LOCATION SILERTON TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Paleudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Silerton silt loam - forested. (Colors are for moist.)
A--0 to 4 inches, dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine root, few medium roots; common fine pores; medium acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--4 to 10 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) silty clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak medium granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots, few medium roots; many fine pores; few medium root channels filled with surface soil material; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--10 to 22 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots, few medium roots; common fine pores; few faint clay films in pores; few faint iron stains around root channels; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (thickness of the Bt horizon is 16 to 40 inches)
2Bt/E--22 to 27 inches; (2Bt part about 80 percent) yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; few fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable with about 20 percent firm brittle spots; common very fine and fine roots, few medium roots; common distinct clay skins faces of peds and in pores; few fine prominent red (2.5YR 4/6) peds; few fine pores; (E part) brown (10YR 5/3) loam in streaks and pockets; few clean sand grains; few very fine pores; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
2Bt1--27 to 32 inches; mottled yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and red (2.5YR 4/6) clay loam; common fine distinct brown (10YR 5/3) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable with about 20 percent firm brittle spots; few fine and medium roots; few fine pores; common distinct clay skins on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear wavy.
2Bt2--32 to 40 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay loam; many medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) streaks and pockets; moderate coarse and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots; common fine pores; many prominent clay skins on faces of peds and in pores; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
2Bt3--40 to 60 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay loam; few medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) streaks and pockets; moderate coarse and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots; common fine pores; many prominent clay skins on faces of peds and in pores; strongly acid. (thickness of the 2Bt is 16 to 40 inches or more)
TYPE LOCATION: Wayne County, Tennessee; from Lutts cemetery 0.4 miles west to Grassy Creek road, 4.0 miles south on Grassy Creek road, 50 feet east of road in woods. Latitude 35 degrees 5 minutes 19 seconds North, Longitude 87 degrees 57 minutes 40 seconds West
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of solum and depth to rock is 60 inches or more. The soil is strongly acid to very strongly acid throughout except the surface layer is less acid where limed. Transition horizons have characteristics similar to adjacent horizons.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is silt loam or rarely loam.
The Ap horizon, where present, is 5 to 12 inches thick. It has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is silt loam or loam, and in severely eroded areas includes silty clay loam.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 6 or 7, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is silt loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma 4 or 6. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam. Streaks and pockets of silt loam or loam with hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 range from none to common in the lower part of the Bt horizon. In some pedons the lower part of the Bt horizon has mottles in shades of red, yellow or brown.
The 2Bt part of 2Bt/E or E/2Bt horizons has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is silt loam, loam or silty clay loam. The 2E part has hue of 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 3. Content of slightly brittle areas range from 0 to 40 percent. Texture is silt loam or loam.
The 2Bt horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Mottles in shades of red, yellow and brown range from none to many. Most pedons have subhorizons that do not have a matrix color but are mottled in shades of red, yellow and brown. Texture of the 2Bt horizon is clay loam, sandy clay, silty clay or clay. Most pedons have streaks and pockets with colors in shades of red, yellow, and brown that are inherent of the parent material. Some pedons have a few gray mottles below about 30 inches. Some pedons have a few ironstone fragments along the upper boundary of the 2Bt horizon. Content of rounded quartz gravel up to 2 inches in diameter ranges from 0 to 5 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Aycock, Bewleyville, Blevins, Curtistown, and Mountview series in the same family and the similar Allen, Avilla, Bama, Etowah, Holston, Leesburg, Minvale, Orangeburg, Pikeville, Ruston, and Warnock series. Aycock soils do not have a lithology discontinuity. The lower part of the solum of Bewleyville and Mountview soils formed in old alluvium or residuum of limestone. Blevins soils do not have a lithology discontinuity and have bisequal clay distribution. Curtistown soils have surface layers with value and chroma of 3 or less. Allen, Avilla, Bama, Etowah, Holston, Leesburg, Minvale, Orangeburg, Pikeville, Ruston, and Warnock soils are fine-loamy.
GEOGRAPHICALLY SETTING: Silerton soils are on gently sloping to sloping ridgetops and plateau-like areas. The soil formed in a silty mantle 1.5 to 3 feet thick and in the underlying Coastal Plain clayey sediments. Slopes range from 2 to 12 percent. Near the type location, the average annual precipitation is about 54 inches and the average annual temperature is about 62 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Brandon, Dulac, Lexington, Luverne and Saffell soils. Brandon soils, on slightly higher positions, have solum thickness of 20 to 40 inches and mixed mineralogy. Dulac soils, on adjacent positions, have a fragipan. Lexington soils, on slightly higher positions, have base saturation of 35 percent or more. Luverne soils, on slightly higher positions, are clayey. Saffell soils, on nearby steep hillsides, are loamy-skeletal.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff; moderate permeability in the upper part of the solum; slow permeability in the lower part.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly used for growing cotton, corn, hay, and pasture. A small amount is in woodland of oak, hickory, beech gum, and elm.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, and possibly Alabama, Arkansas, and southeastern Missouri. The series is small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Henderson County, Tennessee: 1955.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to about 4 inches (A horizon). The surface layer has mollic properties but is too thin for classification.
Argillic horizon - the zone from about 4 inches to 60 inches (Bt1, Bt2, 2Bt/E, 2Bt1, 2Bt3, horizons)
Brittle material in the zone from about 22 inches to about 32 inches (2Bt/E, 2Bt1 horizons.
Lithologic discontinuity - the zone from about 22 inches to about 60 inches (2Bt/E, 2Bt1, 2Bt2, 2Bt3 horizons)