LOCATION FRIENDLY MOEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Fragiaquic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Friendly silt loam - on a 3 percent concave slope in cool season grasses at an elevation of 1,000 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine and very fine roots; 5 percent chert gravel; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--6 to 13 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/2) silty clay; moderate very fine subangular blocky structure; firm; many fine and very fine roots; many prominent clay films and very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) coatings on faces of peds; common fine distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; 5 percent chert gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--13 to 23 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; common moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; common very fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and few fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) iron depletions; 5 percent chert gravel; neutral; clear smooth boundary.
Bt3--23 to 31 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few very fine roots; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 5 percent chert gravel; slightly alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 12 to 32 inches.)
2Btx1--31 to 40 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) extremely gravelly silty clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; common prominent clay films on vertical faces of some rock fragments; many fine prominent grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions; slightly brittle; 60 percent chert gravel and 15 percent chert cobbles; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary.
2Btx2--40 to 48 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) extremely gravelly silty clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; common prominent clay films on vertical faces of some rock fragments; few fine distinct pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) iron depletions; slightly brittle; 60 percent chert gravel and 15 percent chert cobbles; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary.
2Btx3--48 to 54 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) extremely gravelly clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; common prominent clay films on faces of peds; few fine prominent pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) iron depletions; slightly brittle; 50 percent chert gravel and 15 percent chert cobbles; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary.
3Bt--54 to 60 inches; red (2.5YR 4/8) clay; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; common fine prominent light gray (10YR 7/2) iron depletions; 10 percent chert gravel; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Pettis County, Missouri; about 10 miles south of Sedalia; 1,880 feet south and 500 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 29, T. 44 N., R. 21 W; Ionia quadrangle.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the 2Ex or 2Btx horizon ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Chert gravel content by volume is 0 to 10 percent in the A and Bt horizons, 5 to 60 percent in the 2Btx horizon (2Ex if present); and 5 to 20 percent in the 3Bt horizon. Chert cobbles by volume are less than 5 percent in the A and Bt horizons, ranges to 40 percent in the 2Btx horizon (and 2Ex if present), and is less than 10 percent in the 3Bt horizon. The mean annual soil temperature at 20 inches is 55 to 59 degrees F.
The A horizon color value of 2 or 3 and is silt loam or silty clay loam. It is moderately acid to neutral.
An E horizon is present in some pedons that have not been cultivated. It has hue of 10YR, value or 4 or 5, and chroma of 3. Texture is silt loam. It is strongly acid to neutral.
The upper part of the Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 1 to 6. The lower part has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 2 to 6 and is silty clay loam or silty clay. It is moderately acid to slightly alkaline.
A 2Ex (where present) and the upper part of the 2Btx horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. It is silt loam or silty clay loam or their gravelly analogues. Reaction is strongly acid to neutral.
The 2Btx horizon has mottled colors with hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 8. Textures include the gravelly, very gravelly, extremely gravelly, cobbly, very cobbly, or extremely cobbly analogues, of silt loam, silty clay loam and clay loam. Rock fragments are often horizontally oriented and there is variable weakly or moderately expressed brittleness in 30 to 60 percent of the fine material. Reaction is strongly acid to slightly alkaline.
The 3Bt horizon has hue of 10R to 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8, with iron depletions of lower chroma in some pedons. It is clay loam, silty clay loam, clay or silty clay or their gravelly to extremely gravelly or cobbly analogues. Reaction is strongly acid to mildly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Soils in similar families are the Creldon and Gerald series. Both of these soils have fragipans. In addition, Creldon soils do not have an abrupt textural change and Gerald soils have an umbric epipedon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Friendly soils are on broad concave sideslopes in heads of drainageways and on structural benches. Slopes range from 1 to 5 percent. These soils formed in a thin mantle of loess and the underlying loamy and clayey residuum from limestone. Mean annual temperature ranges from 55 to 57 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 42 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Hartwell, Maplewood, and Paintbrush series. Hartwell soils are darker in the upper Bt horizon, do not have a 2Bt horizon and are higher on the landscape. Maplewood soils do not have an abrupt textural change and are lower on the landscape. Paintbrush soils do not have an abrupt textural change, are fine-loamy, and are browner in the upper Bt horizons. They are lower in the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Permeability is slow. The saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low. Runoff is medium. The upper depth of a perched water table is present at 1.0 to 2.0 feet during November to April.
USE AND VEGETATION: A significant portion of these soils is used for row crops. The remaining acreage is used for grass and legume pasture or hay crops. Native vegetation is mixed grasses and hardwood trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Ozark Highland (MLRA 116A) and Springfield Plain (MLRA 116B) in central and southwestern Missouri. This series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pettis County, Missouri, 1990.
REMARKS: This soil was originally classified as an Albaquic Hapludalf. In the current edition of Soil Taxonomy, Fragiaquic keys out ahead of Albaquic. This update of the series changes the classification from Albaquic to Fragiaquic.
The sequence and nomenclature of the materials may differ depending on whether the upper part of the dense material is considered to be a part of the residuum or part of the loess. Three or as many as four lithologic discontinuities could be designated. The clay bulge is so abrupt that despite the claypan properties, the weighted clay percentage borders fine-silty. In many pedons the upper Bt horizon has clay films of darker material that make the horizon appear mollic unless kneaded color is used.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this series are:
ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 6 inches (Ap horizon); argillic horizon - the zone from 6 inches to 64 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3, 2Btx1, 2Btx2, 2Btx3, and 3Bt horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Sampled as University of Missouri soil characterization laboratory reference number M8615909.