LOCATION ALTOONA WIInactive Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, frigid Aeric Glossaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Altoona silt loam - on a 3 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine fibrous roots; medium acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick)
E--6 to 8 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) silt loam; weak thin platy structure; friable; many fine fibrous roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
B/Eg--8 to 13 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay loam (Bt); weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt loam tongues and interfingers occupy about 40 percent of the horizon and meet in the upper 2 inches to isolate Bt remnants; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Btg1--13 to 23 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam with moderate fine sand content; many medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) mottles that occupy about 30 percent of the horizon; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; interfingers of silt and fine sand occupy about 20 percent of the upper part of the horizon; faint and patchy clay films on faces of peds away from the primary vertical cleavage planes; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
2Btg2--23 to 34 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) sandy clay loam; many medium yellowish brown (10YR 5/6 mottles that occupy about 40 percent of the hozizon; weak medium subangular blocky
structure; firm; about 5 percent fine pebbles by volume; few faint patchy clay films on vertical faces of peds; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 11 inches thick)
2C--34 to 42 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) loamy sand; common medium and coarse faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; single grain; loose; medium acid. (6 to 10 inches thick)
2Cr--42 to 56 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) and yellow (10YR 7/6), poorly cemented sandstone bedrock. (12 to 18 inches thick)
2R--56 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) and yellow (10YR 7/6), medium-grained strongly cemented sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Barron County, Wisconsin; about 7 1/2 miles northeast of Cameron; 500 feet west and 100 feet south of the exact center of sec. 27, T. 34 N., R. 10 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum thickness typically is 24 to 36 inches and ranges from 20 to 40 inches. A paralithic contact with sandstone is present, with its upper boundary between 40 and 50 inches below the soil surface. At least 6 inches of the soil profile above the paralithic contact is loamy sand or sand. The solum and substratum ranges from medium acid to strongly acid. Variable quantities of glacial pebbles are in the solum but are less than 15 percent by volume. The loess mantle is 24 inches or less.
The Ap or A horizon has 10YR hue, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. The lower value and chroma colors are commonly associated with uncultivated sites and are less than 6 inches thick. It is silt loam, sandy loam, or loam.
The E horizon has 10YR hue, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 3. It is silt loam, sandy loam, or loam. Altoona soils have E/B or B/E horizons, or both.
The E/B or B/E horizon is silt loam, silty clay loam, sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam, or clay loam. The E portion has color and texture, like that of the E horizon above.
The Btg1 horizon has 2.5Y, 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR hue; value of 4 through 6; and chroma of 1 through 8. Clean silt coatings commonly are on faces of peds where structural grade is strongest. It is sandy loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam with moderate sand content. The particle-size control section averages between 18 and 28 percent clay. Clay films generally are faint and range from patchy to nearly continuous on faces of peds.
The 2Btg2 horizon has 2.5Y, 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR hue; value of 4 through 6; and chroma of 2 through 8. It is sandy clay loam, sandy loam, or loamy sand. The latter two textures are less than 5 inches thick.
The 2C horizon has 2.5Y, 10YR, 7.5YR, or 5YR hue; value of 4 through 6; and chroma of 2 through 8. It is loamy sand or sand with some pedons containing a few small pebbles. The sandstone bedrock is commonly soft in the upper part and can be designated a Cr horizon, but the hardness varies from place to place. A paralithic contact, however, is considered to be typical for the series. The sandstone has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 5 through 8, and chroma of 2 through 6.
COMPETING SERIES: The Altoona series is the only member in this family. Other closely related series are Almena, Dancy, Freer, Homer, and Withee. All these soils do not have a lithic or paralithic contact within a depth of 60 inches. In addition, Almena soils are fine-silty; Homer soils are fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal and do not have tonguing of albic material into the argillic. The other soils are fine-loamy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Altoona soils are on uplands underlain by sandstone. The sandstone is mantled with thin loess and till. Slope gradients commonly are 0 to 3 percent, but range from 0 to 6 percent. These soi s formed in 24 inches or less of loess and
in the underlying sandy loam glacial till and residuum weathered from sandstone. The bedrock is at a depth of 40 to 60 inches. The mean annual temperature ranges from 42 to 45 degrees F, and and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 26 to 32 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Arland, Freer, and Mann soils. The higherlying, well drained Arland soils form a drainage sequence with the Altoona soils. Freer soils occupy similar topographic positions. Mann soils occupy adjacent lower lying positions in some areas and do not have a strongly contrasting particle-size class in the lower part of their control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained. Surface runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Much of this soil is cleared and used for pasture or is cropped to corn, hay, and small grain. The remainder is in forest or wooded pasture. Native vegetation was deciduous forest, principally of elm, ash, and maple, but in some places, it was a mixed deciduous-coniferous forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West-central and northwestern Wisconsin and possibly east-central Minnesota. This soil is inextensive.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Barron County, Wisconsin, 1950.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 6 inches (Ap horizon); albic horizon - zone from 6 to 8 inches (E horizon); argillic horizon - zone from 8 to 34 inches (B/Eg, Btg1, and 2Btg2 horizons); other features - aquic moisture regime - frigid temperature regime.