LOCATION HARBESON FLEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, active, thermic Grossarenic Endoaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Harbeson mucky loamy sand---wooded.
(Colors are for moist soil)
A1--0 to 11 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) mucky loamy sand; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots, about 12 to 13 percent organic matter; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
A2--11 to 39 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) mucky sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; pockets of brown sand (7.5YR 4/2) and some clean sand grains; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the A horizons is 18 to 60 inches.)
Eg1--39 to 48 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) sand; single grained; loose; many fine roots; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Eg2--48 to 66 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sand; single grained; loose; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the E horizons is 0 to 42 inches.)
Btg1--66 to 75 inches; greenish gray (5GY 5/1) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few pockets and bands of gray loamy sand and sand; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 25 inches thick).
Btg2--75 to 80 inches; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) sandy clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few pockets and bands of gray loamy sand; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Florida; in Tates Hell Swamp, about 4 miles west of Carrabelle and 2 miles north of U.S. Highway 98 at Royal Bluff; 700 feet west and 400 feet south of northeast corner of sec. 28, R. 5 W. T. 7 S.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 72 to greater than 80 inches. Soil reaction ranges from very strongly acid to mildly alkaline in the A horizon, from very strongly acid to mildly alkaline in the E horizon, and from moderately acid to moderately alkaline in the Btg horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is loamy sand, sand, fine sand, or loamy fine sand, and their mucky analogs. Thin 0 horizons (less than 5 inches thick) are in some pedons. Mottles in shades of gray and brown are in the A horizon in some pedons.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 5GY, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 4 or less. Texture is loamy sand, fine sand, and sand. Mottles in shades of gray and brown are in the E horizon in some pedons.
The Btg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5BG, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy clay loam.
Some pedons may have a Cg horizon at depths greater than 72 inches. Where present, the Cg horizon has hue of 5Y to 5BG, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 1. Texture is loamy sand or sand, and reaction is mildly alkaline or moderately alkaline. In some pedons this horizon contains few limestone or shell fragments.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known series in the same family. Similar series are Popash, Delray and Pickney soils. Popash and Delray soils are in hyperthermic families and Delray soils have a mollic epipedon. Pickney soils do not have an argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Harbeson soils are in depressions and in poorly defined drainageways in the lower Coastal Plain. They formed in sandy and loamy marine sediments. The mean annual temperature is about 68 degrees F, and the mean annual rainfall is about 56 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Meadowbrook, Pickney, Pamlico, Scranton, and Bonsai soils. Meadowbrook, Scranton and Bonsai soils do not have an umbric epipedon, and in addition Scranton soils do not have an argillic horizon. Pickney and Pamlico and Bonsai soils do not have an argillic horizon, and in addition Pamlico soils have an organic horizon 16 to 51 inches thick. Bonsai soils have stratification indicative of recent deposition.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Permeability is moderately slow. A high water table is
at or above the surface for 4 or more months annually and within 20 inches of the surface for the remainder of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in natural vegetation. Natural vegetation consists of Atlantic white cedar, cypress, swamp tupelo, sweetbay, sweetgum, slash pine, red maple, and Carolina water ash trees with an understory of black titi, swamp cyrilla greenbriars, St.Johns wort, gallberry sedges, and water tolerant grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Harbeson soils are of small extent, in the panhandle of North Florida.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Florida, 1990.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: Umbric epipedon-The zone from the soil surface to a depth of 39 inches (A1 and A2 horizons). Albic horizon-The zone from 39 to 66 inches (Eg1, Eg2 horizons). Argillic horizon-The zone from 66 to 80 inches (Btg1, Btg2 horizons).