LOCATION VICKSBURG          MS+KY LA TN
Established Series
WMK:WIS:RBH Rev. MAV
08/2002

VICKSBURG SERIES

The Vicksburg series consists of deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils. These soils formed in thick silty alluvium, mainly derived from loess, on flood plains along streams that drain areas of the Southern Mississippi Valley Silty Uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, active, acid, thermic Typic Udifluvents

TYPICAL PEDON: Vicksburg silt loam - cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)

Cl--7 to 28 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; structureless; very friable; few fine roots; many worm casts; has bedding planes; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

C2--28 to 44 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; few medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) and pale brown (10YR 6/3) mottles; structureless, very friable; has bedding planes; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.

C3--44 to 55 inches; mottled dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), gray (l0YR 6/1) and light gray (l0YR 7/2) silt loam; structureless; very friable; few fine black concretions; strong1y acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Tallahatchie County, Mississippi; 1.25 miles south of Cascilla, .25 mile west of intersection of gravel roads, and 360 feet east of Rattlesnake Creek bridge and 80 feet south into cultivated field. NWl/4NWl/4 sec. 29, T. 23 N., R. 3 E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soil is very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout, except the surface layers in areas that have been limed.

The A horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR, or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is silt loam, silt, loam, or very fine sandy loam.

The upper part of the C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4; mottles with chroma of 2 or less, if present, are below a depth of 20 inches and commonly are below 30 inches. The lower part of the C horizon commonly is mottled in shades of brown and gray; or less commonly, it has a matrix with the same color range as the upper part of the C horizon with common to many mottles in shades of brown and gray. The texture is silt, silt loam, or very fine sandy loam. Bedding planes or thin stratifications are evident in most pedons. The 10- to 40-inch control section has 5 to 18 percent clay and less than 30 percent sand, which is mainly very fine sand.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in the same family. Closely related soils include the Adler, Caruthersville, Chaseburg, Clemville, Collins, Haymond, Juneau, Morganfield, Norwood, Ochlocknoee, Severn, and Sharon series. Adler and Collins soils have mottles with chroma of 2 or less within a depth of 20 inches; also, Adler soils have a nonacid reaction class. Caruthersville, Clemville, Norwood, and Severn soils are calcareous; also, Clemville and Norwood soils have a fine-silty particle-size class. Chaseburg, Haymond, Juneau, and Sharon soils have a mesic temperature regime; also, Chaseburg and Juneau soils have a nonacid reaction class; Haymond soils have an umbric epipedon. Morganfield soils have a nonacid reaction class. Ochlockonee soils have a coarse-loamy control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Vicksburg soils are on flood plains along streams that drain areas of the Southern Mississippi Valley Silty Uplands Major Land Resource Area. These soils formed thick silty alluvium, mainly from loess. Slopes mainly are 0 to 2 percent and range to 3 percent. Near the type location average annual temperature is 64 degrees F., mean January and July temperatures are 45 degrees F., and 82 degrees, respectively, and average annual precipitation is 50 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Collins soils and the Falaya soils. The moderately well drained Collins soils are in similar positions as the Vicksburg soils, and the somewhat poorly drained Falaya soils are in slightly lower areas on flood plains.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability. The soil overflows occasionally unless protected.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of the soils are cleared and cropped to cotton, corn, soybeans, and small grains. Some is used for pasture and hay crops. The native vegetation is bottom land hardwoods. Cherrybark oak, Eastern cottonwood, green ash, loblolly pine, Nuttall oak, American sycamore, yellow-poplar, and sweetgum are common trees.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Warren County, Mississippi; 1912.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 7 inches (AP horizon).

Fluvents features - does not have fragments of diagnostic horizons below the Ap horizon and is structureless (Cl, C2, C3 horizons). Has bedding planes from approximately 7 to 44 inches (C1, C2 horizons).


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.