LOCATION LABETTE KS+NE OKEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, mesic Udic Argiustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Labette silty clay loam - native grasslands. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 9 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; strong fine and medium granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly plastic and slightly sticky; few tubular pores; many fine roots; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
BA--9 to 15 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silty clay loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; strong fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, slightly plastic and slightly sticky; many tubular pores; many fine roots; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--15 to 22 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/2) silty clay, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist, brown (7.5YR 4/4) crushed moist; moderate fine blocky structure; very hard, firm, very plastic and very sticky; many fine roots; few fine pores partially filled with clay films; distinct clay films cover nearly all faces of peds; few fine black concretions; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--22 to 30 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) silty clay, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate medium blocky structure; very hard, very firm, very plastic and very sticky; few fine roots; distinct clay films cover most faces of peds; few fine black concretions; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 10 to 24 inches.)
C--30 to 36 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) silty clay, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; very hard, firm, very plastic and very sticky; about 6 percent of yellow (10YR 8/6) soft, weathered limestone fragments 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter; violent effervescence; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
R--36 inches; hard jointed limestone that has little displacement of large fragments.
TYPE LOCATION: Chase County, Kansas; about 4 miles west of Matfield Green, 1,330 feet north and 1,330 feet west of southeast corner, sec. 3, T. 22 S., R. 7 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to lithic contact with limestone or cherty limestone ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The mollic epipedon is 10 to 20 inches thick. The volume of chert fragments 1/2 to 6 inches in diameter ranges from 0 to 35 percent in any horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 to 5 and 2 or 3 moist, and chroma of 1 or 2. It commonly is silt loam or silty clay loam and less commonly clay loam or their gravelly or cobbly counterparts. It is medium or slightly acid.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5YR, value of 4 to 6 and 3 to 5 moist, and chroma of 2 to 6. It commonly is silty clay loam, clay, or silty clay and less commonly their gravelly and cobbly counterparts and averages 35 to 50 percent clay. It is medium acid to mildly alkaline.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5YR, value of 4 to 6 dry or moist, and chroma of 4 to 8. It is a silty clay loam, silty clay, and their gravelly and cobbly counterparts. It is neutral to moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Benfield and Edalgo soils. Benfield and Edalgo soils have a paralithic contact at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Labette soils are on nearly level to sloping uplands. The slopes are usually plane to convex. Slope gradients range from about 0 to 12 percent. The Labette soils formed in residuum from limestone that contain thin beds of clayey shale. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 36 inches. Mean annual temperature ranges from 54 to 57 degrees F. Thornthwaites Annual PE Index ranges from 48 to 64.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These series are the Dwight, Florence, Irwin, Ladysmith, Sogn, and Tully soils. Dwight soils are in slight depress areas within the Labette soils. Dwight soils have a natric horizon. Irwin, and Ladysmith soils are in slightly higher positions on broad ridgetops and do not have a lithic contact within a depth of 40 inches. Florence and Sogn soils generally are lower on the slope. Florence soils are clayey-skeletal with lithic contact greater than 40 inches and Sogn soils have a lithic contact within a depth of 20 inches. Tully soils are on foot slopes and do not have a lithic contact within a depth of 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium or rapid. Permeability is slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: About half is cropped, mostly to wheat and sorghums; the remainder is native range. Native vegetation is tall grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: In the Bluestem Hills of east-central Kansas, south-central Nebraska and north-central Oklahoma. The series is extensive, about 500,000 acres.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Salina, Kansas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Labette County, Kansas, 1926.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: Mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 15 inches (A and BA horizons); Argillic horizon - the zone from 15 to 30 inches (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons).