LOCATION PRENTISS MS+AL AR LAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Glossic Fragiudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Prentiss loam--pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine roots; medium acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Ap horizon is 4 to 9 inches thick.)
Bt1--7 to 20 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few fine and medium root channels filled with material from above; sand grains bridged and coated with clay; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--20 to 26 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; sand grains coated and bridged with clay; few pockets of uncoated sand grains; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt subhorizons is 15 to 24 inches thick.)
Btx1--26 to 46 inches; mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), and light gray (2.5Y 7/2) sandy loam; weak very coarse prismatic parting to weak fine subangular blocky structure; firm, compact and brittle in about 70 percent of the volume; few fine roots; common fine pores; some sand grains bridged by clay; gray seams bordering prism faces are less clayey than surrounding material; few to common fine and medium brown and black concretions; few fine gravel; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Btx2--46 to 54 inches; mottled dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), yellowish red (5YR 4/8), and light gray (10YR 7/2) loam; weak very coarse prismatic parting to weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, brittle and compact in about 70 percent of the volume; common fine voids; few patchy clay films; gray seams of less clayey material between prism faces; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Btx3--54 to 73 inches; mottled yellowish red (5YR 4/8), yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), and light gray (10YR 7/2) loam; weak very coarse prismatic parting to weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, brittle and compact in about 70 percent of the volume; few fine voids; patchy clay films; gray seams of less clayey material between prism faces; very strongly acid. (Combined thickness of the Btx subhorizons is 40 to more than 60 inches thick.)
TYPE LOCATION: Lowndes County, Mississippi; about 5 miles north of Columbus, and 1.5 miles east of U. S. Highway 45 on west side of paved road; 330 feet west of SE corner of NW1/4NE1/4 sec. 22, T. 17 S., R. 8 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is more than 60 inches. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 20 to 32 inches. The soil is very strongly acid or strongly acid, except for the surface layers in areas that have been limed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 1 to 3. Some pedons have a thin A1 horizon with hue of 10YR, value of 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon. It has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 to 6, or hue of 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 to 6; the lower part of the Bt horizon commonly has mottles in shades of brown or gray, and mottles with chroma of 2 or less, if present, are below 16 inches of the surface. It is loam, silt loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. The particle-size control section, between a depth of 10 inches and the upper boundary of the fragipan, ranges from 5 to 18 percent clay, more than 15 percent fine and coarser sand, and from 35 to 60 percent silt.
The Btx horizon either has a matrix similar to the Bt horizon with mottles in shades of brown, red, or yellow, and in addition, has mottles with chroma of 2 or less; or it is mottled in shades of brown, yellow, red, and gray. The fragipan has gray vertical seams that form a roughly polygonal pattern of prisms. The matrix of the prisms is very firm when dry and brittle when moist, and in the major part of the Btx horizon, it constitutes as much as 60 percent of the volume or more. The Btx horizon is loam, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam. Some pedons have few to common iron and manganese concretions.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cloudland and Stemley series in the same family and the closely related Benndale, Cane, Ora, Paden, Pheba, Sango, Savannah, and Stough series. Cloudland soils have a thinner fragipan without red mottles in the lower part. Stemley soils have chert fragments throughout with as much as 15 to 35 percent by volume above the fragipan. Benndale soils do not have a fragipan. Cane, Ora, and Savannah soils have a fine-loamy control section. Paden soils have a fine-silty control section. Pheba and Sango soils have a coarse-silty control section. Stough soils have mottles with chroma of 2 or less in the upper part of the B horizon, and the lower part of the B horizon is brittle in less than 60 percent of the volume.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Prentiss soils are on marine and fluvial terraces of the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in loamy deposits of medium and moderately coarse texture. The climate is warm and humid. Mean annual temperature is about 64 degrees Fahrenheit and mean annual precipitation is about 53 inches near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ora, Savannah, and Stough soils of the competing series and the Longview, Mashulaville, Myatt, and Quitman soils. Moderately well drained Ora and Savannah soils are either in similar or slightly higher positions than the Prentiss soils. Somewhat poorly drained Stough soils are in slightly lower positions. Somewhat poorly drained Longview soils, which are on nearby uplands, are silty and do not have a fragipan. Poorly drained Mashulaville and Myatt soils are on broad flats and in depressions, and in addition, Mashulaville soils are dominantly gray in all horizons between the base of the A horizon and the fragipan, and Myatt soils are dominantly gray in the upper 20 inches of the Bt horizon. Moderately well drained Quitman soils, which are in similar positions as the Prentiss soils, have a fine-loamy particle size class.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; medium runoff; moderate permeability in the upper part of the solum and moderately slow in the fragipan. The soil has a perched water table at a depth of 2.0 to 2.5 feet during the months of January through March.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the Prentiss soils are cleared and cropped to cotton, corn, soybeans, and small grains, or used for hay and pasture. Wooded areas are in mixed pines and hardwoods. Common trees are shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, cherrybark oak, white oak, flowering dogwood, and sweetgum.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The series are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Tishomingo County, Mississippi; 1944.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 7 inches (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon - the zone from approximately 7 to 73 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Btx1, Btx2, Btx3 horizons).
Fragipan - the zone from approximately 26 to 73 inches (Btx1, Btx2, Btx3 horizons).
Glossic feature - clay skins are not evident on both vertical and horizontal faces of peds in the horizon above the fragipan (Bt1, Bt2 horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data: chemical and physical analyses for the typical pedon are published in the Soil Survey of Lowndes County, Mississippi (issued September 1979) pp. 134-135. Characterization data for one pedon are published in SSIR 13 pp. 124-125. Characterization data for two pedons are published in Soil Survey of Clarke County, Mississippi (issued December 1965) pp. 106-109. Chemical and physical analyses for one pedon are published in Soil Survey of Webster County, Mississippi (issued June 1978) pp. 96-97. Engineering test data for two pedons are published in Soil Survey of Clarke County, Mississippi (issued December 1965) pp. 108-109.