LOCATION ROUTON TN+AR KY NC
Established Series
RPS:JCJ Rev. MAV
10/2018
ROUTON SERIES
The Routon series consists of very deep, poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in silty alluvium derived from loess. Routon soils are on low stream terraces and in depressions on uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. The mean annual temperature is 59 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is about 49 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Typic Epiaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Routon silt loam--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)
Eg--8 to 18 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; common medium faint gray (10YR 5/1) iron depletions and common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) iron concentrations; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (7 to 14 inches thick)
Btg1--18 to 28 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine pores; few distinct clay films on vertical and horizontal faces of peds; few fine black concretions; common medium distinct pale brown (10YR 6/3) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) iron concentrations, and gray (10YR 5/1) iron depletions; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)
Btg2--28 to 44 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few distinct clay films on vertical and horizontal faces of peds; common fine black concretions; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) iron concentrations, and common medium distinct gray (N 5/0) iron depletions; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 18 inches thick)
BCg--44 to 54 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silt loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) iron concentrations, and common medium distinct gray (10YR 5/1) iron depletions; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)
C--54 to 72 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; massive; friable; many medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and pale brown (10YR 6/3) iron depletions; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Obion County, Tennessee, 1-1/4 miles east of Trimble and about 100 feet north of the Obion-Dyer County line.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of solum ranges from 40 to greater than 65 inches. The A, E and Bt horizons range from slightly acid to very strongly acid and the BC and C horizons range from neutral to strongly acid.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is silt loam.
The Eg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 6 or 7, and chroma of 2 or has value of 5 to 7 and chroma of 1 or is neutral. Iron concentrations and depletions range from few to many in shades of brown, yellow or gray. Texture is silt loam or silt.
The Btg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7 and chroma of 2 or less or is neutral. Iron concentrations and depletions range from few to many in shades of brown, yellow or gray. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The BC and C horizons have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 6 or hue of 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4. Iron concentrations and depletions range from few to many in shades of brown, yellow, or gray. Some pedons are mottled in shades of these colors without a dominant matrix color. Texture of the BC horizon is silt loam or silty clay loam and the C horizon is silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES:
Norene soils are the only series in the same family. Soils in closely related families include the
Acredale,
Adaton,
Amagon,
Dundee,
Idee,
Olmstead, and
Tichnor series. All of these soils are endosaturated, except the Olmstead soils which are in a semiactive CE activity class. Norene soils typically become heavier with depth.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Routon soils are on nearly level stream terraces and in slight upland depressions. Slopes are 0 to 3 percent. The soil formed in silty alluvium derived from loess that is greater than 4 feet in thickness. At the type location, the average annual air temperature is about 59 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is about 49 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the
Bonn,
Calhoun,
Center,
Falaya,
Henry, and
Waverly series. The somewhat poorly drained Falaya series and the poorly drained Waverly series on adjacent flood plains, and the Bonn series and possibly the
Lafe series both of which have high exchangeable sodium in some part of the sola. Calhoun soils have a glossic horizon. Center soils are moderately well drained. Henry soils have a fragipan and are in a coarse-silty textural family.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; slow runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the soil has been cleared. The main crops are soybeans, corn, milo, cotton, and pasture. The original vegetation was forest of oaks, gum, sycamore, hackberry, and elm.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The thick loess belts of Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee; possibly in similar areas in Arkansas and Louisiana. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: AUBURN, ALABAMA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Henry County, Tennessee; 1950.
REMARKS: The Routon series was formerly classified in the Low-Humic Gley great soil group. Active CE Activity class assigned in 2002. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon)
Albic horizon - 8 to 18 inches (Eg horizon)
Argillic horizon - 18 to 44 inches (Btg horizons)
Aquic conditions - saturation, reduction, and redoximorphic features 0 to 54 inches (Ap, Eg, Btg, BCg horizons)
Episaturation - saturation in the layers above 54 inches during periods when
the layer below 54 inches is not saturated (Ap, Eg, Btg, BCg horizons)
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.