LOCATION FALKNER MS+AL AR LA TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, active, thermic Aquic Paleudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Falkner silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; few fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--6 to 11 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few patchy clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--11 to 21 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam; common medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) mottles; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; few patchy clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 11 to 27 inches.)
2Btg1--21 to 27 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silty clay; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky and angular blocky structure; firm; plastic; few fine roots; common patchy clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
2Btg2--27 to 36 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silty clay, many fine medium and coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), pale brown (10YR 6/3), and prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) mottles; strong medium subangular blocky structure; firm; plastic; few fine roots; patchy clay films on faces of peds; few small slickensides; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the upper part of the 2Btg horizon is 10 to 30 inches.)
2Btg3--36 to 65 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silty clay loam, many fine distinct yellowish brown and pale brown mottles; moderate fine to coarse subangular blocky structure; firm, plastic; patchy clay films on faces of peds; few small slickensides; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Union County, Mississippi; 1 mile southwest of Cotton Plant, 150 feet north of local road in cultivated field. Southeast 1/4 southeast 1/4 of northeast 1/4, sec. 6, T. 6 S., R. 3 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum is more than 60 inches in thickness. The silty upper part of the solum above the clayey layer is 15 to 35 inches in thickness.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid, except in areas where the surface layer has been limed. Texture commonly is silt loam but is silty clay loam in some pedons.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon with hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It ranges from very strongly acid to medium acid.
The upper part of Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 to 6; gray mottles, if present, are few. It ranges from very strongly acid to medium acid. The lower part of Bt horizon has a matrix with the same color range as the upper part and grayish mottles are few to many; or the horizon is mottled in shades of gray, red, brown, or yellow. The Bt horizon is silt loam or silty clay loam; the control section, the upper 20 inches of the Bt horizon, has from 20 to 35 percent clay. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid.
The 2Btg horizon has commonly a matrix in hue of 2.5YR, 5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 1 to 6, and it has few to many fine to coarse mottles in shades of yellow, brown, gray, or red; in some pedons the horizon is mottled in shades of gray, brown, red, or yellow. The 2Bt horizon is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. A few small stress surfaces commonly are on the faces of peds. In some pedons soft shale bedrock is below a depth of 60 inches. The 2Bt horizon is very strongly acid to slightly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Nesbitt and Vian series in the same family and the closely related Adaton, Bude, Calloway, Freest, Katy, Kipling, Longview, Muskogee, Pheba, and Tippah series. Nesbitt soils have a Bt horizon in hue of 5YR or 7.5YR. Vian soils do not have a clayey 2Bt horizon. Adaton soils have a gray matrix below the A horizon and are not as well drained. Bude, Calloway, and Pheba soils have a fragipan. In addition, Pheba soils have less than 35 percent base saturation. Freest and Katy soils are fine-loamy in the control section. Kipling soils, are fine in the control section. Longview soils do not have a clayey lower 2Bt horizon and have interfingering of E horizon material around peds of the Bt horizon. Muskogee and Tippah soils have mixed mineralogy. Also, Tippah soils have a Bt horizon in hue of 5YR or 7.5YR.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Falkner soils are in broad areas of low relief in the uplands and on stream terraces of the Southern Mississippi Silty Uplands, the Blackland Prairie, and the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Areas. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. The soil formed in a mantle of loess or silty alluvium, about 1.5 to 3 feet thick, and the underlying clayey material. The climate is warm and humid. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 62 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is 48 inches. GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Adaton, Bude, Calloway, Longview, Pheba, and Tippah series and the Calhoun, Henry, Oktibbeha, and Providence series. Poorly drained Adaton, Calhoun, and Henry soils are in depressions, in broad drainageways, and in flats. In addition, Calhoun soils are grayer, and have tongues of the E horizon within the B horizon, and Henry soils are grayer and have a fragipan. Bude, Calloway, and Pheba soils, which are somewhat poorly drained, are in drainageways and on lower slopes in the terrain. Moderately well drained Oktibbeha soils, which are redder and have more than 60 percent clay in the upper 20 inches of the B horizon, are on uplands of the Blackland Prairie. Moderately well drained Providence soils, which are redder and have a fragipan, are mainly on higher parts of the terrain.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; slow to medium runoff; slow permeability. Water is perched at a depth of 1.5 to 2.5 feet above the clayey 2Bt horizon during wet seasons late in winter and early in spring.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil have been cleared and are cropped to soybeans, cotton, and corn. Some areas are in hay or pasture. Some areas are in mixed forest of oaks, hickory, elm, poplar, sweetgum, shortleaf, and loblolly pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. This series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Little Rock, Arkansas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Prentiss County, Mississippi, 1950.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this profile are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to approximately 6 inches (Ap).
Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 6 to 65 inches. (Bt1, Bt2, Btg1, 2Btg2, and 2Btg3).
Aquic Paleudalfs feature - mottles with chroma of 2 or less within 30 inches of the surface (Bt2 horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Particle size and chemical data for 5 pedons are published in soil survey reports for Lawrence, Marion, Pearl River, Tippah, and Webster Counties, Mississippi, respectively. Highway test data are published for 2 pedons in the soil survey reports for Tippah and Webster Counties, respectively.