LOCATION ANGELUS            KS
Established Series
Rev. RLH-ELF
02/97

ANGELUS SERIES


The Angelus series consists of deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on low terraces and flood plains. They formed in alluvium from chalky shale and soft limestone. Slope averages less than 1 percent. Mean annual temperature is 53 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 23 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, calcareous, mesic Typic Ustifluvents

TYPICAL PEDON: Angelus silt loam - native grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 5 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable; many fine roots; porous; many very fine chalk fragments; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)

AC--5 to 30 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable; many worm casts; many roots; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 30 inches thick)

C1--30 to 42 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) stratified loam and silt loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; weak very fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable; few fine roots; porous; few soft fine calcium carbonate accumulations and many fine chalk fragments; violent effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)

C2--42 to 64 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) silt loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable; porous; many very fine chalk fragments; few pockets of crystaline salts, probably gypsum; violent effervescence; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Gove County, Kansas; about 14 miles south and 1 1/4 miles east of Gove, Kansas; 1,188 feet east, and 2,508 feet south of the northwest corner of sec. 17, T. 15 S., R. 28 W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Sola are typically 15 to 25 inches thick but range from 8 to 35 inches in thickness. Fragments of weathered chalk are commonly throughout the profile. The soil is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam throughout. The calcium carbonate equivalent ranges from about 15 to 40 percent.

The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6 and 4 or 5 moist, and chroma of 1 to 3.

The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 6 or 7 and 5 or 6 moist, and chroma of 2 to 4. It commonly contains thin sandy or clayey strata. In some pedons these soils have common fine faint brownish mottles at depths greater than 40 inches.

COMPETING SERIES: The Angelus series is the only series in this family. Competing series in other families are Bridgeport, Caruso, Clairemont, McCook, Munjor, and Roxbury series. Bridgeport, Caruso, McCook, and Roxbury soils have mollic epipedons. In addition, Caruso soils are fine-loamy, and McCook soils are coarse-silty. Clairemont soils are thermic. Munjor soils are coarse-loamy.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Angelus soils are on low alluvial terraces and flood plains. Slope gradients average less than 1 percent. The soil is formed in alluvium derived mainly from chalky shale and soft limestone of the Niobrara formation. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 15 to 24 inches. The mean annual temperature at the type location is about 53 degrees F. Thornthwaite's Annual P-E Index ranges from 24 to 40.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Bridgeport, Caruso, and Munjor soils. The sandy textured Inavale soils are on flood plains, and the Elkader, Manvel and Minnequa soils are on adjacent uplands. Elkader soils have carbonatic mineralogy. Manvel and Minnequa soils are drier.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate. These soils receive extra water as runoff from adjacent upland. Some areas are subject to occasional flooding for short periods. A water table is usually between depths of 10 and 20 feet.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for native grass range. A few areas are cultivated. Native vegetation is mid and tall grasses with some short grasses. The main crops are wheat, sorghums, and alfalfa.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West central Kansas in the area of Niobrara outcrop. The series is inextensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Denver, Colorado

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Gove County, Kansas, 1974.

REMARKS: Soils correlated as Bridgeport silt loam, strongly calcareous variant in Logan County, are included with this series.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.