Heiden soil series

Heiden soils cover 1,101,542 mapped acres, mostly in Texas and Oklahoma. USDA rates shrink-swell a limit for houses without basements on 80% of that land, and a shallow water table a limit for basements on 0%.

It is the leading soil series by area in 15 of the counties and cities on this site, including McLennan County, TX.

SSURGO survey versions to August 5, 2026 · series description revised 2017-08

80%

of its land: shrink-swell limits houses without basements

of its land: a shallow water table limits basements

12.4%

median highest linear extensibility (6% and up is high)

50%

median highest clay content in the top 150 cm

USDA's description

The Heiden series consists of deep and very deep to mudstone, well drained, very slowly permeable soils that formed in clayey residuum weathered from mudstone. These nearly level to moderately steep soils occur on footslopes of base slopes, shoulders of interfluves, and backslopes of side slopes of ridges on dissected plains. Slopes range from 0.5 to 20 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 889 mm (35 in) and the mean annual temperature is about 20 degrees C (68 degrees F).

Source: USDA NRCS series description (OSD) for Heiden, revised 2017-08. Read it.

Engineering properties

Mapped area (SSURGO)	1,101,542 acres
Shrink-swell limits houses without basements	79.6%
Shallow water table limits basements	0.0%
Very limited for septic absorption fields	79.6%
Most common drainage class	Well drained
Most common hydrologic soil group	D
Taxonomic class	Fine, smectitic, thermic Udic Haplusterts
Type location	Bell County, Texas

Where Heiden is mapped

State	Mapped acres
Texas	1,030,869
Oklahoma	70,672

Places where Heiden leads

Counties and cities where Heiden covers more mapped land than any other series.

Place	Share of mapped land
Grandview, TX	73%
Venus, TX	59%
Coupland, TX	46%
Alvarado, TX	46%
Knollwood, TX	39%
Hallsburg, TX	35%
Riesel, TX	33%
Lakewood Village, TX	29%
Mansfield, TX	25%
Maypearl, TX	21%
Buda, TX	21%
Sunnyvale, TX	18%
Irving, TX	15%
Kyle, TX	14%
McLennan County, TX	9%

Other places where Heiden is a main soil

Counties and cities where Heiden is among the six soil series covering the most mapped land, but not the first. Share of the place's mapped land.

Counties

Texas and Ohio cities

Sources

Shares and properties: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access, weighted by each component's share of its map units. Description: the USDA NRCS series description. How we count.