Soil Survey of Bell County, Texas Page: 26
This book is part of the collection entitled: Texas Soil Surveys and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
,s, 1 L, S U R V EY
p A - oL t sfaiLd, srd aind gravel, and sands y lday. It is mildIv
alkiii e or rn.deratelv alkalie.
Pedernales fine sandy loam, I io 3 percent slopes
(PcB) -This .entiyv sloping soil is on parts of ridge-
tops on ancient high terraces. Areas are irregular in
shape anrd are 20 to 40 acres in size.
Included with his soil in nmappming"' r',. sIm all areas
of Axtell and Riese-i soils.
This soil is used iosLly as unimproved pasture. A
few areas are used for crops, a nd a few areas have
been planted to improved pasture. The hazard of
ero.:,ion is moderi-ate Cap ility unit IIe-3; pasture
and hay group 8A; Sandy ILoam range site.
Purves Series
The Purves series consists of gently sloping to
sLAoping and uinduating, clayey soils i.n up)ands,
Th .se very shallow to shallow, calcareo .s sils are
underlain by limestone, ThIiey fore d i material
Vweathered from inriterbedded hard l imestone and
-al-areous imal
In a repiresciLtat1ive po'ile th1e sitrfac layer is
dark-brown silty clay about 11 i,ihes thick. The
next layer is 3 inchis oif dark-tbrowni silty lay that is
about 75 percent, by vol.nie, small limestone frag-
nents. Below this is rtoduliar, ar!, limest-Ine be-
d rick.
Pures soils are 'wel drined. Pernmeailitv is
,moderately slow, tilitd available water capacity is
low. ft ninff iS slow to re!iuml.
T'iese soils are sited to r'ange, ari-In rist areas
are used as rtiange. Some a rea- are ccltivateti, and a
few areas are in improved pasture.
Representative profile of Purves silty clay, 1 to 4
pel-,ce,-it Slop~es, A. Iv,
perc4 sipes .25 tile north of thiu LAoi Rivet
crossing on Texas Highway :17 north i.f Belton,
then 1.5 mil--s east ,on a county road to a juntion ,
then 0.I 5 mile north on another county r, an i 21)
feet east of te t oad, il a tfieli.-
Ap-0 to 4 inches, dark-brovn (7., YR 42) silty ni, urk
bruo-,, (7.5YR 3/2 mai ; m er- .ate, medium , gr.nu-
Io st ut tur,-: hard, friable; -.calcareous; moderTately
ll alin,; Ccan, moth bt undarny
A12---4 to 1 inches, d ar k-bruw ( R7 5Y1 2) silt.- kj i
,v (765YR 3/2) roi~it; atr, i neditutn, sublti-n
gular ilocky and granlar structure, hard, iL.-ru;
calcareous; moderately alkaline; clear, smoth
bo1 ndt i ry.
Al3-1I to 14 inlces, da-tb-rovn (7.5YR 4/2) -ilty clay, lark
iwin (7.5YR '/2) moist; strong, fine, grand la r
-t)ucture; i -d, irrn; ahout 75 percent, by volure.,
ritall iitirLst.one fragments that have secondaryv car-
bonate contings , to inch thick; calcareous;
tod-eracel; alkali re atn mt, mot tbourind ary
R-14ti to 24 inches T1 nIuan-, tu, rd, irne twie bedrock,
Th2 s-lum rarges fr-orn 8 to 20 inche in LLtickn ess and fro
tlay loam to silty clay in texture. It is a few to 35 percent, by
vi me, li te. tie frag re . Th,- lie restone fragments range
from small gravel to rocks mnr- ttan It) inches across t}e
long axis . The A hrizon is very dark grayish brown, dark
grayish brown, and dark br-wr
Purves silty clay. l to 4 percent slopes (PBi--This
gently sloping soil is undetrlain by hatd lim,,estoie.
Areas are irregular in shape and are mainly 8 to 35
acres in size, but a few areas are more than 125
acres. This soil has the pofhil. d-s,.ribled as repre-
sentative of the seriesInC Iludiel with this ol in mapping are small areas
of Blrackett :an, i I )entot soils th't make up less than
12 percent ,f any m appe. area.
r1is soil is suited to crops, an 1 m st rn areas "hav,'Ve
,eei cultivated. .Sume areas , j, in ativ range,
and :i fewv small areas are in impov-d 'asture the
haza-rd of e-.sion is moderate. C-pability unit IVe-3:
pasture and hay group 13A- Shallow rage site.
l'urves,.I-barn land complex, I to 8 percent slopes
(PuD).-Thi. (rali)ex is mal ide up of gently slop] g
anli sloping soils. Moat ireas of this comnplex are in
Belton, Fr' tH,-1dJ, n d Killeen and are 10 to 50
acres in slie. Purve:- silty clay makes up about 44
percent of this complex, Urban land 25 percent, a n il
other soils 31 perent.r The su'ils irali Uban land
cannot be shJ,-own separately at t t,_ ,ale ma jped
because tLey are too intermingled or the areas are
too small
The P-u rves soil h as a surfa la-ayer' (f browntw silty
clay 12 inIhes thick Behw this, ,d reach g to a
depth of 16 i iic s, is bL'rwn silty ,lay that is -iaout
75 perc-nt rinestone ftragmits. The Inieiling
miiaterial is lrist, belock.
The U.an lnrid rteas c re ,oupiei ly sV 1 it wok-
4nd structures as streets, silewalks, buildings,
,i iway , and latiuLs. The stcti ures are mostly
ingle-utidt xwellings
included .ith t ese sils in mappi tg are are-as of
Speck anil io rnTit 5,-s that hive co)Iestones arl
stones on the steep--st slopes.
Features of t-eO soils in, this rni le") i th.t tiffeit
u rbatn ii"evetopment -ts are shl.l l(Vow d pth to liro tone,
..hrI ink -sw,_ll potential, ,.orrosiv.ity. perc-,olatio:n, ..-,]: -
linity, ,.altI 'la ttv ture. Ti e mo, slopin-g reas are
Cut anid shaped for hullding sites and lot leveling..
4a placed in nerpretive Qiulips.
I'urves association, undulating (PVD).- This L-:," i-
ation is made up of shallow, stony, and gravelly soils.
Slopes are raiInly to 8 perce nt", bLut sone I areas of
soils thL1t have short sopes o 3 to 15 p-ent are
alo in s l .tled M zappeli areas are obldog and are as
iuich: a 0 30( at,res in size. Purves soils make Lip
about 70 percent of th-is association Such sirilar
soils a 1 arrat make u p a.i.ut 25 pte et, and
Brackett and Lindy soils rake utp 5 percent. Soil
areas are as Imch as 3f percent, by volume, slines,
gravel, and uhl-st on es. Where the soil is less Lthan
10 inches in depth, it is less than 1 percent coarse
fragments. Areas of this association ar1te much
larger and their comIposit, is nCoe variable than
those of most other laping unitsh in t hl county.
Mapping has been controlled well eutgh, however,
for the anticipated use of thle soils. The soils could
have beet trapped separately, but. hi r Soilar use
and n aniage ment nade separation irrjiactical.
Th)e Pur V es Soils have a surface layer of ,inrk-
brown silty clay that is abo t 8 inches thick an, is 5
percent coarse linestine fragments. Below this, anil
reaching t, a depth of 14 inches, is dh k brown silty
clay tnat is about 7(0 percent limestote fragments.
The underlying material is hard limvestone.
The seiIs in t his associate ion are suit ed to orange,
and most areas are used as rag[ieC. 'Th[-e hazard! if
eros in - sligHt. C.apalility nitit Vis-I; Shallow
range sit-.26
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Related Items
Other items on this site that are directly related to the current book.
General Soil Map, Bell County, Texas (Map)
Map displays soil types along with creeks, towns, schools, churches, power transmission lines, oil and gas pipelines, roads, and railroads. Includes legend and symbols. Scale 1:253,440.
Relationship to this item: (Has Part)
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Huckabee. John W. Soil Survey of Bell County, Texas, book, 1977; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth130201/m1/30/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.