LOCATION BLUEGROVE          TX

BLUEGROVE SERIES

The Bluegrove series consists of moderately deep over sandstone bedrock, well drained, moderately slowly permeable, soils that formed in residuum weathered from sandstone and claystone. These soils are on gently sloping and sloping ridges and plains. Slopes range from 1 to 8 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Typic Haplustalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Bluegrove loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 8 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium granular structure; slightly hard, very friable; common very fine and fine roots; common fine irregular pores; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)

Bt1--8 to 24 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) clay loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm; common very fine and fine roots; many very fine pores; common iron-manganese concretions; few wormcasts; thin continuous clay films on surface of peds; slightly acid; gradual irregular boundary.

Bt2--24 to 34 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; few distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) iron accumulations with sharp boundaries in the matrix; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm; common fine pores; common fine iron-manganese concretions; few wormcasts; thin patchy clay films on surfaces of peds; few fine fragments of sandstone; neutral; clear irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 12 to 36 inches.)

Cr--34 to 64 inches; light gray (2.5Y 7/2) weakly cemented sandstone.

TYPE LOCATION: Wichita County, Texas; in southeast edge of Wichita Falls, 900 feet south and 1,000 feet west of the intersection of Windthorst Road and the south access road of U.S. 287 Expressway. (Latitude: 33N, 54, 13; Longitude: 98W, 27, 35)

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to sandstone bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Average clay content of the upper 20 inches of the Bt horizon ranges from 35 to 55 percent.

The A horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value 4 or 5, and chroma 2 to 4. If chroma are 2 or 3, the A horizon is less than 10 inches thick. It is fine sandy loam or loam. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to neutral. Some pedons have up to 35 percent by volume flagstones or stones on and in the surface layer.

The Bt or BCthorizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Some pedons do not have redoximorphic features in the Bt horizon. Redoximorphic features are either relict, lithochromic, or both. Texture is clay loam, sandy clay, or clay or their paragravelly counterparts. Some pedons have a thin sandy clay loam Bt1 horizon. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to moderately alkaline. Base saturation of at least one Bt horizon is 75 percent or more. A stone line occurs in some pedons.

The sandstone of the Cr layer is weakly to moderately cemented sandstone bedrock. Some pedons have interbeds of strongly cemented sandstone. The sandstone is interbedded with claystone bedrock in some pedons.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Acove (TX), Callahan (TX), Foursixes (T TX), Katemcy (TX), and Lindale (TX) series. Similar soils include the Bonti, Cobb, Grainola, Menard, Newcastle (T TX), Rochelle, Truce, and Winters series. Acove soils have a broken sandstone layer in the upper Bt horizon. Callahan and Lindale soils have secondary carbonates within 30 inches of the soil surface. Foursixes soils have a lithic contact with dolomitic limestone between 20 and 40 inches of the surface. Katemcy soils have schist bedrock in the upper 10 inches of the Cr horizon. Bonti and Grainola soils have less than 75 percent base saturation in all parts of the argillic horizon. In addition, the Bonti soils have an abrupt textural change between the surface layer and the argillic horizon. Cobb and Newcastle soils contain less than 35 percent clay in the control section. In addition, Newcastle soils have siliceous mineralogy. Menard, Rochelle, Truce, and Winters soils are all deeper than 60 inches to bedrock.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bluegrove soils are on gently sloping to moderately sloping ridges and plains and have convex surfaces. Slope gradients are dominantly 1 to 5 percent but range from 1 to 8 percent. The underlying bedrock is medium-grained sandstone of Permian and Pennsylvania age. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 24 to 32 inches, and the mean annual temperature ranges from 62 to 68 degrees F. Frost free days range from 215 to 235, and elevation ranges from 925 to 1,800 feet. Thornthwaite annual P-E indices range from 36 to 48.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cobb, Kamay, Tillman and Vernon series. Cobb soils are in similar positions. Kamay and Tillman soils have carbonates within 30 inches of the surface, are underlain by clayey redbeds, and are in lower positions in the landscape. Vernon soils do not have argillic horizons are underlain by claystone and are in similar positions.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is mediumon 1 to 5 percent slopes and high on 5 to 8 percent slopes.slopes. Permeability is moderately slow.

USE AND VEGETATION: About one-half of these soils are cultivated. Small grains are the main crops. The present vegetation is buffalograss, sideoats grama, blue grama, Arizona cottontop, Texas wintergrass, and dropseed. Mesquite trees are the dominant woody plants but scattered post oak occurs on some areas.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Central Rolling Red Plains, Texas North Central Prairies, and Central Rolling Red Prairies of north Texas and possibly southern Oklahoma. The series is of large extent.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wichita County, Texas; 1973.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches. (A horizon)

Argillic horizon - the zone from 8 to 34 inches. (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons)

Paralithic material at 34 to 64 inches.

The increase in clay from the A to the Bt horizons is insufficient for an abrupt textural change.

ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL characterization data from Young County, Texas; S92TX-503-007.