LOCATION PHEBA MS+AL AR LAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, siliceous, active, thermic Glossaquic Fragiudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Pheba silt loam - woodland.
(Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 3 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; few fine fragments of charcoal; few worm casts; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick; Ap horizon is 4 to 10 inches thick)
E--3 to 8 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few worm casts; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bwc--8 to 16 inches, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam; common fine faint mottles of yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2); weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; many fine pores; few pockets of uncoated sand grains; common fine and medium strong brown concretions; clear wavy boundary (6 to 12 inches thick).
E'--16 to 21 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam; few fine faint gray mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly brittle; many fine pores and voids; few fine and medium brown concretions; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
Btx1--21 to 33 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) silt loam; many medium faint light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) mottles; weak coarse prismatic parting to moderate medium angular and subangular blocky structure; firm, brittle and compact on about 70 percent of the volume; many fine vesicles; few patchy clay films, gray silt coatings between prisms; few fine to medium strong brown and black concretions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Btx2--33 to 46 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) silt loam; many coarse distinct light gray (10YR 6/1) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) mottles; weak coarse prismatic parting to weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm, brittle and compact in about 70 percent of the volume; many fine vesicles; patchy clay films on ped faces; 1/2- to 1-inch wide seams of gray sandy clay loam between prisms; few medium strong brown concretions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Btx horizon is 18 to 30 inches.)
Bx--46 to 60 inches; mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), gray (10YR 6/1), strong brown (7.5YR 5/8), and red (2.5YR 4/6) silt loam; weak coarse prismatic parting to weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm, brittle and compact in about 50 percent of the volume; many fine vesicles; gray part surrounds prisms and is friable; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Forrest County, Mississippi; 0.5 mile north of Eatonville interchange, on Interstate Highway 59 north of Hattiesburg, 0.4 mile west of blacktop road, 30 feet south of cyclone fence on south side of drag strip.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum is more than 60 inches thick. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 14 to 32 inches. The soil is very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout except where the surface layers have been limed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Some pedons have a thin A horizon with hue of 10YR, value of 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam.
The E horizon, if present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 to 6, with mottles in shades of brown, yellow, and gray, or it is mottles in these colors. Mottles with chroma of 2 or less are within 16 inches of the surface. Texture is silt loam or loam. The particle-size control section, the section between a depth of 10 inches and the upper boundary of the fragipan, has 10 to 18 percent clay andhas less than 15 percent fine and coarser sand.
The E' horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 3. It is silt loam that has less clay than either the overlying Bw or the underlying Bx horizons. Some pedons have an E/B or B/E horizon that is mottled in shades of brown and gray.
The Bx horizon has a matrix in hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 to 6 with few to many mottles that have chroma of 2 or less; also mottles in shades of yellow and brown commonly are few to many; or, the horizon is mottled in these colors. Texture is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam. The layers highest in clay are in this horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Closely related series include the Bude, Calloway, Leadvale, Longview, Paden, Prentiss, Sango, and Taft soils. Bude, Calloway, Leadvale, Paden, and Taft soils have a fine-silty particle size class; also, Bude, Calloway and Paden have mixed mineralogy; also Bude and Calloway soils have more than 35 percent base saturation at 30 inches below the upper boundary of the fragipan. Longview soils have a fine-silty particle size class and do not have a fragipan. Prentiss soils have a fine-loamy particle size class and do not have mottles with chroma of 2 or less within 16 inches of the surface. Sango soils do not have mottles with chroma of 2 or less within 16 inches of the surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pheba soils are on broad uplands and terraces in the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area. Slopes range form 0 to 3 percent. This soil formed in loamy sediments. The climate is warm and humid. Mean annual temperature is about 66 degrees Fahrenheit, and mean annual precipitation is about 58 inches near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bude and Paden series of the competing soils and the Cane, Mashulaville, Ora, Stough, and Weston soils. The somewhat poorly drained Bude soils are in similar positions as the Pheba soils, on broad terraces. The moderately well drained Cane and Ora soils, which have a fine-loamy control section and an argillic horizon above the fragipan, are on adjacent higher lying ridges and hillsides. Somewhat poorly drained Stough soils, which have a coarse-loamy control section and do not have a fragipan, are in similar positions as the Pheba soils. The poorly drained Weston soils, which have a coarse-loamy control section, are predominantly gray, and do not have a fragipan, are in depressions, swales, and in drainageways.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability in the upper part of the suboil and moderately slow in the fragipan. A seasonal water table is perched above the fragipan during winter and early in spring at a depth of 1.5 to 2.0 feet.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the Pheba soils are used as woodland. Common trees are loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, sweetgum, and slash pine. Cleared areas are used for growing corn, cotton, small grains, grain sorghum, pasture, and hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT; Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and Texas. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clay County, Mississippi; 1909.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 3 inches (Ap horizon).
Fragipan - the zone from approximately 16 to 60 inches (Btx1, Btx2, Bx horizons).
Agillic horizon - the zone from approximately 16 to 46 inches (Btx1, Btx2 horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data: Characterization data for the typical pedon are published in Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 13 (issued May 1967).