LOCATION MUSCODA WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Lamellic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Muscoda loamy fine sand, on a convex, southeast-facing slope of 5 percent, in a cultivated field, at an elevation of 715 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.) The surface is covered by 1 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles. The fragments are igneous.
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loamy fine sand; brown (10YR 5/3) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common very fine and fine roots; about 2 percent gravel; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
E--9 to 16 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loamy fine sand; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common very fine and fine roots; about 1 percent gravel; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)
E and Bt--16 to 32 inches; about 75 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) fine sand (E); weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; about 25 percent brown (7.5YR 4/4) loamy fine sand lamellae (Bt) (1/4 to 1 inch thick; <6 inches total) moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few faint brown (7.5YR 4/3) clay bridges between sand grains; few very fine and fine roots; about 3 percent gravel; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 20 inches thick)
2Bt1--32 to 40 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) gravelly sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots; common distinct brown (7.5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; about 25 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)
3Bt2--40 to 50 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) fine sandy loam; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine roots; few distinct olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; about 7 percent glauconitic channers; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)
3Cr--50 to 80 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) and grayish green (5G 4/2) weakly cemented fine-grained glauconitic sandstone; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Richland County, Wisconsin; about 2 miles west of Port Andrew; about 1600 feet north and 1720 feet east of the southwest corner of sec. 33, T. 9 N., R. 2 W.; USGS Blue River WI topographic quadrangle; lat. 43 degrees 12 minutes 34 seconds N. and long. 90 degrees 37 minutes 10 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of sandy outwash and depth to loamy alluvium: 15 to 35 inches
Lamellae: 1/8 to 2 inches thick
Depth to lamellae: 12 to 29 inches
Depth to paralithic contact with glauconitic sandstone: 40 to 60 inches
Kind of rock fragments: igneous, with some chert, dolostone, and sandstone in the sandy outwash and loamy alluvium and glauconitic sandstone in the loamy residuum
Volume of gravel: 0 to 15 percent in the sandy outwash and 15 to 60 percent in the loamy alluvium
Volume of cobbles in sandy outwash and loamy alluvium: 0 to 5 percent
Volume of channers in loamy residuum: 0 to 35 percent
Soil reaction: very strongly acid to slightly acid but ranges to neutral in the upper horizons, where limed
Ap or A horizon, where present:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 3 or 4
Chroma: 1 to 4
Texture: loamy fine sand
Content of clay: 3 to 8 percent
E and E part of E and Bt horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 4 to 6
Chroma: 2 to 6
Texture: sand, fine sand, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand
Content of clay: 3 to 8 percent
Bt part of E and Bt horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 to 5
Chroma: 3 to 6
Texture: fine sand, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand
Content of clay: 6 to 11 percent
2Bt horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 4 to 6
Texture: gravelly or very gravelly analogs of sandy loam or loam
Content of clay: 8 to 22 percent
3Bt horizon:
Hue: 10YR, 2.5Y, 5Y, 5GY, 10GY, or 5G
Value: 3 to 8
Chroma: 1 to 6
Texture: fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam or the channery analogs
Content of clay: 10 to 26 percent
3Cr horizon:
Color is similar to the 3Bt horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Brice series. The Brice soils do not have a paralithic contact in the series control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: re-worked (by wind or water, or both) sandy outwash over loamy alluvium over loamy residuum from the underlying fine-grained glauconitic sandstone
Landform: strath terrace
Geologic formation: typically the Tunnel City sandstone that is identified, in part by it's high content of glauconitic minerals
Elevation: 700 to 750 feet
Mean annual air temperature: 48 to 52 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 30 to 34 inches
Frost-free period: 135 to 165 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Near the type location, these are Balmoral and Nuxmaruhanixete soils. These soils are in similar positions on the landscape. The Balmoral and Nuxmaruhanixete soils do not have a paralithic contact with sandstone bedrock within 60 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage: well drained
Permeability: rapid in the sandy outwash, moderate or moderately rapid in the loamy alluvium and the loamy residuum, and slow to moderate in the sandstone
Runoff: Very low to low
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Muscoda soils are used for cropland. Corn, soybeans, small grain, and hay are the principal crops. A few small areas remain in native vegetation or are used for pastureland. Native vegetation is a mixture of deciduous forest and prairie grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Wisconsin. MLRA 105. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota; MLRA SSO 10-10 (La Crosse, Wisconsin).
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Richland County, Wisconsin, 2002. Source of the name is a village along the Wisconsin River in Grant County.
REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: the zone from 0 to 10 inches.(Ap);
Albic horizon: the zone from 9 to 16 inches (E);
Argillic horizon: the zone from 32 to 50 inches (2Bt1,3Bt2);
Lamellic subgroup: lamellae with total thickness of less than 6 inches in the series control section;
Paralithic contact: the contact with glauconitic sandstone at 50 inches (3Cr).
The source of the chert, dolostone, and sandstone in the sandy outwash and loamy alluvium is from nearby hills that have been eroded from the river.
An Abstract titled, Geology of the Pre-Illinoian Sediment in the Bridgeport Terrace, Lower Wisconsin River Valley, Wisconsin by James C. Knox and John W. Attig explains the sediments found over a rock bench. It is thought to be a pre-Illinoian sediment with an eastward-sloping depositional surface. This was laid down when the flow of the Wisconsin River was to the east as a result from an ice blockage along the Mississippi River.
Only series status, responsibility, and scrivener's errors changed - 4/09.