LOCATION CASCILLA MS+KY LA TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Fluventic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Cascilla silt loam--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; few worm casts; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--7 to 10 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common worm casts; few thin clay films in root and worm channels; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Bw2--10 to 19 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common worm casts; few thin patchy clay films on faces of few peds and in root and worm channels; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Bw3--19 to 36 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few worm casts; few hin patchy clay films on faces of few peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw4--36 to 46 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few worm casts; few thin patchy clay films on faces of few peds; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw subhorizons is 30 to more than 60 inches.)
BC--46 to 59 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; few medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) mottles; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
2C--59 to 72 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) fine sandy loam; massive; very friable; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Grenada County, Mississippi; about 1.0 mile north of Grenada, on U. S. Highway 51 and 500 feet east into cultivated field.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 45 to 80 inches. The soil is very strongly acid or strongly acid, except those surface soils that have been limed.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Some pedons have a A horizon, less than 6 inches thick, in hue of 10YR, value of 3, and chroma of 1 to 3.
The BA horizon, where present, has color similar to the Ap horizon.
The Bw horizon have hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Some pedons have few to common mottles in shades of gray below a depth of 24 inches from the surface. The Bw horizon is silt loam or silty clay loam; it has 18 and 30 percent clay. Some pedons have a few clay films in pores and a few thin patchy clay films on faces of some peds; the increase in the amount of clay from the A to the B horizon is too small for an argillic horizon.
The BC horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 4 to 6, and most pedons have mottles in shades of gray.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6, or it is mottled in shades of brown and gray. Texture is fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES: Shellbluff is the only competing series in the same family. Closely related soils are the Ariel, Chenneby, Cuba, Jena, Memphis, Natchez, Ouachita, Riverview, Starr, Velda, and Vicksburg series. Shellbluff soils contain flakes of mica within the solum and have a seasonal high water table at 3 to 5 feet below the surface. Ariel and Velda soils are coarse-silty in the 10- to 40-inch particle-size control section. In addition, Ariel soils have a buried solum between a depth of 20 and 50 inches of the surface. Chenneby soils have mottles with chroma of 2 or less within 24 inches of the surface. Cuba soils have a mesic temperature regime. Jena soils are coarse-loamy in the 10- to 40-inch particle- size control section. Memphis soils have an argillic horizon. Natchez soils are coarse-silty in the 10- to 40-inch particle-size control section and are neutral to moderately alkaline in the C horizon. Ouachita soils have siliceous mineralogy. Riverview and Starr soils are fine-loamy in the 10- to 40-inch particle size control section. Vicksburg soils have bedding planes in the upper 20 inches of the soil.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cascilla soils are on natural levees of streams that drain areas of the Southern Mississippi Valley Silty Uplands Major Land Resource Area. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. The soil formed in silty alluvium. The climate is warm and humid. Mean annual precipitation is 48.0 inches and mean annual temperature is 63 degrees Fahrenheit, near the type location. Unless protected, these soils are subject to flooding during the winter and spring months. Duration of flooding ranges from brief to very long.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ariel, Chenneby, and Vicksburg series of the competing series and the Arkabutla, Collins, and Gillsburg series. All of these soils are on nearly linear surfaces of flood plains. Well drained Ariel and Vicksburg soils are in similar positions as the Cascilla soils, commonly on natural levees. Somewhat poorly drained Chenneby, Arkabutla, and Gillsburg soils, which are in the broader portions of the flood plains, have mottles with chroma of 2 or less in the upper part of the B horizon and colors with chroma of 2 or less within 20 inches of the surface. In addition, Gillsburg soils have 6 to 18 percent clay in the 10- to 40-inch control section. Moderately well drained Collins soils, which are in nearby slightly lower areas, have 5 to 18 percent clay in the 10- to 40-inch control section, have bedding planes, and mottles with chroma of 2 or less within 20 inches of the surface.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderately permeability. Flooding is rare, occasional, or frequent, unless protected, and for brief to very long duration.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the Cascilla soils are in woods of bottomland hardwoods. Common trees are cherrybark oak, eastern cottonwood, loblolly pine, Nuttall oak, sweetgum, American sycamore, and yellow-poplar. Cleared areas are cropped cotton, soybeans, and corn.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grenada County, Mississippi 1963.
REMARKS: Series was reclassified as a Dystrudept and assigned to an active activity class in 5/2001. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 7 inches (Ap horizon).
Cambic horizon - the zone from approximately 7 to 46 inches (Bw1, Bw2, Bw3, Bw4 horizons).
Lithologic discontinuity - at 59 inches deep (2C horizon)
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data: Particle-size distribution data for one pedon are published in Soil Survey of Yalobusha County, Mississippi, (issued March 1978) p. 85. Laboratory data for one pedon from Madison, County, Mississippi, were obtained from the Soil Genesis Laboratory, Mississippi State, Mississippi.