LOCATION ENNIS                   TN+AL AR GA

Established Series
Rev. DEL/JCJ/JLN
04/2011

ENNIS SERIES


The Ennis series consists of very deep, well drained to somewhat excessively drained, gravelly soils with moderately rapid permeability. These soils formed in gravelly alluvial sediments derived from soils that formed in limestone, shale, and sandstone. Ennis soils are on flood plains and in narrow strips along drainageways. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent, but commonly are less than 3 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Fluventic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Ennis gravelly silt loam in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 10 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly silt loam; moderate medium and fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 15 percent fragments of chert up to 3 inches in diameter; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)

Bw1--10 to 18 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; 15 percent fragments of chert up to 3 inches in diameter; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bw2--18 to 35 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly silt loam, few fine distinct pale brown (10YR 6/3) mottles; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, few fine roots; 15 percent fragments of chert up to 3 inches in diameter; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 20 to 60 inches)

Ab--35 to 45 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly silt loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; 30 percent fragments of chert up to 3 inches in diameter; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)

C--45 to 60 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very gravelly silt loam, few fine and medium distinct pale brown (10YR 6/3) and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) mottles; massive; friable; 35 percent fragments of chert up to 3 inches in diameter; strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: DeKalb County, Tennessee; 3.2 miles southeast of Courthouse in Smithville on Tennessee Highway 56 to intersection with S. Tittsworth Rd, 2.2 miles southeast on S. Tittsworth Rd to a bridge over Pine Creek, 681 feet south along the creek in narrow creek flood plain, 200 feet behind house. USGS Smithville Quad ;( Latitude: 35 degrees, 54 minutes, 39.9 seconds W; Longitude: 85 degrees, 47 minutes, 28.1 seconds W.)

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 25 to 60 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid. Fragments of dominantly chert gravel and cobbles ranges from 15 percent to 35 percent in the A and Bw horizons, and 15 to 75 percent in the C horizon. The presence of buried horizons in the subsoil is common.

The Ap and A horizons have hue of 10YR, values of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture of the fine earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or rarely sandy loam. In a few pedons, the A horizon has a thin strata of recent overwash of yellowish red gravelly silty clay loam.

The Bw horizon has a hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture of the fine earth texture is silt loam, loam, and rarely clay loam or silty clay loam.

The Ab horizon, where present, has a hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is at depths ranging from 25 to 50 inches. Texture of the fine earth texture is silt loam, loam, and rarely clay loam or silty clay loam.

The C horizon has a hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. In most pedons, there are mottles in shades of yellow and brown. Redoximorphic depletions may occur below 40 inches in some pedons. Texture of the fine earth texture is silt loam, loam, silty clay loam, or rarely clay loam and sandy loam.

COMPETING SERIES: The Pruitton series is the only soil in the same family. Pruitton soils are in similar positions on flood plains and have a weighted average of less than 15 percent coarse fragments in the control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ennis soils are on nearly level flood plains, and in narrow strips along drainageways. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent, but are dominantly less than 3 percent. The soil formed in gravelly alluvium washed from soils derived from limestone, shale, or sandstone. Near the type location the mean annual air temperature is 56.3 degrees F and mean annual precipitation is 56.2 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The competing Pruitton series and Lobelville, Ellisville, Saffell, Bodine, Dickson, Fullerton, Humphreys, Sengtown, Minvale, and Mountview series. Pruitton, Lobelville, and Ellisville, soils are in similar positions on floodplains. Saffell, Bodine, Dickson, Fullerton, Sengtown, Minvale, and Mountview soils all have an argillic horizon and are on adjacent hillsides and uplands. Humphreys soils have an argillic horizon and are on stream terraces and alluvial fans.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low to negligible runoff; moderately rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and used for growing corn, cotton, tobacco, soybeans, small grains, hay and pasture. The native vegetation was bottomland hardwoods, consisting chiefly of oak, hickory, maple, elm, yellow-poplar, and sycamore.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Appalachian Ridge and Valley and Highland Rim of Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Humphreys County, Tennessee; 1936.

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

Ochric epipedon- 0 to 10 inches (Ap horizon)

Cambic horizon- 10 to 35 inches (Bw horizon)


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.