LOCATION ELBON TX

Established Series
Rev. DDR-CMT-GLL
02/2018

ELBON SERIES

The Elbon series consists of deep, moderately well drained moderately slow permeable soils. These soils formed in loamy and clayey alluvium. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Fluventic Hapludolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Elbon silty clay loam--meadow. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

A1--0 to 10 inches, very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm; common fine roots; common wormcasts; calcareous; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 18 inches thick)

A2--10 to 21 inches, very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm; common fine roots; common wormcasts; few pockets and strata of very fine sandy loam 1 to 2 mm thick; calcareous; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick)

C1--21 to 39 inches, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silty clay loam; massive; very hard, firm; few fine roots; common wormcasts; few very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) strata as much as 2 cm thick; common grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) and brown (10YR 5/3) very fine sandy loam strata 1 to 2 mm thick; evident bedding planes; few fine distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) mottles between bedding planes; calcareous; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (12 to 40 inches thick)

C2--39 to 64 inches, very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silty clay loam; massive; very hard, firm; few fine roots; few wormcasts; few dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) strata up to 2 cm thick; common strata of grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) and brown (10YR 5/3) very fine sandy loam 1 to 2 mm thick; evident bedding planes; calcareous; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 28 inches thick)

Bb--64 to 84 inches, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silty clay loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm; few fine roots; few wormcasts; few shell fragments; few grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) and brown (10YR 5/3) very fine sandy loam pockets and strata 1 to 2 mm thick; calcareous; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Lamar County, Texas; from the intersection of Farm Road 38 and Farm Road 137 in Roxton, 2.3 miles southwest on Farm Road 38, then 100 feet south in the flood plain of Rowdy Creek.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The control section has an average clay content of 35 to 45 percent. Reaction is mildly or moderately alkaline and calcareous. Thickness of the mollic epipedon ranges from 10 to 24 inches.
The A horizons have colors with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 2. Texture is mainly silty clay loam, but includes clay loam or clay.

The C horizon has colors with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. It has black or very dark gray strata in some pedons. Chroma of 2 or less apparently results from the high content of lime in the parent material. Texture is mainly silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay loam, but the soils typically contain thin strata of coarser and finer materials.

Buried horizons are common below a depth of 40 inches. They are black, very dark gray, very dark brown, very dark grayish brown, or dark grayish brown. Texture is silty clay loam, clay loam, or clay. Carbonate films and threads range from none to common.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Closely similar series are the Frio, Frioton, Nipsum, Pursley, Tinn, and Trinity series. Frio and Nipsum soils are usually dry in some part of the moisture control section for 90 or more days each year. Frioton soils have mollic epipedons thicker than 20 inches. Tinn and Trinity soils have montmorillonitic mineralogy. Pursley are less than 35 percent clay in the control section. Tinn and Trinity soils have intersecting slickensides.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Elbon soils are on flood plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. The soils formed in recent loamy and clayey sediments washed from the nearby Claypan and Blackland Prairies. Near the type location the average annual precipitation is about 45 inches, the mean annual temperature is about 63 degrees F., and the Thornthwaite P-E index is about 68.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Associated soils are the Tinn and Varro series. Tinn soils are more clayey and have interesting slickensides. Varro soils have an ochric epipedon and have less than 35 percent clay in the control section.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Elbon soils are moderately well drained, have slow surface runoff; and have moderately slow permeability. Where unprotected, these soils are flooded 2 to 5 times each year for durations of 1 to 3 days. A water table is within a depth of 30 to 40 inches during winter and spring.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mostly as pasture and hayland. Areas protected from flooding are used for cotton, grain sorghum, and soybeans. Native vegetation is hackberry, ash, elm, osage orange, paspalums, wildrye, and greenbriar.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils are in flood plains in the Texas Claypan and Blackland Prairies areas in northeastern Texas and possibly in Arkansas. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lamar County, Texas; 1975.

REMARKS: These soils were formerly included in the Frio series.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - 0 to 21 inches, the A1 and A2 horizons

Fluventic feature - stratified in the control section.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.