LOCATION MARVYN AL+NCEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Marvyn loamy sand, on a smooth convex 2 percent slope, in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loamy sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 5 percent rounded gravel less than one inch in diameter; medium acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 15 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; sand grains bridged and coated with clay; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--15 to 30 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) sandy clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt3--30 to 44 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) sandy clay; many medium prominent red (2.5YR 4/8) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 25 to 50 inches)
BC--44 to 53 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) sandy clay; common medium prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles in discontinuous bands; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; few fine flakes of mica; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
C--53 to 60 inches; mottled red (2.5YR 4/8, 5/8), light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) and light gray (10YR 7/2); average texture is sandy clay loam; red and brown parts are sandy loam and sandy clay loam, gray parts are clay and sandy clay; colors and textures are in bands about one centimeter thick; massive, grading to weak platy; friable; few to common flakes of mica; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
2C--60 to 72 inches; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8, 7/8) sandy loam; common medium prominent red (2.5YR 4/8) mottles; massive; friable; few pockets of white clay; very friable; common to many flakes of mica; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Lee County, Alabama; 2.5 miles west of Marvyn on U.S. Highway 80; 375 feet southwest of the northeast corner of the SW1/4SE1/4 sec. 23, T. 17 N., R. 26 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches. The soil is medium acid to very strongly acid throughout, except where lime has been added. There are few to common flakes of mica in the lower part of the Bt horizon and few to many in the BC and C horizons.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.
The E horizon, present in some pedons, has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma 3 or 4. It is 3 to 8 inches thick and is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.
The BA or BE horizon, present in some pedons, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is sandy loam or sandy clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. It is distinctly or prominently mottled with yellow, brown, or red in the lower part. Texture is dominantly sandy loam or sandy clay loam in the upper part, but ranges to sandy clay in the lower part of the Bt horizon. The upper 20 inches of the kandic horizon averages less than 20 percent silt.
The BC horizon has hue 10YR to 5YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 to 8 ; or it has no dominant matrix color and is mottled in shades of yellow, brown, red, and gray. Texture is mainly sandy clay or sandy clay loam but ranges to sandy loam and is often stratified.
The C horizon is generally thinly stratified and has no dominant matrix color. Strata range in color from red to gray and in texture from sandy loam to clay. The coarser textured strata are generally reddish or brownish in color, while the finer textured strata are generally grayish in color.
The 2C horizon, where present, has yellow, red, brown, or white colors. It is sandy loam or loamy sand.
COMPETING SERIES: These include the Cowarts and Springhill series in the same family and the Apison, Cahaba, Durham, Emporia, Euharlee, Granville, Hartsells, Kempsville, Linker, Nauvoo, Pirum, Smithdale, Spadra, Stringtown, Suffolk, and Vaucluse series in similar families. The Cowarts series have a solum thickness of less than 40 inches. The Cahaba, Smithdale, and Springhill series have hue of 5YR or redder throughout the Bt horizon. The Apison, Hartsells, Linker, Nauvoo, and Pirum soils are underlain by bedrock at a depth of less than 60 inches. Durham and Granville soils have saprolite within 40 to 60 inches of the surface. Emporia soils have mottles with chroma of 2 or less between a depth of 30 and 50 inches. Euharlee soils have more than 30 percent silt in the control section. Kempsville soils have subsoil layers in which 20 to 60 percent of the matrix is brittle. Spadra soils have Bt horizons with hue redder than 7.5YR or have color value less than 5. Suffolk soils have moderately rapidly permeable to rapidly permeable C horizons. Stringtown soils contain fragments or strata of shale and sandstone in the BC and C horizons. Vaucluse soils have a dense, brittle horizon within 36 inches of the surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Marvyn soils are on nearly level to strongly sloping topography of the Coastal Plain uplands. Dominant slope gradients are 2 to 5 percent but slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. The soil formed in marine sediments. Mean annual temperature near the type location is 65 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 54 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Cowarts series and the Marlboro, Rumford, Uchee, and Wagram series on similar positions as the Marvyn soils and the Wickham series on adjacent stream terraces. Marlboro soils have a clayey particle-size control section. Rumford soils have a coarse-loamy particle-size control section. Uchee and Wagram soils have a sandy epipedon 20 to 40 inches thick. Wickham soils have mixed mineralogy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to medium runoff; permeability is moderate in the subsoil and moderate to moderately slow in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly cleared and used for the production of row crops, mainly cotton. Small areas are in pasture or in forests of mixed hardwoods and pines.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It is moderately extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lee County, Alabama; 1979.
REMARKS: This revision (6/89) changes the classification from Typic Hapludults to Typic Kanhapludults in recognition of the low activity clay of the kandic horizon.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of approximately 7 inches (Ap horizon).
Kandic horizon - the zone from approximately 7 to 53 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3, and BC horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data for typifying pedon from Auburn University, Sample Number S73AL-041-3-(1-7), and from the Alabama Highway Department S73AL-041-3-(1, 4, 7).