LOCATION ALLOUEZ MIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, frigid Humic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Allouez gravelly coarse sandy loam - on a west facing slope of 2 percent under northern hardwoods. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) gravelly coarse sandy loam, dark gray (5YR 4/1) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine to medium roots; about 20 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 7 inches thick)
Bw--4 to 11 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) gravelly coarse sandy loam, reddish gray (5YR 5/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine roots; about 30 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 8 inches thick)
2Bs--11 to 15 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) gravelly coarse sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; few roots; about 30 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 16 inches thick)
2BC--15 to 23 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) very gravelly coarse sand; single grain; loose; few roots; about 40 percent gravel and 15 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
2C--23 to 60 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) extremely gravelly coarse sand; single grain; loose; few roots; about 70 percent gravel and 15 percent cobbles; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Baraga County, Michigan; about 1/4 mile west of Alberta; 2,100 feet west and 165 feet north of the center of section 18, T. 49 N., R. 33 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 18 to 40 inches. Thickness of the loamy-skeletal material ranges from 10 to 24 inches. The solum ranges from very strongly acid to medium acid. The substratum is strongly acid to slightly acid. Volume of gravel ranges from 15 to 60 percent in the A and B horizons and from 25 to 70 percent in the 2BC and 2C horizons. Volume of rock fragments greater than 3 inches ranges from 10 to 15 percent in the A and B horizons and from 10 to 35 percent in the 2BC and 2C horizons.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR hue, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is the gravelly or very gravelly analogues of coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, silt loam, or loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, and value and chroma of 2 or 3. It is the gravelly or very gravelly analogues of coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam. Some pedons have a lower Bw horizon with hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 3 to 6. The 2Bs horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 3 to 6. It is very gravelly sand, gravelly coarse sand, very gravelly coarse sand, extremely gravelly sand, or coarse sand.
The 2C horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR; value of 3 or 4; and chroma of 2 to 4. It is extremely gravelly sand or extremely gravelly coarse sand.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Closely related are the Alpena, Amasa, Colton, Elderon, Kiva, Newaygo, Oconto, Pence, Stambaugh, and Waiska soils. Alpena, Kiva, and Newaygo soils have less acid sola and are underlain by sand and gravel containing free carbonates. Amasa and Pence soils contain less rock fragments in the solum and have a spodic horizon. Colton and Waiska soils contain less fines in the solum and have sandy-skeletal textures. Elderon soils have ochric epipedons. Oconto soils have less than 35 percent by volume of rock fragments in the solum. Stambaugh soils do not have rock fragments in the solum and have argillic horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Allouez soils are on kame terraces old beach ridges and valley trains. Slope gradients are typically 0 to 6 percent but range from 0 to 15 percent. These soils formed in 15 to 24 inches of loamy-skeletal outwash overlying sand and gravel outwash. Mean annual temperature is estimated to range from 40 to 45 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 26 to 33 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the well drained or moderately well drained Champion and Munising soils and the somewhat excessively drained Kalkaska soils on nearby higher landscape positions. Champion and Munising soils have formed in glacial till. Kalkaska soils formed in sandy outwash and have less than 15 percent coarse fragments.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is slow. Permeability is moderately rapid in the solum and very rapid in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all of this soil is in forests of sugar maple, yellow birch, quaking aspen, American basswood, white spruce, eastern hophornbean, and eastern hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan and possibly northern Minnesota. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Gogebic County, Michigan, 1949.
REMARKS: Laboratory data available from Michigan Technological University; pedon no. S78MI-013-002. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: umbric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 11 inches (A and Bw1 horizons).