LOCATION HEIDEL MS+ALEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Typic Paleudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Heidel sandy loam--forested.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 9 inches thick)
E--4 to 11 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) sandy loam; weak fine granular and subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; many fine and medium pores; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 18 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common fine and medium pores; few sand grains coated and bridged with clay and oxides; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--18 to 36 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common fine and medium pores; sand grains coated and bridged with clay and oxides; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt3--36 to 46 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium pores; most sand grains coated and bridged with clay and oxides; common fine pockets of uncoated sand grains; few pebbles of quartz; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt4--46 to 72 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine pores; most sand grains coated and bridged with clay and oxides; few pockets of uncoated sand grains; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt5--72 to 80 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine pores; sand grains coated and bridged with clay and oxides; few pockets of uncoated sand grains; strongly acid. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 48 to 60 inches or more.)
TYPE LOCATION: Jasper County, Mississippi; 0.8 mile southeast of Paulding and 100 feet north into forest. NE1/4SW1/4 sec. 12, T. 2 N., R. 12 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 60 to more than 100 inches. A few fragments of ironstone or chert gravel or both, which make up less than 10 percent of the volume, are in some pedons. The soil is very strongly acid or strongly acid, except the surface layers that have been limed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10R to 5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 to 8. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam. Some pedons have sandy clay loam in the lower part of the Bt horizon. The particle size control section, the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon, has 10 to 18 percent clay and 20 to 50 percent silt. Most pedons contain pockets of uncoated sand grains that make up as much as 5 to 10 percent of the volume.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Benndale, Butters, McLaurin, and Niwana series in the same family and the closely related Bama, Bassfield, Brogdon, Cahaba, Lucy, Ruston, Smithdale, and Troup series. Benndale soils have a Bt horizon in hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y. Butters soils do not have as much as 20 percent silt in the upper part of the Bt horizon. McLaurin soils have a bisequum. Niwana soils have an ochric epipedon in which the combined thickness of the A and E horizons is more than 20 inches. Bama, Cahaba, Ruston, and Smithdale soils have a fine-loamy particle-size control section. Bassfield soils have a solum 40 to 60 inches thick. Brogdon soils have less than 20 percent silt in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon. Lucy and Troup soils have a sandy epipedon more than 20 inches thick.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Heidel soils are on nearly level to steeply sloping uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area. Slopes range from 0 to 35 percent. The soil formed in marine deposits, consisting of thick beds of loamy sediments. The climate is warm and humid. The mean annual temperature is about 62 degrees Fahrenheit, and the mean annual precipitation is about 52 inches near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bama, Benndale, Lucy, McLaurin, Ruston, Smithdale, and Troup soils of the competing series and the Alaga and Sweatman soils. Bama and Benndale soils are in similar parts of the landscape as the Heidel soils. Ruston and McLaurin soils are on broad adjacent ridgetops. Smithdale soils are on associated hillsides. Alaga soils, which are in slightly higher or slightly lower positions, have a loamy sand texture throughout. Well drained Lucy and Troup soils mainly are in slightly higher positions and on slopes in the more dissected parts of the landscape. Sweatman soils, which commonly are on lower positions on hillsides, have a clayey particle-size control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, slow to rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the Heidel soils are used for growing woodland, principally loblolly, shortleaf, and slash pines, and mixed hardwoods. Cleared areas are used for growing pasture, hay, corn, and soybeans.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Coastal Plain of Alabama and Mississippi. The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jasper County, Mississippi; 1974.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 4 inches (A horizon).
Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 11 to 80 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3, Bt4, Bt5 horizons).