LOCATION BANKHEAD ALEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Bankhead sandy loam--forested.(Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 4 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent sandstone channers 2 to 20 mm in size; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
Bw1--4 to 13 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) channery sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common medium roots; 20 percent by volume of sandstone channers 2 to 30 mm in length; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
Bw2--13 to 26 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) cobbly sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; few medium roots; 35 percent by volume of sandstone cobbles 3 to 10 inches in size; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
R--26 inches; fractured, hard, level bedded sandstone bedrock with loamy soil material in cracks.
TYPE LOCATION: Walker County, Alabama; about .5 mile east of Wolfpen Cemetery, 1375 feet east and 200 feet south of NW corner of Sec. 23, T. 12 S., R. 9 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to hard bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Coarse fragments, mostly sandstone channers and flagstones, range from 5 to 25 percent in the surface layer and up to 35 percent in the subsoil. Reaction is very strongly or strongly acid throughout, except for surface layers that have been limed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Thickness is 5 inches or less. Fine-earth texture is loamy sand, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loamy.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Fine-earth texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam.
The R layer consists of hard, level bedded to slightly tilted, sandstone with fine-earth filling narrow fractures where present.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. The Gorgas, Hartsells, Hector, Linker, Nauvoo, Pirum, and Sipsey series are in similar families. Gorgas and Hector soils have bedrock at depths less than 20 inches and Hector soil has an argillic horizon and is in a loamy family. Hartsells, Linker, Nauvoo, Pirum, and Sipsey soils have argillic horizons and are in fine-loamy families. The Nauvoo series is greater than 40 inches deep to paralithic contact with soft sandstone.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bankhead soils developed in sandy to loamy residuum weathered from sandstone on moderately steep to very steep side slopes. Surface stones commonly cover about.01 to 3 areal percentage of ground surface, although some areas are free of stones.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Hartsells, Nauvoo, and Sipsey series and the Allen, Apison, Gorgas, Leesburg, Mountainburg, Sunlight, Tidings, and Townley series. Allen and Leesburg soils have sola greater than 60 inches and are on colluvial positions. Apison, Hartsells, Nauvoo, and Sipsey soils are on ridgetops and upper side slopes and are in a fine-loamy family. Gorgas and Mountainburg soils are on side slopes usually associated with sandstone rock outcrop and are in lithic families. Sunlight and Tidings soils formed in residuum weathered from siltstone and fine-grained sandstone and occupy on similar positions on the landscape. Sunlight soils are in a loamy-skeletal family and Tidings soils are in a fine-loamy family. Townley soils are on less sloping side slopes and are in a fine family.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained with moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the Bankhead soils are in forests of mixed hardwood and pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Sand Mountain (MLRA 129) areas of Alabama and possibly areas, Georgia, and Tennessee and possibly Boston Mountains of Arkansas. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Walker County, Alabama; 1986
REMARKS: The Bankhead series was formerly included in the Hector, Mountainburg, Muskingum, and Pirum series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: the zone from the surface to a depth of 4 inches (A horizon)
Cambic horizon: the zone from a depth of 4 inches to a depth of 26 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons)
Lithic contact: the contact with sandstone (26 inches)