LOCATION SARDIS                  AR+LA TX

Established Series
LBW:JEH;Rev.JDS
11/2014

SARDIS SERIES

The Sardis series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy alluvium. These soils are on level to undulating flood plains. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, active, thermic Fluvaquentic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Sardis silt loam, on a smooth 1 percent slope, in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 7 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; many fine pores; few fine dark brown (10YR 3/3) iron-manganese concretions; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 8 inches thick)

Bw1--7 to 12 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine pores; few fine distinct dark brown (10YR 3/3) iron accumulations and few fine dark brown (10YR 3/3) iron-manganese concretions; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)

Bw2--12 to 26 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; moderate medium subangular structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine pores; common fine distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; few fine dark brown (10YR 3/3) iron-manganese concretions; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (10 to 18 inches thick)

Bw3--26 to 41 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine pores; common fine distinct gray (10YR 6/1) iron depletions and common fine distinct brown (10YR 5/3) iron accumulations;few fine dark brown (10YR 3/3) iron-manganese concretions; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (12 to 20 inches thick)

Bw4--41 to 56 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine pores; common fine distinct pale brown (10YR 6/3) and common medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) iron depletions; few fine dark brown (10YR 3/3) iron-manganese concretions; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)

C--56 to 72 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) loam; massive; few fine pores; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and few fine distinct dark brown (10YR 3/3) iron accumulations; few fine dark brown (10YR 3/3) iron-manganese concretions; very strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Hempstead County, Arkansas; 3 1/2 miles east and 1 1/2 miles north of McCaskill in NE1/4NW1/4SE1/4, sec. 26, T. 9 S., R. 24 W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum thickness: 40 to 70 inches
Clay content in the Control Section: 18 to 30 percent
Redoximorphic features: Iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less occur at depths of 8 to 24 inches. Iron accumulations and depletions are in shades of gray, brown and yellow.
Other distinctive soil features: Sand content coarser than very fine sand ranges from about 10 to 15 percent in the control section.
Concentrated minerals: None

A horizon:
Color--Hue of 10YR, value 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4
Redoximorphic features--Iron accumulations in shades of brown or yellow range from none to common.
Texture--Silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or loam
Other features--None
Reaction--Very strongly acid to moderately acid, except where limed

Bw horizon:
Color--Hues of 10YR and 7.5YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 8
Redoximorphic features--Iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less occur at depths of 8 to 24 inches. Iron accumulations and depletions are in shades of gray, brown and yellow.
Texture--Silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam
Other features--None
Reaction--Very strongly acid to moderately acid

C or Cg horizon:
Color--Variable, ranging from gray to dark yellowish brown
Redoximorphic features--Iron accumulations in shades of brown to yellowish brown, and iron depletions in shades of gray
Texture--Ranges from silt loam to sandy loam
Other features--Percent gravel ranges from 0 to 5 percent
Reaction--Very strongly acid or strongly acid

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. The Adler, Arkabutla, Belden, Cascilla, Chenneby, Chewacla, Commerce, Lobelville, Mooresville, Oaklimeter, and Ouachita series are in closely related families. Adler and Oaklimeter soils have less than 18 percent clay in the control section. In addition, Adler soils as well as the Arkabutla, Belden, and Commerce soils do not have a cambic horizons. Chenneby soils have mixed mineralogy. Chewacla, Lobelville, and Mooresville soils have more than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine sand. Cascilla and Ouachita soils do not have aquic conditions within a depth of 24 inches.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sardis soils are on level to nearly level flood plains and low terraces. They formed in loamy alluvium along streams draining areas of acid, sandstone, siltstone, and shale from the Ouachita Mountains; MLRA 119, and areas of loamy to clayey Tertiary sediments from the Western Coastal Plain; MLRA 133B. These soils are subject to occasional or frequent flooding. The climate is warm and humid with mean annual rainfall of about 49 inches and mean annual temperature of about 63 degrees F.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Ouachita series, and the Amy and Guyton series. Amy and Guyton soils have gray matrix colors with brown iron accumulations.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability. The soil is wet in the layers below 1.5 to 3 feet deep during January through May in normal years.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly hardwood forests; however, sizeable areas may be cropped locally. Crops are mainly soybeans and grain sorghum. Native vegetation was water oak, maple, sweetgum, ash, eastern cottonwood, and loblolly pine.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Arkansas and possibly Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: TEMPLE, TEXAS

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hempstead County, Arkansas; 1976.

REMARKS: The series was updated in 2004 to allow iron accumulations to be present in the A horizon, and it was clarified that the water table is not perched. The diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the type location pedon include:
Ochric epipedon--0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon)
Cambic horizon--7 to 56 inches (Bw horizons)
Irregular organic carbon distribution--7 to 50 inches (Bw horizons)
Aquic conditions--12 to 24 inches (Bw2 horizon)

These soils were formerly mapped as the Chenneby series and would have been classified in the Alluvial great soil group.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data from one pedon by the University of Arkansas Soil Characterization Laboratory is on file.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.