LOCATION EUTAW MS+AL AR GAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, smectitic, thermic Chromic Dystraquerts
TYPICAL PEDON: Eutaw silty clay - pasture.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated).
A1--0 to 1 inch; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay; weak fine granular structure; friable; plastic, sticky; many fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
A2--1 to 5 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) silty clay, common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) mottles; weak and moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; plastic; sticky; many fine roots; many old roots channels and worm channels filled with material from layer above; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the A horizon is 4 to 10 inches thick.)
AB--5 to 9 inches; mottled gray (5Y 6/1), light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4), olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6) and brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) silty clay; moderate very fine and fine subangular blocky and blocky structure; firm; very plastic; very sticky; many fine roots; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bg--9 to 21 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) clay; many fine distinct mottles of brownish yellow; moderate and strong very fine and fine subangular blocky and angular blocky structure; firm; very plastic; very sticky; common fine roots; few slickensides that do not intersect; extremely acid; gradual wavy boundary. (9 to 20 inches thick)
Cg1--21 to 41 inches; light gray (5Y 7/1) clay; many fine distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles; intersecting slickensides that form wedge-shaped aggregates, which part into angular blocks; firm; very plastic; very sticky; common fine roots; extremely acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Cg2--41 to 58 inches; mottled gray (5Y 6/1) and light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) clay; intersecting slickensides that form wedge-shaped aggregates, which part into angular blocks; firm; very plastic; very sticky; few fine roots; extremely acid; gradual irregular boundary.
C1--58 to 72 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) clay, many fine and medium distinct gray (5Y 6/1) mottles; intersecting slickensides that form wedge-shaped aggregates, which part into angular blocks; firm; very plastic; very sticky; few fine roots; few manganese oxide coatings on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual irregular boundary.
C2--72 to 82 inches; mottled gray (5Y 6/1) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) clay; intersecting slickensides that form wedge-shaped aggregates, which part into angular blocks; firm; very plastic; very sticky; few fine roots; few calcium carbonate nodules; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Monroe County, Mississippi; 3.5 miles east of the crossroads at Prairie, Mississippi, on State Highway 382; 465 feet south and 165 feet east of northwest corner of NW1/4NE1/4, sec. 7, T. 15 S., R. 7 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum is 16 to 30 inches thick. The solum and upper part of the C horizon range from extremely acid to medium acid. The lower part of the C horizon is very strongly acid to mildly alkaline.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1, or it is neutral with value of 3 to 6. Mottles, if present, are few to many in shades of brown, yellow, or gray. The texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
The AB horizon, if present, has the same range of color as the A horizon, or it is mottled in shades of gray, brown, or yellow. It is silty clay or clay.
The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1, or it is neutral with value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 0; mottles commonly are few to many in shades of brown, yellow, gray, or red. The Bg horizon is silty clay or clay. The particle-size control section, from a depth of 10- to 40-inches, ranges from 60 to 70 percent clay.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 8, or it is neutral with value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 0; mottles are few to many in shades of brown, yellow, or gray, or the horizon is mottled in these colors. In some pedons marl or chalk is below a depth of 60 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Closely related series include the Ashford, Beaumont, Dowellton, Garner, Jackport, Kipling, Mayhew, Sessum, and Vaiden series. Ashford, Dowellton, Jackport, Kipling, Mayhew, and Sessum do not have slickensides that intersect in the 10-to 40-inch zone. In addition, Kipling, Mayhew, and Sessum soils are fine in the particle-size control section. Also, Kipling soils have higher chroma throughout the solum. Beaumont and Garner soils are fine in the particle-size control section. Vaiden soils have dominant chroma higher than 2 in the upper part of the solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Eutaw soils are on uplands in the Blackland Prairie and Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Areas. These are nearly level soils with slope range from 0 to 2 percent. These soils formed in thick beds of acid clays. The climate is warm and humid. Mean annual rainfall is 50 inches and mean annual temperature is more than 59 degrees Fahrenheit at the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Kipling, Mayhew, and Vaiden soils and the Binnsville, Demopolis, Oktibbeha and Sumter soils. The somewhat poorly drained Kipling and Vaiden soils are in similar positions as the Eutaw soils and, in addition, on sideslopes along drainageways. The well drained Binnsville soils, which have a mollic epipedon and are in a carbonatic, shallow family, are on hillsides. The well drained Demopolis soils, which do not have a diagnostic horizon, have chalk at less than 20 inches, and are in a loamy-skeletal carbonatic family, are on hillsides and along drainageways. The moderately well drained Oktibbeha soils, which have a Bt horizon that has hue of 7.5YR or redder, are in similar positions as the Eutaw soils and on parts of the landscape with slightly higher local relief. The well drained Sumter soils, which do not have vertic properties and are in a fine-silty carbonatic family, are on hillsides and ridgetops.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; slow runoff; very slow permeability. During wet seasons late in winter and early in spring, the water table is at a depth of 0.5 to 1.5 feet.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the soil is in forests; mainly of post oak and other oaks, sweetgum and including some pines. Cleared areas are used for growing pasture and hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Blackland Prairie sections of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Greene County, Alabama; 1923.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 5 inches (A1, A2 horizons).
Entic Pelluderts features - (1) Uderts feature - slickensides that intersect at a depth between 10 and 40 inches (Cg1 horizon); (2) Pelluderts feature - chroma of less than 1.5 in matrix in upper 12 inches of more than half of each pedon (A1, A2, AB, Bg horizons);
(3) Entic feature - surface to a depth 15 inches, a color value more than 3.5 in half of each pedon (A1, A2, AB horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data for the typical pedon are published in Soil Survey of Monroe County Mississippi (Issued Nov. 1966) pp. 105-111.