LOCATION BASSFIELD MS+AL LAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Bassfield sandy loam--cultivated.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise
stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; mottled dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) and dark brown (10YR 4/3) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure;
very friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; clear wavy
boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
A--7 to 12 inches; mottled dark brown (10YR 4/3) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
(0 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--12 to 20 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) sandy loam; few fine prominent mottles of yellowish brown (10YR 5/8); weak fine granular structure; bridging and coating of sand grains with clay
and oxide; very friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; clear
wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Bt2--20 to 42 inches; red (2.5YR 4/8) sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few
thin patchy clay films on surfaces of peds, bridging and coating
of sand grains with clay and oxides; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (16 to 34 inches thick)
C1--42 to 63 inches; light red (2.5YR 6/6) sand; single
grained; loose; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 25
inches thick)
C2--63 to 80 inches; mottled white (10YR 8/1) and yellowish
red (5YR 5/8) sand; single grained; loose; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi;
approximately 2.0 miles north of Bassfield; 1.5 miles east of
Highway 35; 300 yards south of creek and 200 yards west of paved
road in a 30 acre pasture; SE1/4NE1/4 sec. 32, T. 7 N., R. 17 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to
the sandy C horizon ranges from 36 to 60 inches. Some pedons
contain as much as 10 percent by volume of quartz or chert gravel
in the B horizon and as much as 20 percent in the C horizon. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid, except in areas where the surface layer has been limed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, with either value of 4, and chroma
of 1 to 3, or value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3, or it is mottled
in shades of brown. It is sandy loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or loamy sand.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and
chroma of 4 to 8. It is sandy loam or loam. The upper 20 inches
of the Bt horizon has 8 to 18 percent clay, and it has 20 to 45 percent silt.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5YR, value of 6, and chroma of 6, or
it has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 6 to
8, or it has hue of 10YR, value of 6 or 7, and chroma of 3 to 6,
or it is mottled in shades of brown, red, and white. It is loamy sand or sand.
COMPETING SERIES: These are
Latonia and
Rumford in the same
family and the closely related
Cahaba,
Lucy,
Maxton,
McLaurin,
Ruston, and
Smithdale series. Latonia soils have a Bt horizon
with hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y. Rumford soils have less than 20
percent silt in the Bt horizon. Cahaba and Maxton soils have 18
to 35 percent clay in the upper 20 inches of the Bt horizon.
Lucy soils have an arenic epipedon. McLaurin soils have a solum
more than 60 inches thick. Ruston and Smithdale soils have a
thicker solum and have a Bt horizon with 18 to 35 percent clay.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bassfield soils are on marine or stream
terraces of the Southern Coastal Plain and Eastern Gulf Coast Flatwoods. These nearly level to gently sloping soils formed in fluvatile or marine sediments that are loamy in the upper part
and sandy in the lower part. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent.
The climate is warm and humid. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is 66 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing
Cahaba,
Ruston, and
Smithdale soils and the soils of
Jena,
Kirkville, and
Ora series. Well drained Cahaba soils are in
similar positions as Bassfield soils. Well drained Ruston and Smithdale soils are in higher positions on hillsides and ridges. Somewhat poorly drained Kirkville soils and well drained Jena
soils, which are in lower positions on flood plains, do not have
a Bt horizon. Moderately well drained Ora soils, which are in
higher positions on terraces and uplands, have a fragipan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff is slow; permeability is moderately rapid. Some areas are flooded occasionally for very brief duration late in winter and early in spring.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the Bassfield soils are
cleared and used for growing corn, soybeans, small grains,
cotton, and pasture. Native vegetation is a mixed forest of
pines and hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama and Mississippi. The series is
of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi; 1972.
REMARKS: Bassfield soils formerly were included in the Cahaba series.