LOCATION MASHAM OKEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, mixed, active, thermic, shallow Udic Haplustepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Masham silty clay loam--on a 10 percent slightly convex slope in native rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 5 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; strong very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm; many fine roots; calcareous, moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (3 to 9 inches thick).
Bkw--5 to 16 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 5/4) silty clay, reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm; few round calcium carbonate concretions from 10 to 50 mm in diameter; many pressure faces; calcareous, moderately alkaline; diffuse wavy boundary. (5 to 17 inches thick).
Cr--16 to 40 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 5/4) weathered silty shale, reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; extremely hard, firm; few fine roots between shale fragments; calcareous, moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Payne County, Oklahoma; about 6 miles north and 4 miles east of Stillwater; 500 feet west and 150 feet south of the northeast corner of sec. 21, T. 20 N., R. 3 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum ranges from 10 to 20 inches thick. The soil is moderately alkaline throughout but some pedons are noncalcareous in the A horizon. Coarse fragments 2 to 76 mm in diameter of limestone, sandstone, hematite, and hard pitted calcium carbonate concretions cover 0 to 75 percent of the soil surface.
The A horizon or AB horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5 dry and 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 4 to 6 dry or moist. Texture is silty clay loam, clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Round fragments of sandstone, ironstone, and calcium carbonate concretions 2 to 76 mm in diameter ranges from 0 to 15 percent by volume.
The Bw or Bkw horizon has hue of 10R to 5YR, value of 4 or 5 dry and 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 3 to 6 dry or moist. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Round calcium carbonate concretions less than 3 inches in diameter range from 1 to 5 percent by volume.
The Cr horizon has hue of 10R or 2.5YR, value of 3 to 5 dry and 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 to 6 dry or moist. Some pedons have pockets of gray or olive shale intermixed in the horizon. The shale is weathered, can be dug with a spade when moist. This material is non paralithic. Fractures are greater than 10 cm apart. It is dense enough to be root restrictive. This material has low to moderate excavation difficulty. Most of this material slakes in water within 15 hours.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Highview series. Highview soils have hues of 7.5YR or yellower in the control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Masham soils are on very gently sloping to sloping convex knolls and strongly sloping to steep hillsides or side slopes along drainageways on uplands in the Central Rolling Red Prairies. Slopes range from about 1 to 45 percent. The soil formed in material that weathered from shale of Permian age. Mean Annual Precipitation: 26 to 40 inches. Mean Annual Temperature: 58 to 64 degrees F. Thornthwaite Annual P-E indices: 44 to 64. Frost free days: 200 to 230. Elevation: 700 to 1500 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Grainola, Highview, Piedmont, Renthin, Coyle, Lucien, and Renfrow series. Coyle, Grainola, and Renfrow soils have an argillic horizon, have a solum more than 20 inches thick, and usually are on slopes above the Masham soils. Lucien soils are underlain by sandstone at depths less than 20 inches, have less than 35 percent clay in the control section, and usually are on ridge tops above the Masham soils. Highview soils are on similar positions but occur over gray Permian shales. Piedmont and Renthin soils are usually on shoulder slopes and have a mollic epipedon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; very high runoff; very slowly permeable.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly used for native range. Native vegetation is mainly sideoats grama, blue grama, hairy grama, buffalo grass, pricklypear, tall dropseed, switchgrass, and little bluestem. Where overgrazed, bare areas are occur.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Rolling Red Prairies of Oklahoma and possibly Kansas and Texas. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grant County, Oklahoma; 1983.
REMARKS: Soil Interpretation Record No. OK0287
These soils were formerly mapped as Vernon or Grainola soils. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 5 inches (A horizon).
Cambic horizon - the zone from 5 inches to a depth of 16 inches (Bw horizon). Cr horizon - the material from 16 to 40 inches that is rocklike, root restrictive, fractures greater than 10 cm apart, and has low to moderate excavation difficulty.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Sample No. 79-OK-60-5 by Oklahoma State University. NSSL data, sample S91OK-083-008.