LOCATION SHATTA LA+ALEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Fragiudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Shatta silt loam--pine woodland.
(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam; weak medium and fine granular structure; friable; many roots; common fine concretions; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
BE--6 to 11 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few pores in channels filled with material from horizon above; medium acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 22 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly plastic; few fine roots; few fine pores; thin patchy clay films on surfaces of peds and in pores; few fine brown concretions; medium acid; gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
Bt2--22 to 30 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) clay loam; many coarse and medium distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; yellowish brown part of horizon (70 percent) is friable; the remaining 30 percent is firm and brittle; few roots; few pores; few fine and medium brown concretions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
Bx1--30 to 42 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay loam; many coarse distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) mottles; moderate coarse and very coarse prismatic structure; about 80 percent of horizontal cross section is firm and brittle, the remaining 20 percent is friable; few roots mainly in cracks; few pores; vertical cracks 1 to 2 cm wide and about 20 cm apart filled with uncoated sand and silt; thin patchy clay films on surfaces of peds; few soft red bodies; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)
Bx2--42 to 70 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; common, medium distinct reddish brown (5YR 5/4) mottles; moderate coarse prismatic structure that parts into moderate medium coarse angular blocky structure; firm and brittle; few roots mainly in vertical cracks between peds; polygonal cracks 1 to 2 cm wide filled with light gray loam; many soft red concretions; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Red River Parish, Louisiana; 3 1/4 miles southeast of Coushatta; 330 yards north of U. S. Highway 71 and Mount Olive Parish road intersection.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from about 60 to 90 inches. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 20 to 36 inches. Soil reaction is medium acid to very strongly acid throughout except where the surface has been limed.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 or 2, or value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. The A horizon is less than 6 inches in thickness when color value is 3 or less and have value of 4 or more when the upper 7 inches of the soil is mixed. The E horizon, when present, has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture of the A and E horizons is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or very fine sandy loam.
The BE horizon, when present, and the Bt horizon have hue of 10YR, value of 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. Reddish mottles are present in the Bt horizon of some pedons. The BE, when present, is silt loam or loam. Texture of the Bt horizon is clay loam, silty clay loam, loam, or silt loam. Content of sand is more than 25 percent with less than 15 percent coarser than very fine sand.
The Bx horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 5, and chroma of 4 to 8; or has hue of 10YR, value of 4 and chroma of 4. In some pedons, the lower Bx horizon is mottled with shades of brown, yellow, red, or gray. Texture of the Bx horizon is silt loam, loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam. Discontinuous reddish streaks commonly border vertical sides of prisms. Brittle and firm prisms average 4 to 8 inches in diameter when moist. Vertical cracks are filled with grayish silt loam and silty clay loam.
The BC horizon, when present, has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 and chroma of 4 to 8; or value of 6 and chroma of 6 or 8. Mottles are in shades of gray. Texture is very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, or sandy clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Lax and Leadville soils in the same famimly. Similar soils are Beauregard, Bowie, Cane, Cart, Debute, Dulac, Erno, Grenada, Leverett, Loring, Olivier, Ora, Providence, Savannah, and Thage series. Beauregard, Bowie, and Cart soils lack fragipans. In addition, Cart soils have coarse loamy control sections. Cane, Erno, Ora, and Savannah soils have fine-loamy control sections. Lax soils have IIBx2 horizons with 35 to 70 percent chert or quartzite coarse fragments. Leadville soils have silty clay loam to clay textures below the fragipan and acid shale bedrock below 48 inches. Debute, Dulac, Grenada, Leverett, Loring, Olivier, Ora, and Providence soils have mixed mineralogy. Leverett soils also have coarse-silty control sections and Grenada sils have an A' horizon above the fragipan and the clay maxima below the fragipan. Oliver and Thage soils have 1 or 2 chroma mottles in the upper 10 inches of the B horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Shatta soils are nearly level to moderately sloping. Slope gradients range from 0 to about 8 percent. The soil formed in silty marine and fluvial sediments. The climate is warm and humid. Near the type location, the mean annual temperature is about 65 degrees F., and the mean annual rainfall is about 56 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Beauregard series, and the Bama, Cahaba, Malbis, and Ruston series. All of these soils lack fragipans.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; slow to medium runoff. The permeability is moderate in the upper part of the B horizon and slow in the fragipan. A water table is perched above the fragipan for short durations after heavy rains.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of Shatta soils are in pasture or in pine woodland. A few areas are cultivated.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana and possibly Mississippi. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Red River Parish, Louisiana; 1973.
REMARKS: This soil was formerly mapped as a variant of the Cane series.