LOCATION TUSCOSSO TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, thermic Dystric Fluventic Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Tuscosso clay loam, on a 0.5 percent slope, in pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 8 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) clay loam; weak medium granular structure; hard, firm; common roots of all sizes; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (2 to 12 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 15 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) silty clay; weak medium subangular blocky structure; parting to moderate medium granular; hard, firm; common roots of all sizes; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
Bw2--15 to 27 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; few fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) iron depletions; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm; few roots of all sizes; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)
Bw3--27 to 40 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay loam; common medium prominent grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) iron depletions; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm; few roots of all sizes; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)
Bw4--40 to 53 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; many medium prominent gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
C--53 to 72 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; many medium prominent dark gray (10YR 4/1) iron depletions; massive; very hard, very firm; moderately acid; few gypsum crystals in lower part.
TYPE LOCATION: Nacogdoches County, Texas; from the intersection of Loop 224, Texas Highway 7 and Upper Melrose Road; 6.2 miles east on Melrose Road; .25 mile north of road and 200 feet east of Tuscosso Creek channel.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 30 to 60 inches. Average clay content of the 10- to 40-inch control section ranges from 35 to 55 percent and the silt content ranges from 25 to 50 percent.
The A horizon is less than 20 inches thick. It is dark brown (7.5YR 3/2, 4/2, 4/4; 10YR 3/3), brown (10YR 4/3), dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3, 3/4), reddish brown (5YR 4/4), yellowish red (5YR 4/6), or very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2). It lacks the combination of dark colors and thickness to qualify as a Mollic epipedon. The texture is clay loam, silty clay loam, clay, or silty clay. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through neutral.
The Bw horizon has colors of yellowish red (5YR 4/6, 5/6, 5/8), brown (7.5Y 5/4), brown (7.5YR 4/4), red (2.5YR 4/6), or strong brown (7.5YR 5/6, 5/8) in the matrix. Iron depletions in shades of brown (10YR 5/3), and iron accumulations in shades of yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), or light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) occur throughout this horizon. Iron depletions in shades of gray and olive are at depths greater than 24 inches. The texture is clay loam, clay, or silty clay. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid.
The C horizon has the same range of color as the B2 horizon. In most pedons the lower C horizons contain gypsum crystals.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Hannahatchee, Iuka, Mantachie, Marietta, Nahatche, and Thenas series. All of these soils have less than 35 percent clay within the control sections. In addition, Iuka, Mantachie, Marietta, Nahatche, and Thenas soils have mottles associated with wetness within 24 inches of the soil surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Tuscosso soils are on nearly level bottomlands that drain areas of reddish soils. Slopes are less than 1 percent. These soils flood almost annually for a duration of less than 2 days. Mean annual rainfall ranges from 40 to 50 inches and is evenly distributed throughout the year. Mean annual temperature ranges from 65 degrees to 69 degrees F. Thornthwaite annual P-E indices exceed 64.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing series, all of which have similar landscape positions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Tuscosso soils are moderately well drained and moderately slowly permeable. Runoff is slow. The water table is at 30 to 50 inches below the soil surface during the cool season.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for native pasture, with some areas of improved pastures of bahiagrass and white clover. Less than half the acreage is used for woodland. In natural reseeded areas, oak, gum, and hickory predominate with few loblolly and shortleaf pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Coastal Plain of eastern Texas. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nacogdoches County, Texas; 1976.
REMARKS: These soils were formerly classified in the Alluvial great soil group. They were included in the Hannahatchee series. The series was reclassified as a Eutrudept and assigned to an active activity class in 5/2001.