LOCATION ALBATON IA+KS MO NE SD

Established Series
Rev. LEB-RAL-DJP
08/2017

ALBATON SERIES

The Albaton series consists of very deep, poorly or very poorly drained soils on flood plains. Albaton soils formed in calcareous alluvium. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 10 degrees C. Mean annual precipitation is about 640 millimeters.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, calcareous, mesic Vertic Fluvaquents

TYPICAL PEDON: Albaton silty clay, on a nearly level slope in a cultivated field on a flood plain, at an elevation of 294 meters above sea level. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 18 centimeters; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silty clay, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; moderate very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; firm; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (15 to 23 centimeters thick)

Cg--18 to 152 centimeters; alternating layers of olive gray (5Y 4/2) and dark gray (5Y 4/1) silty clay; massive with weak thin alluvial stratification; firm; few thin strata of silt loam below 102 centimeters; few thin strata darkened by organic matter below 61 centimeters; common fine distinct olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) and brown (10YR 4/3) redoximorphic concentrations; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Land Resource Unit 107B (Iowa and Missouri Deep Loess Hills); Mills County, Iowa; about 8 miles southeast of Council Bluffs; about 1,080 feet west and 93 feet south of the northeast corner of sec. 1, T. 73 N., R. 44 W.; USGS Council Bluffs South topographic quadrangle; lat. 41 degrees 9 minutes 36 seconds N. and long. 95 degrees 50 minutes 44 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to redoximorphic concentrations--15 to 30 centimeters
Depth to carbonates--0 to 25 centimeters
Content of calcium sulfate--0 percent
Electrical conductivity--0 to 2 dS/m
Content of clay in the particle-size control section (weighted average)--50 to 60 percent
Content of sand in the particle-size control section (weighted average)--0 to 5 percent fine sand and sand coarser than fine sand

Ap horizon:
Hue--10YR or 2.5Y
Value--3
Chroma--1 or 2
Texture--silty clay or clay
Clay content--40 to 60 percent
Sand content--1 to 5 percent
Moist bulk density--1.20 to 1.40 g/cc
Calcium carbonate equivalent--5 to 30 percent
Reaction--neutral or slightly alkaline

Overwash phases:
Thickness--10 to 20 inches
Texture--silt loam or silty clay loam
Clay content--18 to 40 percent
Sand content--1 to 30 percent

Cg horizon:
Hue--2.5Y, 5Y, or is neutral
Value--4 or 5
Chroma--0 to 2
Texture--silty clay or clay
Clay content--50 to 60 percent
Sand content--1 to 5 percent
Moist bulk density--1.20 to 1.45 g/cc
Calcium carbonate equivalent--5 to 30 percent
Reaction--slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

Weak thin platy alluvial stratification occurs between strata of different clay content. Individual strata have firm or very firm consistence.

Some pedons have strata with hue of 10YR or is neutral, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 0 or 1, which are less than 25 centimeters thick.

Some pedons have strata with higher or lower clay content, which are less than 15 centimeters thick.

Some pedons contain sandy materials below 152 centimeters.

Some pedons have dark colored buried horizons more than 25 centimeters thick below a depth of 152 centimeters.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Apishapa and Boruff series.
Apishapa--have less than 5 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the lower part of the series control section.
Boruff--have an electrical conductivity of 2 dS/m or more in the lower part of the series control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material--calcareous alluvium
Landform--flood plains
Slopes--0 to 2 percent
Elevation--213 to 595 meters above sea level
Mean annual air temperature--7 to 13 degrees C
Mean annual precipitation--380 to 910 millimeters
Frost-free period--120 to 190 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Blake, Modale, Onawa, Percival and Waubonsie soils.
Blake--are in slightly higher landscape positions and have a clay content of 22 to 35 percent in the particle-size control section
Modale--are in slightly higher landscape positions and have a clay content of 10 to 18 percent in the upper half of the series control section
Onawa--are in slightly higher landscape positions and have a clay content of 12 to 18 percent in the lower two thirds of the series control section
Percival--are in slightly higher landscape positions and have a clay content of 2 to 12 percent in the lower half of the particle-size control section
Waubonsie--are in slightly higher landscape positions and have a clay content of 12 to 35 percent in the upper half of the series control section

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class--poorly or very poorly drained--a saturated zone occurs within a depth of 0.3 meter during March to June in normal years and is considered apparent
Saturated hydraulic conductivity--0.01 to 10.00 micrometers per second
Permeability--very slow or slow
Surface runoff potential--low to negligible
Flooding--rare to frequent flooding for brief to long periods during the months of February to November from precipitation events and snowmelt and flooding from streambank overflow is limited where dams and levees protect areas
Ponding--depressional phase has up to 0.3 meter of water above the surface for long periods during late winter and spring in normal years and after heavy precipitation events

USE AND VEGETATION:
Most areas are cultivated. The principal crops are corn, small grains, and soybeans. Most areas are drained by surface ditches or land grading. The native vegetation is big bluestem, little bluestem, western wheatgrass, prairie cordgrass, kentucky bluegrass, blue grama, sedges and other species of the tall grass prairie that are tolerant of excessive wetness. See Additional Data section for native vegetative cover in Iowa.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
LRR M, MLRAs and LRUs 55C, 102B, and 107; LRR G, LRUs 63A and 63B; the Missouri River flood plain and flood plains of tributary streams in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri. This series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Monona County, Iowa, 1956.

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Particle-size control section--the zone from a depth of 25 to 100 centimeters (Cg horizon).
Series control section--the zone from the surface to a depth of 150 centimeters (Ap and Cg horizons).
Ochric epipedon--the zone from the surface to a depth of 18 centimeters (Ap horizon).
Aquents suborder--redoximorphic concentrations in the zone from 18 to 152 centimeters (Cg horizon).
Aquic moisture regime.

Taxonomy version--Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014.

ADDITIONAL DATA:
Laboratory data--Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa pedons 98-IA-193-038A, 96-IA-193-3879, 96-IA-193-917
Laboratory data--Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, Nebraska pedons S96IA-193-018 and S70-133-005

In Iowa, the native vegetative cover is a herbaceous wetland community commonly inhabited with Bluejoint Grasses, White Cutgrasses, Fox Sedges, Oval Sedges, Inland Rushes, Torreys Rushes, Dark Green Bulrushes, Flatstem Spikerushes, Blue Vervains, Indian Hemps, Winged Loosestrifes, Wild Mints, and Water Horehounds. Source: Iowa State Office, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Des Moines, IA.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.