LOCATION BRICKTON MNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, frigid Chromic Vertic Albaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Brickton silt loam with a plane slope of about 1/2 percent on a glacial lake plain in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam, gray (10YR 5/1) dry; moderate medium and fine granular structure; friable; neutral, clear wavy boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
E--4 to 10 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silt loam; weak and moderate medium and thin platy structure; friable; few fine distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) and light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) Fe concentrations; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
Btg--10 to 19 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silty clay; many thin dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) clay films on faces of peds; moderate fine medium and very fine angular blocky structure; firm; few fine prominent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) Fe concentrations; moderately acid, clear smooth boundary. (6 to 24 inches thick)
BCg--19 to 25 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silty clay loam; weak fine and very fine angular blocky structure; firm; few fine faint light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) Fe concentrations; slightly alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Cgl--25 to 41 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam; weak fine and medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and medium angular blocky; friable; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) Fe concentrations; strongly effervescent; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.
Cg2--41 to 60 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) clay; massive, firm; many fine faint grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) Fe depletions and common fine prominent light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) Fe concentrations; slightly effervescent, slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Itasca County, Minnesota; about 9 miles northwest of Grand Rapids; about 2,450 feet south and 900 feet west of northeast corner of sec. 20, T. 56 N., R. 26 W.; USGS Quadrangle Cohasset West, Minn.; Latitude 47 degrees 19 minutes 6 seconds N., and Longitude 93 degrees 39 minutes 52 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to free carbonates is 20 to more than 60 inches. These soils typically lack rock fragments, but a few of them contain as much as 3 percent fine gravel. Uncultivated pedons have an O horizon 1 to 3 inches thick. It is either well decomposed Oa horizon or a moderately decomposed Oe horizon. It has a hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2.
The A horizon has value of 2 or 3. It is silt loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, or silty clay loam. It is moderately acid to neutral. Cultivated pedons have Ap horizons 6 to 9 inches thick with value of 3 or more when moist or 5 when dry or both.
The E horizon has hue 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has faint, distinct, or prominent redoximorphic features. It is silt loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, or loam with 5 to 15 percent clay. The E horizon extends into the B horizon as interfingering in some pedons. It is moderately acid to neutral.
The Btg horizon has 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y hue, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has faint to prominent redoximorphic features in some to all parts. It is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay with less than 20 percent sand and 35 to 60 percent clay. It has few to many, thin to thick clay films in at least some part. It is slightly acid to strongly acid.
The Cg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 4. It has faint to distinct redox features. It is silty clay, silty clay loam, or clay. Thin strata of silt loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, or loam are in some pedons. It has soft masses or concretions of calcium carbonate in some pedons. It is slightly or moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on slightly convex to slightly concave surfaces of glacial lake plains. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. They formed primarily in silty and clayey, calcareous glacial lacustrine sediments. These sediments primarily are believed to be from the Des Moines lobe. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 36 to 45 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 24 to 33 inches. Frost-free days range from 88 to 150. Elevation above sea level ranges from 800 to 1600 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The somewhat poorly and moderately well drained Dalbo soils which formed in similar materials are the most common associates. Organic soils are associated in some places.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Poorly drained. Surface runoff is low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity, expressed in inches per hour, is .06 to .6. Saturation can be at the surface typically during the spring and other periods of heavy rainfall.
USE AND VEGETATION: About 60 percent of these soils are cropped in the southern range of these soils and about 40 percent in their northern range. Common crops in the southern range are corn, soybeans, oats, and legume hay; those in the northern range are oats and legume hay. Most of the remainder of these soils are forested. The native vegetation was deciduous forest; ash, aspen, basswood, and elm were the dominant species, but the more northern part of the range has some conifers.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East central and northern Minnesota. Moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, 1927.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: Ochric epipedon - the zone from the mineral soil surface to 10 inches (A and E horizon); argillic horizon - the zone from 10 to 19 inches (Btg horizon); aquic moisture regime - based upon low chroma Fe depletions and Fe concentrations in the argillic horizon. And an abrupt textural change at 10 inches (the boundary between the E and Btg horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: See Minnesota Ag. Exp. Station Central File Code numbers 1003 and 1310 for partial analysis of representative pedons. See MAES CFC numbers 2458 and 2748 for clay mineralogy data of the argillic horizons. Soil Interpretation Record number is MN0258.