LOCATION SYKES TNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Typic Paleudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Sykes silt loam - pasture. (Colors are for moist soil)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 3 percent subrounded and rounded gravel; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--8 to 19 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; common fine tubular pores; few faint clay films in pores and on ped faces; 3 percent subrounded and rounded gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--19 to 28 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine tubular pores; common distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films in pores and on ped faces; 12 percent subrounded and rounded gravel; less than 2 inches in diameter; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary. (The Bt horizon ranges from 18 to 36 inches in thickness)
2Bt3--28 to 38 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay; common medium distinct light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, moderatley sticky, moderately plastic; few fine roots; few fine tubular pores; common distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
2Bt4--38 to 50 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay; common medium distinct light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) mottles; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; very firm, very sticky, very plastic; few fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on faces of peds; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary.
2Bt5--50 to 65 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay; many medium distinct pale brown (10YR 6/3) and common fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) mottles; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; very firm, very sticky, very plastic; few faint clay films on faces of peds; slightly alkaline. (Thickness of the 2Bt horizon ranges from 24 to 42 inches.)
2R--65 inches; limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Smith County, Tennessee; southwestern part of the county; 0.4 mile west of State Hwy. 264 on Brush Creek-Hickman Road; southwest 1800 feet on Thomas Road; 300 feet south of the road in field.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. This soil is slightly acid to strongly acid except the layer just above bedrock ranges to mildly alkaline. Gravel and angular fragments of chert range from none to about 15 percent in each horizon. Depth to the 2Bt horizon ranges from 24 to 48 inches.
The A or Ap horizon has a hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Pedons with value of 3 are less than 7 inches thick or have chroma of 4. Texture is silt loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 or 6. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The 2Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 to 8. Some pedons have hue of 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 or 6 in the lower part of the 2Bt. Mottles are in shades of brown and red. The upper part is clay, silty clay or silty clay loam and the lower part is clay or silty clay.
The 2C horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 3 to 6. Mottles are in shades of brown, red, and gray and some pedons are an evenly mottled pattern without a dominant matrix color. Texture is clay or silty clay.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Atwood and Lexington series in the same family and the Armour, Crider, Dellrose, Harpeth, Hicks, and Stiversville series in closely associated families. Atwood and Lexington soils have 2Bt horizons that are loamy instead of clayey. Armour soils do not have a clayey 2Bt horizon within 48 inches. Crider soils are on uplands, typically have redder colors and are mesic. Dellrose soils are on hillsides and are fine-loamy. Harpeth soils are on uplands and high stream terraces have redder colors and do not have slowly to very slowly permeable subsoils within 36 inches. Hicks soils are on upland ridgetops and have soft bedrock at a depth of 40 to 60 inches. Stiversville soils are on uplands, are fine-loamy, and have soft bedrock at a depth of 40 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sykes soils are on foot slopes and high stream terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 12 percent. These soils formed in 2 to 3 feet of silty alluvium and colluvium and the underlying clayey residuum of limestone or interbedded limestone and shale. Near the type location average annual temperature is 58 degrees F. and average annual precipitation is 55 inches near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Armour, Dellrose, Hicks, and Stiversville series and the Arrington, Hampshire, Mimosa, Nolin, Ellisville, and Talbott series. Arrington, Nolin, and Ellisville soils are on adjacent flood plains and do not have an argillic horizon. Hampshire, Mimosa and Talbott soils are on adjacent uplands and have a fine-textured control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate permeability in the upper part and slow or very slow in the lower part; low to medium runoff.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are used for corn, tobacco, small grain, hay and pasture. The native vegetation was mixed hardwoods including oak, hickory, elm, hackberry, locust, yellow poplar and black walnut.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Nashville Basin in Tennessee. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Smith County, Tennessee; 1993.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon - about 8 to 65 inches (Bt and 2Bt horizons)