LOCATION IJAM                    TX+LA

Established Series
CLN-SEB-KBH-AKS
09/2020

IJAM SERIES

The Ijam series consists of very deep, poorly drained, low saturated hydraulic conductivity (very slowly permeable) soils that formed from materials dredged from rivers, bays, and canals. These gently sloping soils occur on flats in coastal areas. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1397 mm (55 in) and mean annual air temperature is about 21 degrees C (70 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, dredgic, smectitic, nonacid, hyperthermic Typic Endoaquents

TYPICAL PEDON: Ijam clay-grass. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

^A--0 to 20 cm (0 to 8 in); dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay; massive; very hard, very firm; many roots; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; diffuse smooth boundary. (Thickness is 5 to 25 cm [2 to 10 in]).

^Cg--20 to 203 cm (8 to 80 in); mixed dark gray (5Y 4/1) and gray (5Y 6/1) clay; massive; very hard, very firm; few fine roots mostly in the upper part; few thin discontinuous strata or lenses of sandy clay loam or fine sandy loam; common discontinuous bedding planes; few shells and shell fragments; few to common masses of iron accumulation in shades of yellowish brown and strong brown with clear and sharp boundaries in matrix; few to common iron depletions in shades of gray with diffuse and clear boundaries in matrix; moderately saline; moderately alkaline. (Thickness is 177 to 198 cm [70 to 78 in]).

TYPE LOCATION: Chambers County, Texas; from the intersection of the entrance to Fort Anahuac Park in Anahuac and Main Street, 0.2 mile west, 0.15 mile south, 0.6 mi west and south, and 20 feet west in field.

USGS topographic quadrangle: Anahuac
Latitude: 29 degrees, 45 minutes, .92 seconds N
Longitude: 94 degrees, 41 minutes, 35.69 seconds W
Datum: WGS84

UTM Easting:285857
UTM Northing:3221435
UTM Zone: 15

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: These soils are saturated with water from three to six months during the year.
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 37 to 55 percent

^A Horizon
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 4 to 7
Chroma: 0 to 3
Texture: clay, clay loam or loam
Electrical conductivity (mmhos/cm): 2 to 16
Sodium Adsorption Ratio: 5 to 30
Reaction(pH): neutral to strongly alkaline

^C Horizon (where present)
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 4 to 7
Chroma: 0 to 6
Texture: clay, or clay loam
Clay content: 30 to 55 percent
Electrical conductivity (mmhos/cm): 0.5 to 16
Sodium Adsorption Ratio: 8 to 30
Reaction(pH): neutral to strongly alkaline

^Cg Horizon
Hue: 2.5Y to 5B
Value: 4 to 7
Chroma: 0 to 2
Texture: loam, clay loam, or clay
Clay content: 25 to 55 percent
Electrical conductivity (mmhos/cm): 3 to 16
Sodium Adsorption Ratio: 10 to 30
Reaction(pH): neutral to strongly alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: There are no series in the same family. Similar soils are the Neches and Sievers series.
Neches soils: have a coarse-loamy particle-size control section.
Sievers soils: have a fine-loamy particle-size control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: Clayey dredge spoils
Landscape: Lagoons
Landform: Flats
Anthroprogenc feature: dredge spoil banks
Microfeature: mounds
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Mean annual precipitation: 1143 to 1575 mm (45 to 62 in)
Mean annual air temperature: 20 to 22 degrees C (68 to 72 degrees F)
Frost-free period: 270 to 300 days
Elevation: 0 to 3 m (0 to 10 ft)

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Harris, Neal, and the Sievers series.
Harris soils: occur on lower coastal marshlands; are not on anthropogenic landforms; do not have dredgic human-altered and human transported material family class.
Neel and Sievers soils: loamy throughout; are on dredged materials on similar or higher positions in the landscape.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage class: Poor
Permeability class: very slow
Runoff: very high
Flooding: Occasionally or Frequently flooded for brief periods of time throughout the year.
Seasonal Water Table: These soils have endosaturation from April through December from 46 to 102 cm.

USE AND VEGETATION:
Mainly used for rangeland and wildlife habitat.
Native vegetation: mostly waterloving, salt tolerant species such as gulf cordgrass and common reedgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
General Area: Mainly along the upper Gulf Coast of Texas in the Gulf Marsh
Land Resource Region: Atlantic and Gulf Coast Lowland Forest and Crop Region(T) Major Land Resource Areas: 151, 150B;
Extent: minor

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Chambers County, Texas, 1969.

REMARKS: Ijam soils were formerly unclassified and mapped as Made land.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle size control section: 25 to 100 (10 to 40 in). (Cg horizon)
Anthropic epipedon: 0 to 20 cm (0 to 8 in). (A horizon)
Stratification from dredging operations
Aquic conditions: 0 to 203 cm (0 to 80 in).

Taxonomic Version: Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014

---

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.