LOCATION HECTOR AR+AL GA KS MO OK TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Lithic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Hector gravelly fine sandy loam - forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated)
A1--0 to 2 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; many roots; about 25 percent by volume fragments of sandstone less than 3 inches in diameter; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)
A2--2 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; many roots; about 30 percent by volume fragments of sandstone less than 3 inches in diameter; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bw--6 to 15 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) fine sandy loam; reddish yellow (7.5YR 7/6) dry; very weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common roots; about 14 percent by volume fragments of sandstone dominantly less than 3 inches in diameter, but few to 10 inches; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
R--15 inches; hard, massive sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Washington County Arkansas; SE1/4SE1/4NE1/4 sec. 1 T. 15 N. R. 33 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock ranges from 14 to 20 inches. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 50 percent by volume in the A horizon and 0 to 35 percent by volume in the B horizon. Stony, cobbly, very cobbly, gravelly and very gravelly phases are recognized.
The A1 horizon is very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2), dark brown (10YR 3/3), brown (10YR 4/3, 7.5YR 4/2) or dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2). The A2 horizon is brown (10YR 4/3, 5/3), grayish brown (10YR 5/2) or dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4). The fine earth fraction of the A horizon is sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam. Reaction ranges from slightly acid through strongly acid.
The Bw horizon is dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), yellowish brown (10YR 5/4, 5/6), brown (10YR 5/3, 7.5YR 5/4), strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), reddish brown (5YR 4/4) or yellowish red (5YR 4/6). The fine earth fraction is sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Hector soils are on nearly level to moderately steep ridgtops and steep and very steep mountainsides. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent. The soils formed in residuum and locally some colluvium from sandstone bedrock. The average annual temperature at the type location is 59.5 degrees F. and the average annual precipitation is 45 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Enders, Fayetteville, Hartsells, Leesburg, Linker, Mountainburg and Nella series. Enders, Fayetteville, Hartsells, Leesburg, Linker and Nella soils are deeper to bedrock and have argillic horizons. Mountainburg soils are loamy-skeletal and have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to rapid runoff depending upon slope; moderately rapid internal drainage; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in low-grade, mixed cedar-hardwood forest. Common trees include cedar, oaks, elms, hickory and pine. Minor areas have been cleared and are in native pasture, or planted to improved pasture grasses, but droughtiness is a severe limitation.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Boston Mountains and Arkansas Valley of Arkansas and Oklahoma (MLRAs 117 and 118), the Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys, the Cumberland Plateau, and Sand Mountain areas of Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama (MLRAs 125, 128, and 129), and the Ozark Border areas in southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri(MLRA 116B). This soil is of large extent, probably in excess of 800,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pope County, Arkansas; 1938.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon-surface to a depth of 6 inches
Cambic horizon-6 to 15 inches
Lithic contact-bedrock at 15 inches
The current classification based on Keys to Taxonomy, 1998 edition.
Prior to Soil Taxonomy, the Hector series was classified in the Lithosol great soil group.