LOCATION GIRARD KSEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, thermic Vertic Epiaquolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Girard silty clay loam - pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A1--0 to 6 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak and moderate medium granular structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
A2--6 to 17 inches; black (10YR 2/1) silty clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; moderate medium granular structure; hard, friable,sticky and plastic; few shiny ped surfaces; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary. (8 to 18 inches thick)
BA--17 to 28 inches; black (10YR 2/1) silty clay, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; shiny ped surfaces; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 16 inches thick)
Bg--28 to 34 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm very sticky and very plastic; shiny ped surfaces; common fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) irregularly shaped masses of iron and manganese accumulation with diffuse boundaries throughout; occasional round concretionary nodules that do not react to 10 percent HCl; few fine black (N 2/0) strongly cemented iron-manganese concretions throughout; common chert or coral fragments less than 10 mm.in diameter; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
R--34 inches; hard, Pennsylvannian age, limestone bedrock with many joints and bedding planes.
TYPE LOCATION: Crawford County, Kansas; about one mile west of Beulah; 1,200 feet south and 300 feet east of the northwest corner of Sec. 13, T. 30 S., R. 23 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 40 inches. Solum depth coincides with depth to the lithic limestone bedrock. The mollic epipedon is more than 24 inches in thickness. The solum ranges from moderately acid to neutral in the upper 20 inches and from slightly acid to slightly alkaline in the lower horizons.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3 moist and 3 to 5 dry, and chroma of 1 or 2. If chroma is more than 1, distinct or prominent redoximorphic features are present in the lower part of the A horizon and upper part of the B horizon. Texture is silty clay loam or silty clay.
The BA horizon has colors like the A horizon. Texture is a silty clay loam or silty clay. Clay content ranges from 35 to 55 percent.
The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value 2 to 5 moist, and 3 to 6 dry, with chroma 1 or less if no redoximorphic
concentrations are present. Chroma ranges to 1.5 in hue 10YR and 2 in hue 2.5Y if distinct or prominent redoximorphic concentrations are present. Texture is silty clay and ranges from 35 and 55 percent clay. Rock fragments consist of less than 15 percent, rounded chert fragments that are less than 10 millimeter in diameter.
The R horizon is Pennsylvannian age, hard, fractured limestone. In some places it is Pennsylvannian age hard black shale.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Egbert, Gazwell, Godwin, and Peltier series. These soils do not have a lithic contact within 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Girard soils are on nearly level flood plains of local drainageways underlain by limestone bedrock. Slope gradients are usually less than 1 percent, but range from 0 to 2 percent. Girard soils formed in clayey alluvial sediments. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 45 inches, and mean annual temperature is 57 to 67 degrees F. Thornthwaite Annual P-E Index is 64 to 80.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Clareson, Lula, Ringo, and Zaar soils on adjacent upland. All of these soils are better drained. In addition, Clareson and Lula soils have argillic horizons, and Ringo and Zaar soils are underlain by calcareous shales.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Runoff and permeability are slow. Ground water table is at or near the surface during some period in most years. These soils flood for very brief or brief periods after heavy rains.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly used as pasture. A minor amount is cultivated to wheat and sorghum. Native grass vegetation is tall grasses and sedges. Native woody vegetation consists of bur oak, hickory, green ash, pecan, pin oak and hackberry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Kansas and possibly in adjacent parts of Missouri and Oklahoma. The series is of small extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Salina, Kansas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Crawford County, Kansas, 1965.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic Epipedon: from the surface to more than 34 inches thick;
Aquic Moisture conditions: redoximorphic features in the zone from about 16 to 27 inches
Epi: seasonal, perched water table from the surface to 2 feet.