LOCATION OKEELALA MS+AL FL
Established Series
Rev. MR; RWW; RBH, GRB
07/2013
OKEELALA SERIES
The Okeelala series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils in dissected uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area (133A). They formed in Upper Cretaceous to the Oligocene-age cross-bedded sandy and loamy sediments. Near the type location, the average annual temperature is about 60 degrees F., and the average annual rainfall is about 53 inches. Slopes range from 1 to 60 percent.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Okeelala sandy loam, in a mixed hardwood forest (Colors are for moist soil).
A--0 to 3 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and very fine roots; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
E--3 to 11 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and very fine roots; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 22 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) sandy clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; common fine and very fine roots; many medium faint reddish brown (5YR 5/4) mottles; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--22 to 34 inches; red (2.5YR 5/6) sandy clay loam moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common distinct clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; common fine roots; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt3--34 to 48 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) sandy clay loam; with moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly firm in place, friable when disturbed; few fine roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; few fine distinct dark brown (10YR 3/3) concretions; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bt horizon ranges from 30 to 50 inches)
C1--48 to 62 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) sandy loam; massive; firm in place, friable when disturbed; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
C2--62 to 80 inches; 50 percent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) and 50 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sandy loam; massive; slightly firm in place, friable when disturbed; common fine mica flakes and glauconite sand grains; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Prentiss County, Mississippi. Approximately 2.5 miles east of Baldwin in a wooded area. Sec. 20, T. 6 S.; R. 7 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid, except the surface layer has been limed.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is fine sand, sand, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
Severely eroded areas may have an A/B or AB horizon. Where present, it is a mix of the A and Bt material and ranges from 4 to 8 inches in thickness. Where present, the colors are a mix of the A and Bt horizons. The texture is sandy loam or sandy clay loam.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is sand, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
Some pedons have a B/E or EB horizon. Where present, it has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam and ranges up to sandy clay loam in the more eroded areas.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. Mottles in shades of red and brown range from none to many. Chert, quartz or ironstone pebbles range from none to few. Texture is sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam or clay loam.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue from 10YR to 2.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Some pedons contain few to common chert, quartz or ironstone pebbles. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam.
The upper part of the C horizon ranges in hue from 10YR to 2.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8; in some places the colors are intermingled or there is a matrix with few to many mottles in shades of brown to red. Texture is loamy fine sand, sand fine sandy loam or sandy loam; or it is irregularly stratified in a combination of these textures.
The lower part of the C horizon has the same range of colors and textures as the upper part. It has varying amounts of glauconite and mica. Discontinuous thin laminae of loamy and clayey material are in the sandy matrix of some pedons. Chert, quartz, or ironstone gravel, if present, is less than 10 percent of the volume.
COMPETING SERIES: These are no known series in the same family. The
Ulto series is in a closely related family. The Ulto series has an active activity class and is in the Western Coastal Plain (MLRA 133B).
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Okeelala soils are on maturely dissected uplands, featured by narrow winding ridges and deeply incised valleys of the Southern Coastal Plain. They formed in thick beds of dominantly loamy and sandy marine deposits of the upper Cretaceous to the Oligocene. These soils mainly overlie the Coffee Sand Formation, which typically consists of cross-bedded, glauconitic, micaceous, and calcareous sandy and loamy deposits with subordinate thin beds of calcareous sandstone concretions and laminated layers of clay. The climate is warm and humid. Slopes range from 1 to 60 percent. The mean annual temperature ranges from 58 to 62 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from 50 to 55 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the
Brantley,
Luverne,
Ora,
Ruston,
Saffell,
Savannah,
Smithdale,
Sweatman and
Wadley series. Brantley soils are on similar to lower positions and have clayey control sections. Luverne and Sweatman soils are on similar positions, have clayey control sections and are Ultisols. The moderately well drained Ora and Savannah soils are on higher ridge top positions and have fragipans. Ruston and Smithdale soils are Ultisols. In addition, Ruston soils have a bisequum and are on broad smooth ridge tops while Smithdale soils are on similar positions as Okeelala. Saffell soils are on similar positions, are Ultisols and have a loamy-skeletal family. The well drained to somewhat excessively drained Wadley soils are on the lower positions of hill slopes, are Ultisols and have sandy surface and subsurface layers 40 to 80 inches thick.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to very rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the Okeelala soils are used for woodland. Cleared areas are used mainly for pasture and a few areas are cropped to corn, soybeans, and small grains. The wooded areas are dominated by loblolly pine and mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Areas of Southern Coastal Plain of Alabama, the Florida panhandle, Mississippi and possibly Tennessee, which are underlain by formations with evident amounts of glauconite, mica, and calcareous shell fragments. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Prentiss County, Mississippi; 1988. Source of name is Okeelala Creek, which drains a large portion of the county that is underlain by the Coffee sand formation.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 11 inches (A and E horizons).
Argillic Horizon - the zone from 11 to 48 inches (Bt1, Bt2 and Bt3 horizons).
Okeelala soils have been included in the Smithdale series since it was established in 1971. Prior to that, these soils were included with the Cahaba series. The unweathered parent material has thin discontinuous calcareous strata and contains appreciable glauconite and muscovite mica.
Soil Interpretation Record Number MS0126.
Okeelala soils are in MLRA 133A.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Physical and chemical data for 7 pedons developed in the Coffee Sand Formation are from Prentiss County, Mississippi. Data are from Mississippi State University Soil Genesis and Morphology Laboratory. Base saturation ranges from 35 to 60 percent at a depth of 50 inches below the top of the argillic horizon.
There is no record of laboratory date in the NSSC National Soils Database at this time.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.