LOCATION NORDEN WI+MNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Norden silt loam - on a 32 percent slope in a pasture at an elevation of about 860 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; some mixing of dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam from plowing; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Bt1--8 to 11 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; common faint brown (10YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--11 to 20 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots; common faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent channers; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
2Bt3--20 to 25 inches; olive (5Y 5/3) loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; common faint olive gray (5Y 5/2) clay films on faces of peds; 3 percent channers; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
2Bt4--25 to 33 inches; 50 percent brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) and 50 percent dark greenish gray (5G 4/1) fine sandy loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; common prominent brown (10YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; 10 percent channers; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
2Bt5--33 to 37 inches; 50 percent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and 50 percent dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) fine sandy loam; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; very few prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; 10 percent channers; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
2Cr--37 to 60 inches; 90 percent dark greenish gray (5G 4/1) and 10 percent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) weakly cemented fine grained glauconitic sandstone; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: LaCrosse County, Wisconsin; approximately 1150 feet south and 350 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 32, T. 18 N., R. 5 W..
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches and is the same as depth to sandstone. Some pedons have a thin loess mantle as much as 25 inches thick. Volume of pebbles, mostly sandstone but with some chert, ranges from 0 to 20 percent throughout the pedon. Volume of cobbles mainly in the lower part of the solum, ranges from 0 to 2 percent. The A horizon is strongly acid to neutral. The B horizon is strongly acid to neutral in the upper part and very strongly acid to moderately acid in the lower part. The particle-size control section averages between 18 and 23 percent clay.
The Ap horizon has 10YR hue, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. The A horizon has 10YR hue, value and chroma of 2 or 3. Dry value is 6 or more.
The A or Ap horizon is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, and sandy loam.
Where present, the E horizon has 10YR hue, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam.
The Bt horizon has 7.5YR or 10YR hue; value of 4 through 6; and chroma of 3 or 4. It is silt loam or loam.
The 2Bt horizon has 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y, 5Y, 5GY, 10GY, or 5G hue; value of 3 through 8; and chroma of 1 through 6. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, loam or clay loam. In some pedons up to one-half of the upper Bt horizon formed in loess. Clay films in the Bt horizon are faint and patchy or discontinuous. Loamy fine sand is also included if less than 6 inches thick.
Some pedons have a C horizon. The underlying bedrock consists of fine-grained glauconitic sandstone. Narrow joints containing residuum are common in the sandstone. The sandstone can be dug with a spade, easily in some pedons, but with difficulty in others. The sandstone becomes more cemented with depth.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Amanda, Belmont, Belmore, Chenault, Chili, Coggon, Conestoga, Douds, El Dara, Gallman, Grellton, Hayden, Hebron, Hickory, High Gap, Hollinger, Kalamazoo, Kanawha, Kendallville, Kidder, Kosciusko, LeRoy, Letort, Lindley, Mandeville, Martinsville, McHenry, Miami, Mifflin, Military, Nodine, Ockley, Owosso, Pecatonica, Princeton, Rawson, Relay, Renova, Richland, Riddles, Rockbridge, Roseville, Sisson, Strawn, Summitville, Theresa, Wawasee, Westville, Whalan, Woodbine, and Wykoff series in the same family and the Arland, Gale, Hixton, La Farge, and Urne series. All of the soils in the same family have no part of their control section formed in residuum weathered from glauconitic sandstone. Arland and Hixton soils have contrasting textures above 40 inches. Gale and La Farge soils formed in a thicker mantle of silty deposits and have less than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine in the control section. In addition, the Gale soils do not have glauconite in lower parts of their sola. Urne soils formed in similar deposits, but are coarse-loamy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Norden soils are on highly dissected upland underlain by glauconitic sandstone. They typically are side slopes and ridgetops with slope gradients from 2 to 65 percent. Norden soils formed in loess and the underlying loamy residuum weathered from the underlying fine-grained glauconitic sandstone (typically the Tunnel City sandstone that is identified, in part by it's high content of glauconitic minerals). In some places, there is up to 25 inches of loess overlying the residuum. Mean annual precipitation is 25 to 32 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 49 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gale, Hixton, Greenridge , and Urne soils near the Type Location. Hixton soils are associated on the nonglauconitic, coarser grained sandstone formation. Urne soils have cambic rather than argillic horizons. Greenridge soils have loess deposits greater than 25 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is medium to rapid. Permeability is moderate in loess, moderate or moderately rapid in the residuum, and slow to moderate in the sandstone.
USE AND VEGETATION: The more gentle slopes are used for general farming with corn, small grains, and forages being the principal crops. Steeper slopes are used for livestock pasture or woodlots. Native vegetation was mixed hardwoods with oak predominating.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: This soil is throughout the "Driftless Area" of Wisconsin where Franconia sandstone is exposed. Norden soils are of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Richland County, Wisconsin, 1956.
REMARKS: Refer to National Soil Survey Laboratory numbers 77P2164-77P2171 for data on the typical pedons.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 7 inches (Ap horizon); argillic horizon - zone from 7 to 38 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3, Bt4, Bt5, and Bt6 horizons).