LOCATION BURWELL            OK
Established Series
Rev. JWF:ELC
11/85

BURWELL SERIES


The Burwell series consists of deep, moderately well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in loamy colluvium or alluvium over interbedded shale and sandstone. The shale and sandstone is of Pennsylvanian age. These soils are on very gently sloping to gently sloping circular or oblong mounds of uplands in the Cherokee Prairies, Arkansas Valley and Ridges, and the Ouachita Mountains. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation is 47 inches. Mean annual temperature is 62 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, thermic Aquic Paleudolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Burwell loam, on a convex 2 percent slope -- in native rangeland.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 23 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loam; moderate medium and fine granular structure; friable; many roots of all size; many wormcasts; medium acid; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 25 inches thick)

E--23 to 28 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loam; few fine distinct light gray mottles; moderate medium and fine granular structure; friable; many roots of all sizes; many wormcasts; few krotivina; medium acid; gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 23 inches thick)

Bt1--28 to 36 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay loam; common fine and medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8), light gray
(10YR 6/1), yellowish red (5YR 4/8), and red (2.5YR 4/8) mottles; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm; many roots of all sizes; few wormcasts; common black concretions; fragments of sandstone less than 76 mm in diameter make up 5 percent by volume; clay films on faces of peds; medium acid; gradual smooth boundary. (8 to 18 inches thick)

Bt2--36 to 48 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay loam; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8), yellowish red (5YR 4/8), red (2.5YR 4/8), olive brown (2.5Y 4/4), light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4), and light gray (10YR 6/1) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common roots of all sizes; common black concretions; fragments of sandstone less than 76 mm in diameter make up 5 percent by volume; clay films on faces of peds; medium acid; gradual smooth boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick)

Bt3--48 to 65 inches; coarsely mottled red (2.5YR 4/8), light gray (10YR 6/1), light grayish brown (10YR 6/2), yellowish red (5YR 5/6), and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few roots of all sizes; common black concretions; fragments of sandstone less than 76 mm in diameter make up 10 percent by volume; clay films on faces of peds; medium acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Pushmataha County, Oklahoma; about 2 miles south of Miller; 600 feet south and 50 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 21, T. 3 S., R. 15 E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is more than 60 inches. Depth to clay is more than 44 inches.

The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is loam, silt loam, or very fine sandy loam. Reaction is medium acid or strongly acid. The thickness of the combined A and E horizons ranges from 20 to 40 inches.

The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. Most pedons have few fine gray and brown mottles. Texture and reaction is the same as the A horizon.

Some pedons have BA horizons that range from 4 to 13 inches thick. It has hue of 7.5YR and 10YR, value of 5, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is clay loam or silty clay loam. Reaction is medium acid or strongly acid.

The Bt1 horizon has hue of 10YR and 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. Most pedons have few to common, fine to coarse gray, red or brown mottles. Texture is clay loam or silty clay loam. Reaction ranges from neutral to strongly acid. Fragments of sandstone from 2 mm to 76 mm in diameter make up 0 to 5 percent by volume.

The Bt2 horizon ranges in hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. Mottles are similar to those in the Bt1 horizon. Texture is clay loam or clay. Reaction ranges from mildly alkaline to medium acid. Fragments of sandstone from 2 mm to 76 mm in diameter make up 0 to 10 percent by volume.

The Bt3 horizon is coarsely mottled in red, gray or brown. Texture is clay loam, clay, gravelly clay loam, and gravelly clay. Reaction ranges from moderately alkaline to medium acid. Fragments of sandstone or shale from 2 mm to 76 mm in diameter make up 0 to 20 percent by volume.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Soils in similar families the Armistead, Choteau, Dennis, Falkner, Muskogee, Nesbitt, Newtonia, Okemah, Reelfoot, Tippah and Vian series. Armistead and Reelfoot soils decrease in clay content within 60 inches of the soil surface. Choteau, Dennis, and Okemah soils have fine control sections. Falkner, Nesbitt, and Vian soils lack mollic epipedons and have siliceous mineralogy. Muskogee and Tippah soils lack mollic epipedons. Newtonia soils lack wetness mottles within the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Burwell soils are on circular or oblong mounds of uplands that are 2 to 5 feet high and 20 to 100 feet in diameter. The top of the mound is very gently sloping and the sideslope is very gently sloping or gently sloping. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. The climate is humid. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 54 inches. Mean annual temperature ranges from 60 to 64 degrees F. Thornthwaite annual P-E indices are greater than 64.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Dennis and Okemah series and the Counts, Moyers, Parsons, Stigler, and Wister series. All of these associated soils are on intermound areas. Counts, Moyers, Parsons, Stigler, and Wister soils have a fine control section.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Burwell soils are moderately well drained. Runoff is medium and permeability is slow. A perched water table is at a depth of 2 to 3 feet for short periods during winter and spring.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for tame pasture and as native range for beef cattle. Native grasses are mainly big bluestem, little bluestem, indiangrass, and switchgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cherokee Prairies, Arkansas Valley and Ridges, and Ouachita Mountains land resource areas of Oklahoma and possibly Arkansas. The series is of minor extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Denver, Colorado

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pushmataha County, Oklahoma; 1977.

REMARKS: These soils were formerly included in the Counts, Dennis, Moyers, Okemah, Parsons, Stigler, and Wister series.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 23 inches (A horizon).

Argillic horizon - the zone from 28 to 65 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3 horizons).

Pale features - the zone from 28 to 60 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3 horizons) does not decrease in clay content by as much as 20 percent from the maximum and has many coarse mottles with chroma more than 5.

Aquic features - have mottles with chroma of 2 or less in the zone from 28 to 48 inches (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons) and the mottled horizon is saturated with water at some period of time.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U. S. A.