LOCATION HERBSTER WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, frigid Aeric Glossaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Herbster silt loam, on a convex, northeast-facing 1 percent slope, under mixed conifer and hardwoods, at an elevation of 950 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 5 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) silt loam; brown (7.5YR 5/2) dry; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine, medium and coarse roots; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
E--5 to 10 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) silt loam; pink (7.5YR 7/3) dry; weak medium platy structure; very friable; many fine and medium, and common coarse roots; many distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
B/E--10 to 13 inches; about 85 percent reddish brown (5YR 4/3) silty clay loam (Bt); moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few faint discontinuous reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; penetrated by tongues of brown (7.5YR 5/3) silt loam (E), pink (7.5YR 7/3) dry; weak medium platy structure; very friable; common fine and medium, and few coarse roots; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Glossic horizon - 2 to 25 inches thick)
Bt1--13 to 28 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; strong medium angular blocky structure; firm; common fine and medium, and few coarse roots; dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
2Bt2--28 to 33 inches; stratified reddish brown (5YR 4/4) and dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) stratified silty clay loam and clay; strong coarse platy structure, parting to moderate medium angular blocky; firm; common fine, few medium and coarse roots; common faint reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay films on horizontal faces of peds; about 1 percent gravel; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 0 to 32 inches.)
2Btk--33 to 55 inches; stratified reddish brown (5YR 4/4) and dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) stratified silty clay loam and clay; strong coarse platy structure, parting to moderate medium angular blocky; firm; common faint reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay films on horizontal faces of peds; few medium irregular pink (5YR 7/3) soft masses of calcium carbonate; strongly effervescent (about 2 percent calcium carbonate); about 1 percent gravel; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 25 inches thick)
3C--55 to 80 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) stratified very fine sandy loam, silt loam and loamy very fine sand; massive breaking weak thick plates along depositional strata; very friable; common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and few coarse distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Bayfield County, Wisconsin; located about 1,400 feet south and 1,350 feet east of the northwest corner of section 30, T. 46 N., R. 5 W.; USGS Mason topographic quadrangle; lat. 46 degrees 26 minutes 18 seconds N. and long. 91 degrees 2 minutes 43 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the base of the argillic horizon, thickness of the clayey till, and depth to the stratified substratum all range from 40 to 60 inches. The weighted average clay content of the particle-size control section ranges from 35 to 60 percent. Depth to free carbonates ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 10 percent throughout. Redoximorphic features, saturation, aquic conditions and a positive reaction with alpha-alpha dipyridyl occur at the top of the argillic at some time in most years.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR; value and chroma of 2 or 3. Cultivated pedons have an Ap horizon with hue of 5YR, 7.5YR or 10YR; value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Reaction naturally ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid but ranges to neutral where the soil is limed.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Colors of 4/3 and 5/3 have value dry of 7 or more. The E horizon is loam, silt loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay or clay. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
Herbster soils have a glossic horizon (E/B or B/E horizon, or both).
The E part has color and texture like the E horizon described above. The Bt part has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR; value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is typically clay, but in some pedons it is clay loam, silty clay loam or silty clay. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, and value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to slightly alkaline.
Some pedons have a 2Bt horizon. It is 2.5YR or 5YR; value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. The lower part is stratified. Individual strata are clay, silty clay or silty clay loam. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to slightly alkaline.
The 2Btk horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR and value and chroma of 3 or 4. It is typically stratified clay and silty clay loam, but some pedons have subhorizons with stratifications of silty clay. Reaction ranges from slightly alkaline to strongly alkaline.
In some areas stratifications are absent in the Bt and/or Btk horizons.
The 2C or 3C horizon has hue of 2.5YR, 5YR and 7.5YR; value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is stratified. Individual strata are mostly silt loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, fine sandy loam, loamy very fine sand, loamy fine sand, very fine sand, or fine sand, but a few thin strata of finer texture are in many pedons. Reaction is slightly or moderately alkaline.
Some pedons have a 2Ck horizon with colors and textures similar to those of the 2C horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Dolph series. Dolph soils have a paralithic contact within the series control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Herbster soils are on flats, gently sloping knolls and sideslopes, and shallow depressions on till plains. These soils formed in clayey glacial till and/or from clayey lacustrine deposits modified by wave action over stratified loamy and/or sandy lacustrine deposits. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 33 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 36 to 43 degrees F. The frost-free period ranges from about 90 to 120 days. Elevation ranges from 600 to 1,100 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Allendale, Badriver, Cornucopia, Eaglebay, Frogbay, Morganlake, Portwing, and Sanborg soils. Allendale soils have 20 to 40 inches of sandy outwash above the clay. The somewhat poorly drained Badriver and moderately well drained Sanborg soils occur on similar landscapes and have greater than 60 inches of clay. The moderately well drained Eaglebay soils have 10 to 24 inches of loamy outwash above the clayey till. Frogbay soils are on similar landscapes and have loamy till at 15 to 36 inches below the clay. The moderately well drained Morganlake soils have 20 to 40 inches of sandy outwash over loamy till and occur on adjacent higher landscape positions. The well drained Cornucopia, moderately well drained Portwing are in a drainage sequence with Herbster soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Runoff is slow or medium. Permeability is slow in the clayey till and/or clayey lacustrine deposits and moderate to rapid in the stratified substratum. Herbster soils have a perched seasonal water table above the clayey till at a depth of 0.5 to 1.5 feet for 1 month or more per year at some time during the period September to June in 6 or more out of 10 years. Herbster soils also have an apparent water table below 40 inches in the stratified substratum at some time during the same time period in normal years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested. Some areas are used for cropland or pastureland. Oats, bromegrass, timothy, alfalfa, trefoil, and red clover are the principal crops. Many areas which were formerly cropland are now idle and are reverting to natural vegetation. Native vegetation is mixed deciduous and coniferous forest. Common trees are red maple, balsam fir, white spruce, eastern white pine, quaking aspen, paper birch and bur oak. Common understory plants are American hazelnut, redosier dogwood, black snakeroot, big-leaved aster, wild sarsaparilla and bracken fern.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Wisconsin (MLRA 92). This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota; MLRA SSO 10-4 (Duluth, Minnesota).
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bayfield County, Wisconsin, 2004. Source of the name is a town along Lake Superior in Bayfield County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 10 inches (A and E horizons);
Albic horizon - 5 to 10 inches (E horizon);
glossic horizon - 10 to 13 inches (B/E horizon);
argillic horizon - 10 to 55 inches (B/E, Bt and Btk horizons).
The reddish colors inherent in the parent material mask the redoxomorphic features (color - chroma) and make taxonomic classification difficult. Water table studies in this soil (and it's associated soils) were used to classify this series.
Only series status, responsibility, and scrivener's errors changed - 3/09.