LOCATION FAIRLIE TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Udic Haplusterts
TYPICAL PEDON: Fairlie silty clay loam, on a smooth plain 2 percent slope, in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 5 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak medium platy structure parting to weak fine and medium blocky structure; extremely hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; few fine black concretions; slight effervescence in spots; mildly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.
A--5 to 12 inches; black (5Y 2/1) silty clay, very dark gray (5Y 3/1) dry; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; very hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; few pressure faces; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (combined A subhorizons are 6 to 18 inches thick)
Bss1--12 to 24 inches; black (5Y 2/1) silty clay, very dark gray (5Y 3/1) dry; moderate medium angular blocky structure; very hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; common pressure faces; few grooved slickensides; few fine and medium concretions of calcium carbonate; few fine iron-manganese concretions; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.
Bss2--24 to 35 inches; very dark gray (5Y 3/1) silty clay, dark gray (5Y 4/1) dry; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; very hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; few medium distinct olive (5Y 5/3) redox concentrations or masses with sharp boundaries; common grooved slickensides; few fine iron-manganese concretions; few medium and coarse concretions and soft masses of calcium carbonate; few fine and medium pebbles of chert; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (combined Bss subhorizons are 12 to 40 inches thick)
Bkss--35 to 54 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay, gray (10YR 5/1) dry; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; very hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; common grooved slickensides; few fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and olive (5Y 5/6) redox concentrations or masses with sharp boundaries; few vertical streaks of black (5Y 2/1) associated with cracks; few fine iron-manganese concretions; common medium and coarse concretions and soft masses of calcium carbonate; few medium pebbles of chert; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 30 inches thick)
Cr--54 to 60 inches; white (N 8/0; 2.5Y 8/2) chalk bedrock; with streaks of olive yellow; medium platy in upper 2 inches; massive below; hardness is less than 3 on Mohs' scale.
TYPE LOCATION: Hunt County, Texas; from the intersection of Texas Highways 11 and 34 in Wolfe City, Texas; 3 miles southeast on Texas Highway 11; 1.8 miles south on county road; 0.8 mile west on county road; 0.1 mile south along turn row and 40 feet east in a cultivated field.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The range in characteristics includes 50 percent or more of the pedon. Solum thickness and depth to a paralithic contact of chalk ranges from 40 to 60 inches. The weighted average clay content of the control section is 40 to 50 percent. When dry, cracks ranging from 0.4 to 3 inches wide extend from the surface to a depth of more than 12 inches. Cracks are open for 90 to 150 cumulative days in most years. Slickensides and/or wedge shaped peds begin at a depth of 8 to 20 inches. These are cyclic soils, and in undisturbed areas, gilgai microrelief consists of microknolls 4 to 16 inches higher than microdepressions; distance between center of knoll and center of the depression is 5 to 12 feet. Reaction is slightly or moderately alkaline, and ranges from very slight to strong effervescence. There are few to common concretions and soft masses of calcium carbonate and/or chalk fragments in most subhorizons. Iron-manganese concretions and siliceous pebbles range from none to few throughout the solum.
The A horizon has colors in hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1. The texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
The Bss horizon has colors in hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 2 or less. Texture is silty clay or clay. Redox concentrations or masses with sharp boundaries in shades of brown, yellow, or olive range from none to common.
The Bkss horizons has colors in hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is silty clay or clay. Redox concentrations or masses with sharp boundaries in shades of brown, yellow, or olive range from none to common.
In some pedons, there is a discontinuous C horizon of clay, silty clay, or marly clay with thin strata of weathered chalk. Colors are mainly in shades of gray, olive, or brown. The C horizon is not diagnostic to the series and is absent in most pedons.
The Cr horizon is limestone bedrock. It is mainly chalk, or interbedded chalk and marl. It is light gray or white, and typically platy in the upper few inches, and massive below with a hardness of less than 3 on Mohs' scale.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Bleiblerville, Branyon, Burleson, Dimebox, Heiden, Houston Black, Ovan, Leson, Luling, Sanger, Slidell, and Watonga series. These soils do not have a paralithic contact with chalk within a depth of 40 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Fairlie soils are on nearly level to gently sloping uplands. They formed mainly in the Pecan Gap, Gober, and Austin Chalk Formations of Upper Cretaceous Age. Slopes are mainly 1 to 3 percent but range from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 42 inches, mean annual temperature from 64 degrees to 68 degrees F. Frost free days range from 230 to 260. Elevation ranges from 550 to 850 feet above sea level. Thornthwaite P-E indices range from 54 to 70.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Branyon, Burleson, Heiden, Houston Black, and Leson series. Also the Austin, Dalco, and Lott soils are associated. Austin and Lott soils are mollisols on slightly higher convex areas. Branyon and Burleson soils are on lower lying terrace positions. Dalco soils are 24 to 40 inches thick over a paralithic contact of chalk and are on similar positions. Heiden, Houston Black, and Leson soils are on similar positions of adjacent areas with different parent material.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Fairlie soils are moderately well drained and very slow permeablility. Water enters the soil rapidly when it is dry and cracked, and very slow when the soil is saturated. Runoff is low on 0 to 1 percent slopes; moderate on 1 to 3 percent slopes; and high on 3 to 5 percent slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for cultivated crops of cotton, grain sorghum, corn, and small grain, however, some areas are used for pasture and a few small areas are in rangeland. Pastures are mainly bermudagrasses; rangeland plants include eastern grama, little bluestem, indiangrass, Florida paspalum, sideoats grama, switchgrass, meadow dropseed, forbs and annual grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Blackland Prairie of Texas, MLRA 86A. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grayson County, Texas; 1977.
REMARKS: Fairlie soils were previously included with the Houston Black or Austin series. Classification changed from Pellusterts to Haplusterts (2/94) based on Issue 16, a revison of Soil Taxonomy.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic colors--0 to 35 inches, the Ap, A, Bss horizon.
Cambic horizon - 35 to 54 inches.
Vertisols features--Cracks when dry, slickensides in Bss subhorizons.
Paralithic contact of chalk at a depth of 54 inches.
SOIL INTERPRETATION RECORD NUMBER: TX0726