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Soils of Mississippi County, Arkansas

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Soils of Mississippi County, Arkansas Soils of Mississippi County, Arkansas J.M. McKimmey, B. Dixon, H.D. Scott, and C.M. Scarlat ARKANSAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION Division of Agriculture University of Arkansas November 2002 Research Report 970 Additional printed copies of this publication can be obtained free of charge from Communication Services, 110 Agriculture Building, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701. This publication is available on the Internet at: http://www.uark.edu/depts/agripub/Publications/ Additional information on soils in Arkansas is available at soils.uark.edu Technical editing and cover design by Cam Romund Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Fayetteville. Milo J. Shult, Vice President for Agriculture and Director; Gregory J. Weidemann, Dean, Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and Associate Vice President for Agriculture–Research, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. CPB777QX5. The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture follows a nondiscriminatory policy in programs and employment. ISSN:1539-5944 CODEN:AKABA7 Soils of Mississippi County, Arkansas J.M. McKimmey, Research Specialist B. Dixon, Research Specialist H.D. Scott, University Professor C.M. Scarlat, Research Specialist All authors are associated with the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences University of Arkansas Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 5 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................... 6 GEOPHYSICAL DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................... 6 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ...................................................................................................... 10 LAND-USE AND LAND-COVER DESCRIPTION ..................................................................... 13 AGRICULTURAL HISTORY ........................................................................................................ 15 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 15 SSURGO Definition .................................................................................................................. 16 Source Data Development ......................................................................................................... 17 Data Input Techniques ............................................................................................................... 17 Data Manipulation Techniques .................................................................................................. 18 Coincidence Reports ................................................................................................................. 19 SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOIL ATTRIBUTES ............. 19 Soil Map Units .......................................................................................................................... 19 Surface Textural Class ............................................................................................................... 23 Soil Drainage Class ................................................................................................................... 23 Soil Reaction (pH) ..................................................................................................................... 23 Soil Permeability ....................................................................................................................... 27 Hydric Soil Potential ................................................................................................................. 27 Annual Flooding ........................................................................................................................ 27 Soil Erodibility .......................................................................................................................... 27 Soil Organic Matter ................................................................................................................... 31 Available Soil Water Capacity .................................................................................................. 31 Soil Bulk Density ...................................................................................................................... 31 Depth to Water Table ................................................................................................................. 35 Prime Farmland ......................................................................................................................... 35 Land-Use Changes .................................................................................................................... 37 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................ 38 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................................... 40 NOTE: Recent investigations indicate that some soils between Crowley’s Ridge and the Mississippi River are not as wet as previously thought and as used for interpretations in this soil survey. Additional investigations are being planned to collect data that are needed to update this soil survey. Soils of Mississippi County, Arkansas J.M. McKimmey, B. Dixon, H.D. Scott, and C.M. Scarlat INTRODUCTION Agriculture is not the only sector that benefits from the use of soils. Our cities, streets, houses, and Along with air and water, soil contributes essen- businesses are constructed on soils. Therefore, tial processes to the natural order of global cycles. knowledge of certain soil properties is essential With the exception of edibles from the sea, virtually before construction can begin. Likewise, some soil everything we, and most other land-based animals, properties are used in defining environmentally sen- eat is derived from soil. Soil is a storage medium of sitive areas or reclamation of damaged areas. Thus, essential minerals and nutrients for fulfilling our information on soil behavior is used in agricultural, agricultural and nutritional needs. Humans work the engineering and environmental applications. soil to provide the basics of food, clothing, and shel- ter. We also use the soil as a medium to store and dis- The development of digital databases for natural card our waste. Virtually everything we do is in some resources, such as soils, has greatly facilitated the way connected to soil. understanding of agricultural and environmental phe- nomena. Digital databases along with Geographic Soil is a natural unconsolidated material that cov- Information Systems (GIS) are useful in land-use ers the earth’s surface. It is a porous medium consist- planning by providing spatial information to aid ing of three phases solid, water, and gas. Soil is also decision making. They not only facilitate multiple a three-dimensional body with recognizable bound- uses, including analysis and model simulation, but aries. The upper boundary is the soil surface and is they are also relatively inexpensive and easy to the interface with the atmosphere. The lower limit is update. Once developed, the digital database can be defined as the depth at which effects of biological, used to study numerous, complex real-world prob- physical, and chemical weathering are not apparent. lems. Digital data from various sources such as satel- The porous material between these boundaries is the lite imagery, radar, aerial photography, and global composition of an individual soil and is characterized positioning systems can be easily added to an exist- by its uniqueness in physical, chemical, and biologi- ing digital database to facilitate analysis, uses, and cal properties. These characteristics are both inherit- modeling. ed from parent material and acquired over time from chemical weathering and biological forces. Soil can Historically, the Natural Resources Conservation be considered a sponge as it absorbs substances such Service (NRCS) has published county soil surveys in as water and chemicals until it is saturated. Thus, soil the United States. Creating this tool is time and is a storage medium or sink for a multitude of gases, resource consuming, and it requires that soils in each water, chemicals, and heat. 5 AAES Research Report 970 county be surveyed, mapped, compiled, and summa- are frequently more useful because they redefine the rized, and the information published. County soil primary attributes into themes that have direct appli- survey publications contain aerial photographs with cation to real-world situations. Most of the simula- soil boundaries but no maps of the tabular data on tion models used in environmental applications fre- soil properties. These publications are the predeces- quently use secondary attributes of soils. sor of what is now known as the Soil Survey Geographic database (SSURGO). The surveys have OBJECTIVES been and are still used as a source of technical soil The objectives of this report are to (i) present and information by many individuals and organizations summarize the spatial distribution of the soil whose decisions are influenced by soils.
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