LOCATION MATHISTON MS+TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, active, acid, thermic Aeric Fluvaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Mathiston silt loam--cultivated.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; few fine faint light brownish gray mottles; moderate fine granular structure; friable; common fine roots; few fine brown and black concretions; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
Bw--6 to 14 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; common fine distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) mottles; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly sticky; few fine roots; few fine black and brown concretions; many fine pores; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bg1--14 to 22 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt loam; many fine distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) mottles; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly sticky; few fine roots; few fine black and brown concretions; common fine pores; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bg2--22 to 39 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silt loam; common fine distinct dark brown (10YR 3/3) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; weak and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly sticky; few fine roots; common fine and medium black and brown concretions; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the upper part of the Bg horizon is 16 to 34 inches.)
Bg3--39 to 60 inches; mottled grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2), yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), and very pale brown (10YR 7/4) silty clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly plastic and sticky; common fine and medium black and brown concretions; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Oktibbeha County, Mississippi; 9.0 miles west of Starkville city limits on U.S. Highway 82, 1.5 miles northwest on blacktop road and 100 feet south into cultivated field.
SW1/4SW1/4 sec. 11, T. 19 N., R. 12 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soil commonly is very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout, except the surface layer in areas that have been limed. Some pedons are medium acid below a depth of 40 inches. The 10- to 40-inch particle-size control section has 20 to 35 percent clay.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Some pedons have a thin A horizon, less than 4 inches thick with value of 10YR, value of 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 3, commonly with few to many mottles with chroma of 2 or less; or it has hue of 10YR, value of 5, and chroma of 4 to 8 with mottles having chroma of 2 or less. In some pedons the horizon is mottled in shades of brown, yellow, or gray. Texture is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam.
The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2, commonly with mottles in shades of brown. In some pedons the horizon is mottled in shades of brown, yellow, and gray. Brown and black concretions are commonly few to many.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no series in the same family. Closely related series are the Arkabutla, Belden, Commerce, Chenneby, Falaya, Gillsburg, Houlka, Mantachie, Rosebloom, and Urbo. Arkabutla and Chenneby soils have mixed mineralogy. Also, Chenneby soils have a cambic horizon and do not have a horizon with a gray matrix within a depth of 20 inches. Belden and Commerce soils have mixed mineralogy and are nonacid in the 10- to 40-inch control section. Falaya and Gillsburg are coarse-silty in the particle-size control section. Houlka and Urbo are fine in the particle-size control section. Mantachie soils are fine-loamy in the particle-size control section. Rosebloom soils have a gray matrix below the base of the A horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Mathiston soils are on flood plains of streams that drain areas of the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area. These are nearly level soils that formed in silty alluvium. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. The climate is warm and humid. Mean annual precipitation is 51.0 inches, and mean annual temperature is 68 degrees Fahrenheit near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the closed related Belden, Falaya, Houlka, Mantachie, Rosebloom, and Urbo soils listed in the competing series. Except the poorly drained Rosebloom soils, which mainly are on lower parts of flood plains, these are somewhat poorly drained soils in similar positions as the Mathiston soils across the nearly linear surface of floodplains.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability. In wet seasons during winter and early in spring, the seasonal high water table is at a depth of 1.5 to 2.5 feet, and flooding is occasional to frequent for very brief to long duration.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the Mathiston soils have been cleared and are used for growing cotton, corn, soybeans, small grain, pasture, and hay. The native vegetation is bottomland hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mississippi. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Oktibbeha County, Mississippi; 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features in this profile are;
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 6 inches (Ap horizon).
Aeric Fluvaquents feature - a subhorizon between 10- and 30-inches in which the chroma is higher than that of the soils in the typic subgroup (the zone from approximately 6 to 14 inches, Bw horizon).