LOCATION WAKITA OKEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Leptic Natrustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Wakita silt loam--cultivated. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 5 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) silt loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium platy structure; massive dry; hard, friable; many fine pores; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Btn--5 to 14 inches; reddish gray (5YR 5/2) silt loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) moist; moderate coarse columnar structure parting to subangular blocky; hard; friable; many fine pores; clay films on faces of peds; slightly alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick)
Btny1--14 to 22 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) silty clay loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm; eluvial material with uncoated sand and silt grains on faces of structure, common fine pores; clay films on faces of peds; few fine threads of gypsum; slightly alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (8 to 30 inches thick)
Btny2--22 to 32 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) silt loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; moderate coarse prismatic structure breaking to subangular blocky; hard, firm; few fine pores; clay films on faces of peds; few fine threads of gypsum; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 30 inches thick)
Cr--32 to 37 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) or reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weathered interbedded sandstone and silty shale; calcareous, moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Grant County, Oklahoma; about 3 miles east of Nash; 1,834 feet south and 444 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 12, T. 25 N., R. 7 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 24 to 40 inches. The Ap horizon has color value, moist, of 3 or less and a color value, dry, of 5 or less (crushed and smoothed sample), and a chroma of 3 or less, or materials between the soil surface and a depth of 18 cm have these colors after mixing. It has a base saturation of 50 percent or more in all horizons between the upper boundary of the natric horizon and a depth of 60 inches. It has visible crystals of gypsum or more soluble salts, or both within 16 inches of the mineral soil surface.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Moist values are 2 to 4. However, after mixing, the upper 18 cm must meet the mollic criteria above. It is loam or silt loam and fragments of sandstone and shale from 2 mm to 76 mm in diameter make up 0 to 2 percent by volume. Structure is massive, platy, granular, or blocky. This horizon ranges from moderately acid to strongly alkaline. It has sodium absorption ratio of 10 to 30 and an electrical conductivity of 0 to 15.
The Btn horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, chroma of 2 to 6. It is silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam with a clay content of 25 to 35 percent. Fragments of sandstone and shale from 2 mm to 76 mm in diameter make up 0 to 10 percent by volume. The structure is columnar or prismatic, or blocky with tongues of eluvial material that has some uncoated silt or sand grains. The reaction ranges from neutral to strongly alkaline.
The Btny1 and Btny2 horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Some pedons have mottles or red, yellow, or brown. Texture is silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam. Some pedons have fragments of sandstone and shale from 2 mm to 76 mm in diameter that make up 0 to 15 percent by volume. The reaction ranges from slightly alkaline to strongly alkaline. The B horizon has a sodium absorption ratio ranging from 13 to 100 and an electrical conductivity value from 0 to 16. Most pedons have seams of soluble salts or gypsum crystals at some time during the year.
The Cr or C horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8 but a few pedons have hue of 5Y or 5GY, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is interbedded sandstone and shale that can be cut with a spade. This rock like material is non-paralithic and has low to moderate excavation difficulty. Fractures are greater than 10 cm apart. The material is dense enough to be root restrictive. It slakes in water within 15 hours.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series of the same family. Soils in similar families are Drummond, Foard, Hinkle, Oscar, Pawhuska, and Wing series. These soils have a fine particle-size control section. Drummond soils have a water table within 24 to 80 inches and are subject to flooding. Foard soils have a mollic epipedon and montmorillonitic mineralogy. Hinkle soils are dry for longer periods of time and have montmorillonitic mineralogy. Oscar soils are on flood plains and do not have an A horizon with moist value of 3 or less. Wing soils have wetness mottles within 20 inches of the soil surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wakita soils occur on very gently sloping to gently sloping uplands. Slopes range from 1 to 5 percent. These soils occur as seeps on side slopes in slightly convex, circular areas about 10 to 200 feet in diameter or elongated areas of 20 to 200 feet in width and up to 600 feet in length. These soils have formed in material weathered from interbedded sandstone and shale of Permian age or from thin loamy deposits over interbedded sandstone and shale of Permian age. The climate is moist subhumid.
Mean Annual Precipitation: 26 to 40 inches;
mean Annual Temperature: 58 to 64 degrees F.;
Thornthwaite Annual P-E indices: 44 to 64.
Soil Moisture Regime: Udic-Ustic
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Grant, Kingfisher, Norge, Pond Creek, and Zaneis series. These soils are on the same landscape but they lack a natric horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; medium runoff; slow permeability. A perched over water table is at a depth of 2 to 3 feet from April to June.
USE AND VEGETATION: Soils are used mainly for cultivation but many areas are native range or tame pasture. Small grains are the principal crops. Native vegetation is midgrass prairie.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North-central Oklahoma and possibly south-central Kansas. The series is inextensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grant County, Oklahoma; 1983.
REMARKS: Wakita soils were correlated as Slickspots in older surveys. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 22 inches (A and upper Bt horizons).
Natric horizon - the zone from 5 inches to a depth of 32 inches (Btn horizons)
Cr horizon - the rock like, non paralithic material encountered at a depth of 32 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Unpublished thesis of Thomas Glynn Reinsch, comparative study of slickspots in Grant County, Oklahoma. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, December 1979.