LOCATION FALKNER MS+AL AR LA TN
Established Series
Rev. WLS-RBH; GRB
05/2013
FALKNER SERIES
The Falkner series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained, slowly permeable soils in uplands and on stream terraces of the Southern Mississippi Valley Silty Uplands (MLRA 134), the Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas Blackland Prairies (MLRA 135), and the Southern Coastal Plain (MLRA 133A) Major Land Resource Areas. They formed in a thin silty mantle and the underlying clayey marine deposits. Near the type location, the average annual temperature is about 62 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is about 48 inches. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, active, thermic Aquic Paleudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Falkner silt loam, in a cultivated field (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated).
Ap--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; few fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--6 to 11 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds; common medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) areas of iron depletions and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--11 to 21 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 11 to 27 inches.)
2Btg1--21 to 27 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silty clay; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderate medium subangular blocky and angular blocky structure; firm; plastic; few fine roots; common faint clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
2Btg2--27 to 36 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silty clay; strong medium subangular blocky structure; firm; plastic; few fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; few small slickensides; many fine medium and coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), pale brown (10YR 6/3), and many fine, medium and coarse prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulations; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the upper part of the 2Btg horizon is 10 to 30 inches.)
2Btg3--36 to 65 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silty clay loam, many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and pale brown (10YR 6/3)masses of iron accumulation; moderate fine to coarse subangular blocky structure; firm, plastic; common faint clay films on faces of peds; few small slickensides; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Union County, Mississippi. Approximately 1.0 mile southwest of Cotton Plant and about 150 feet north of local road in a cultivated field. SE 1/4, SE 1/4, NE 1/4 of sec. 6, T.6 S., R.3 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is more than 60 inches. The silty upper part of the solum above the clayey layer is 15 to 40 inches in thickness. The control section ranges from 20 to 35 percent clay. In some pedons soft shale bedrock is below a depth of 60 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the A, Ap, E and Bt horizons, except in areas where the surface layer has been limed and from strongly acid to slightly alkaline in the 2Bt and 2Btg horizons.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is silt, silt loam or silty clay loam.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon with hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt or silt loam.
The upper part of Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Iron depletions in shades of gray range from none to few. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The lower part of Bt horizon has a hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 3 to 6; or there is no dominant color and is variegated in shades of gray, red, brown or yellow. Iron depletions in shades of gray range from few to many. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The 2Bt horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 3 to 6; or there is no dominant color and is variegated in shades of yellow, brown, gray or red. Iron depletions in shades of gray range from common to many. Small stress surfaces on faces of peds range from none to common. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
The 2Btg horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 1 or 2. Iron accumulations in shades of yellow, brown or red range from few to many. A few small stress surfaces commonly are on the faces of peds. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Vian series is the only known soil in the same family. The Vian series is in the Arkansas
Valley and Ridges MLRAs (118A and 118B).
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Falkner soils are in broad areas of low relief in the uplands and on stream terraces of the Southern Mississippi Silty Uplands, the Blackland Prairie, and the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Areas. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. They formed in a mantle of loess or silty alluvium, about 1.5 to 3 feet thick, and the underlying clayey material. The climate is humid subtropical. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 62 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is 48 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the
Adaton,
Bude,
Calhoun,
Calloway,
Henry,
Longview,
Oktibbeha,
Pheba,
Providence and
Tippah series. The poorly drained Adaton, Calhoun, and Henry soils are in depressions, in broad drainageways, and flats. In addition, Henry soils have a fragipan and have coarse-silty control sections. The somewhat poorly drained Bude, Calloway, and Pheba soils are in drainageways and on lower slopes in the terrain and have fragipans. In addition, Pheba soils have coarse-silty control sections and are Ultisols. Longview soils are on similar positions, do not have clayey lower 2Bt subsoils and have interfingering of E horizon material around peds of the Bt horizon. The moderately well drained Oktibbeha soils are on higher positions, have redder upper subsoils and have more than 60 percent smectite clay in the control section. The moderately well drained Providence soils are on higher positions and have a fragipan. The moderately well drained Tippah soils are on higher positions, have mixed mineralogy and redder subsoils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; slow to medium runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Falkner soil have been cleared and are cropped to soybeans, cotton, and corn. Some areas are in hay or pasture. Some areas are in mixed forest of oaks, hickory, elm, poplar, sweetgum, shortleaf, and loblolly pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. This series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Prentiss County, Mississippi, 1950.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 6 inches (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon - the zone from 6 to 65 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Btg1, 2Btg2, and 2Btg3 horizons).
Aquic Paleudalfs feature - iron depletions in shades of gray are within 30 inches of the surface (Bt2 horizon).
Water is perched at a depth of 1.5 to 2.5 feet in winter and early in spring.
Falkner soils are in MLRAs 133A, 134 and 135.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data is available on the National Soil Survey website at: http://ncsslabdatamart.sc.egov.usda.gov/querypage.aspx
Characterization laboratory data was provided by the National Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, NE.
Particle size and chemical data for 5 pedons are published in soil survey reports for Lawrence, Marion, Pearl River, Tippah, and Webster Counties, Mississippi, respectively. Highway test data are published for 2 pedons in the soil survey reports for Tippah and Webster Counties, respectively.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.