LOCATION BYRAM MS

Established Series
Rev. WAC:WMK:RBH
08/2017

BYRAM SERIES

The Byram series consists of moderately well drained, very slowly permeable soils that have a fragipan. They are on nearly level to moderately steep uplands in the Southern Mississippi Valley Silty Uplands Major Land Resource Area. These soils formed in a loess mantle, more than 48 inches thick, and the underlying alkaline clays. They have a perched water table above the fragipan late in winter and early in spring. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Typic Fragiudalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Byram silt loam--on a convex 3 percent slope in pasture.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 4 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; medium acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 9 inches thick)

Bt1--4 to 14 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common fine roots; common fine pores; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; few fine black concretions; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bt2--14 to 23 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common fine pores; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; few fine black concretions; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt subhorizon is 14 to 26 inches thick.)

Btx1--23 to 31 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; many medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) mottles; weak coarse prismatic parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm; compact and brittle; few fine roots between prisms; few fine voids; light brownish gray silt coatings on faces of prisms; few black coatings and thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; few medium black concretions; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Btx2--31 to 51 inches; mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), brown (10YR 5/3), and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to weak fine and medium subangular blocky; firm; compact and brittle; few fine roots between prisms; many fine voids; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; light brownish gray silt between prisms; strongly acid; gradual irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of the Btx horizon is 20 to 46 inches thick.)

B't--51 to 67 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; many fine distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; slightly sticky; common fine pores; thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; many fine black concretions; medium acid; clear irregular boundary. (0 to 18 inches thick)

2C--67 to 90 inches; mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), pale brown (10YR 6/3), and grayish brown (10YR 5/2) clay; strong medium blocky groved intersecting natural soil fragments; very firm; very plastic; few fine pores; few fine light gray soft bodies of calcium carbonate; few fine black concretions; many fine brown concretions; neutral.

TYPE LOCATION: Hinds County, Mississippi; one mile east of Clinton, 1/4 mile north of U. S. Highway 80, 500 feet east of gravel road. NW1/4NW1/4 sec. 34, T. 6 N., R. 1 W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the fragipan ranges from 20 to 30 inches. Depth to the clayey 2C horizon ranges from 48 to 72 inches. Reaction of the A horizon, the Bt horizon, and the Btx horizon ranges from very strongly acid to medium acid, except in areas where the surface layer has been limed. Reaction of the B't horizon ranges from medium acid to neutral. The 2C horizon ranges from slightly acid to moderately alkaline.

The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6.

The Bt horizons have hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 8. The texture is silt loam or silty clay loam. The upper 20 inches of the Bt horizon has from 20 to 32 percent clay.

The Btx horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 8 with mottles in shades of brown or gray, or the horizon is mottled in these colors. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

The B't horizon, if present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6 with few to many mottles in shades of brown and gray, or it is mottled in shades of brown and gray. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 8 with few to many mottles in shades of gray, brown, yellow, or red, or it is mottled in shades of these colors. Texture is silty clay or clay. Soft calcium carbonate nodules, if present, are few to many.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Dulac, Gigger, Loring, and Providence series in the same family and the closely related Erno, Falkner, Grenada, Libuse, Muskogee, Siwell, and Tippah series. Dulac soils have very strongly acid or strongly acid clayey lower Bt and C horizons. Gigger and Providence soils have a loamy 2Bt horizon. Loring soils have a silt loam C horizon. Erno, Grenada, and Libuse soils are not clayey in the lower horizons. Falkner, Muskogee, and Tippah soils, which do not have fragipan characteristics in the B horizon, have an acid clayey lower Bt horizon. Siwell soils do not have fragipan characteristics, and the thickness of the silty mantel is 20 to 40 inches over underlying clayey materials.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Byram soils are in uplands of the Southern Mississippi Valley Silty Uplands Major Land Resource Area. These soils formed in a loess mantle, more than 48 inches thick and the underlying alkaline clays. Slopes are nearly level to moderately steep with the slope gradient mainly less than 8 percent but ranging to as much as 15 percent along narrow hillsides. Mean annual precipitation is about 51 inches. Mean annual temperature is about 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Grenada, Loring, Providence, and Siwell series. Moderately well drained Grenada soils are on broader and smoother landscapes. Moderately well drained Loring, Providence, and Siwell soils are in similar parts of the terrain as the Byram soils.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Byram soils are moderately well drained; runoff is medium to rapid; permeability above the fragipan is moderate, moderately slow in the fragipan and very slow in the clayey underlying material. Water is perched above the fragipan at a depth of 1.5 to 2.5 feet during wet seasons late in winter and early in spring.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the Byram soils are in urban areas. A small acreage is used for growing pasture, hay, soybeans, and cotton. Small woodland lots are in cherrybark oak, white oak, post oak, southern red oak, hickory, sweetgum, shortleaf pine, and loblolly pine.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mississippi; the series is of minor extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hinds County, Mississippi; 1976.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soils to a depth of approximately 4 inches (Ap horizon).

Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 4 to 67 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Btx1, Btx2, B't horizons).

Fragipan - the zone from approximately 23 to 51 inches, with coarse prismatic structure, clay films on faces of peds, and firm, compact, and brittle structural units in 60 percent or more of the mass.

Typic Fragiudalfs feature - Argillic horizon above the fragipan; no mottles having chroma of 2 or less within 20 inches of the surface; no skeletons immediately above the fragipan.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Physical and chemical data and Engineering Test Data for the typical pedon are in Soil Survey of Hinds County, Mississippi (issued March 1979), pp. 110-111.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.