ruston, and Vaucluse series in closely related families. Apison, Durham, Granville, Kempsville, Olla, Stringtown, and Suffolk soils have a Bt horizon with hue of 7.5YR or yellower. Cahaba soils have a solum that is 60 inches or less in thickness. Emporia soils have a slowly permeable horizon within 60 inches of the surface. Euharlee soils are cherty and gravelly in the lower part of the B horizon and in the C horizon. Hartsells, Linker, Nauvoo, and Pirum soils have bedrock within a depth of 60 inches. Oktaha soils have a summer moisture deficit of more than minus two. Sipsey soils have a paralithic contact within a depth of 20 to 40 inches from the soil surface. Spadra soils have chroma of 3 or 4 throughout the Bt horizon. Bama soils do not have a significant decrease in clay within 60 inches. Cowarts, Marvyn, and Vaucluse soils have a kandic horizon, and in addition Cowarts and Vaucluse soils have a slowly permeable horizon within 60 inches of the soil surface. McLaurin and Nectar soils have coarse-loamy and clayey particle-size classes, respectively. In addition, Nectar soils have bedrock within 60 inches. Pikeville soils do not have a significant decrease in clay in the lower part of the B horizon. Ruston soils have a bisequum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Smithdale soils are on hillslopes and ridgetops in dissected uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain. These very gently sloping to steep soils are in rolling to steep hilly topography; the slope range is from 1 to 45 percent, but most areas have slopes ranging from 5 to 40 percent. These soils formed in thick beds of loamy marine or fluvial deposits of upper Cretaceous to early Quaternary periods. The climate is warm and humid with mean annual temperature of 63 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation of 52 inches near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Bama and Ruston soils and Lucy, Luverne, McLaurin, Ora, Providence, Saffell, Sweatman, and Troup series. The well drained Bama and Ruston soils are in higher parts of the landscape on wider, smoother ridgetops. The well drained Lucy and Troup soils are on lower hillslopes and have a sandy epipedon more than 20 and 40 inches thick respectively. The well drained Luverne and Sweatman soils, which are clayey in the control section, are mainly on foot slopes. The well drained McLaurin soils, which are coarse-loamy in the control section, are in slightly higher positions on the smoother ridgetops. Moderately well drained Ora and Providence soils, which have a fragipan, are in higher positions on ridgetops. Well drained Saffell soils, which are gravelly throughout, are on similar positions as the Smithdale soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to very rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the Smithdale soils are used for woodland, principally loblolly, longleaf, and shortleaf pines. Cleared areas are used mainly for growing pasture and a few areas are cropped to corn, cotton, soybeans, and small grains.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Coastal Plain of Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Amite County, Mississippi; 1971.
REMARKS: These soils were formerly included in the Cahaba and Ruston series.