LOCATION PEDRO FLEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, superactive, hyperthermic, shallow Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Pedro fine sand--forested. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 5 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) fine sand, weak fine crumb structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
E--5 to 13 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine sand; single grained; loose; few fine and medium roots; few fine, clean light gray sand grains in streaks; cyclic thickness is 1 to 44 inches within the pedon; moderately acid; clear irregular boundary. (4 to 16 inches thick)
Bt--13 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) sandy clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; sand grains are coated and bridged with clay; few fragments of limestone 1 to 15 mm in diameter; about 5 percent by volume; mildly alkaline; discontinuous and cyclic thickness is 0 to 24 inches within the pedon; abrupt irregular boundary. (3 to 13 inches thick in 55 to 60 percent of the pedon)
2Cr--16 to 25 inches; white (10YR 8/1) weathered limestone soft enough to be cut with a spade; few fine and medium fragments of hard limestone. Cyclic thickness is 0 to 40 inches.
2R--25 inches; hard fractured limestone that can be dug with light power equipment such as a backhoe.
TYPE LOCATION: Marion County, Florida. About 3 1/2 miles north of intersection of U.S. Highway 27 and State Highway 335 on State Highway 335 and 500 feet east. SW1/4NW1/4, sec. 27, T. 12 S., R. 19 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soil is cyclic. Solum thickness and depth to soft, weathered limestone is 6 to 20 inches, but within the pedon, the range in thickness is to about 60 inches in solution holes. An argillic horizon from 3 to 13 inches thick occupies about 50 to 55 percent of the pedon. Sandy soils without argillic horizons over the limestone occupy about 10 to 25 percent of each pedon usually in the areas shallower to the soft limestone. Intermediate areas have a cambic horizon that is similar to the argillic horizon but less than 3 inches thick and with the base of the cambic horizon below 10 inches depth. Within each pedon solution holes in the limestone up to about 5 feet deep comprise 5 to 10 percent. These areas have an argillic horizon similar to the described Bt horizon but thicker. There is an E horizon up to 50 inches thick over the Bt horizon in the solution holes.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is sand or fine sand. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is sand or fine sand. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR, or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is sandy clay loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to mildly alkaline. Most pedons have few to common, fine and medium fragments of soft and hard limestone in this horizon.
The 2Cr horizon is weathered limestone with hue of 10YR, value of 7 or 8, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is commonly mixed with few to common fragments of hard limestone.
Boulders occur in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: There is no other known series in the same family. Jonesville soils are closely similar and differ by having limestone below a depth of 20 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pedro soils are on nearly level to gently sloping landscapes in the Coastal Plain. Slopes range from 1 to 5 percent. They formed in sandy and loamy marine sediments over limestone. The average annual precipitation is about 50 to 60 inches and mean annual temperature is about 70 to 74 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Arredondo, Kendrick, Lochloosa, Shadeville and Sparr series. All of these soils except Shadeville soils have sandy A and E horizons more than 20 inches thick. Lochloosa and Sparr soils have mottles of chroma 2 or less in the upper 5 inches of the argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, slow runoff, moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: About two-thirds of the soil is cleared and used for peanuts, watermelons, and tame pasture. The principle crop is peanuts. Native vegetation consists of slash and longleaf pine; post, turkey and live oak; scattered palmettos; native weeds and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central areas of Peninsular Florida. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Marion County, Florida; 1974.
REMARKS: These soils do not meet the definition of the Typic Hapludalfs. The argillic horizon is discontinuous within the pedon, and there is a contact over soft rock within 20 inches depth that meets the requirements for paralithic except that it is not continuous throughout the pedon. There are solution holes up to 5 feet thick within the shallow part of the pedon.
Dianogstic horizons and features in this pedon.
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 13 inches (A, E)
Argillic horizon - 13 to 16 inches (Bt)