LOCATION ASHGROVE IA+MO
Established Series
Rev. JAL-JWH-RJB
06/2015
ASHGROVE SERIES
The Ashgrove series consists of deep, poorly drained soils formed in glacial till on uplands. They are very slowly permeable. Slopes range from 5 to l4 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 52 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is about 33 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Aeric Chromic Vertic Epiaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Ashgrove silt loam - on a 7 percent southeast-facing sideslope in a pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) kneaded, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; few very fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) mottles; weak medium platy structure; friable; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
E--4 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) silty clay loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium platy structure; friable; light gray (10YR 7/1) dry, silt coatings on faces of peds; few very dark brown concretions (iron-manganese); very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
2Bt--8 to 15 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silty clay; few fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few thin discontinuous dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) clay films on faces of peds; few coarse quartz grains; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
2Btg1--15 to 22 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) clay; many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; few thin discontinuous dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay films on faces of peds; few coarse quartz grains; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
2Btg2--22 to 39 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) clay; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; few thin discontinuous dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay films on faces of peds; few quartz grains; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
2Btg3--39 to 54 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) clay; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; few thin discontinuous dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay films on faces of peds; few black (N 2/0) accumulations (oxides); strongly acid.
2Btg4--54 to 65 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) clay; common coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and common coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) mottles; weak medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; few thin discontinuous dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay films on vertical faces of peds; few fine and medium sand grains; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Appanoose County, Iowa; about 4 miles south and 3 miles east of Moravia; 600 feet north and 1,200 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 26, T. 70 N., R. 17 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness typically is greater than 5 feet and ranges from 3 1/2 to 7 feet.
The A horizon ranges from very dark gray (10YR 3/1) to dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2). The Ap horizon is dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2), dark brown (10YR 3/3) or brown (10YR 4/3). The A horizon typically is silt loam, but ranges to silty clay loam. The E horizon typically is grayish brown (10YR 5/2) or brown (10YR 5/3). It is silt loam or silty clay loam. The E horizon may be incorporated in the Ap horizon in eroded areas and may be evident only as silt coatings. Some pedons have BE horizons.
The 2Bt horizon has a hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2, 3, or 4. It is silty clay loam or silty clay. The 2Btg horizon has a hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 1 through 3. It contains about 45 to 60 percent clay in the upper part. The lower part contains about 40 to 45 percent clay. Sand particles increase in amount and size with increasing depth. Reaction commonly is medium to very strongly acid but ranges to neutral.
The 2C horizon is mottled gray (5Y 5/1) to yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 or 10YR 5/6) clay loam glacial till.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Atlas series in the same family and
Clarinda,
Edina,
Keomah,
Kernan,
Lamoni,
Putnam,
Rathbun,
Rinda,
Sabina, and
Weller series. Atlas soils typically have lower clay content in the upper 20 inches of the argillic horizon (less than 45 percent clay). Clarinda, Edina, Putnam, and Rinda soils have thicker A horizons or darker colored Ap horizons. In addition, Edina, and Putnam soils have an abrupt boundary between the A and B horizons. Keomah and Weller soils have a lower clay maximum in the Bt horizon and contain less sand in the lower B and C horizons. Kernan soils have a lower clay maximum in the Bt horizon and are formed in 35 to 55 inches of loess over glacial or lake bed sediments. Lamoni soils have a mollic epipedon, a thinner Bt horizon and contain more sand and pebbles. Rathbun soils have lower sand content in the Bt and C horizons. In addition, Rathbun soils have lower value, browner Bt horizons and developed from loess. Sabina soils have less clay in the Bt horizons and contain more sand in the lower part of the solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Ashgrove soils typically are on convex side slopes and coves at heads of drainageways which dissect the nearly level or flat uplands. They are common on the upper part of slopes that border the major drainage divides. Slopes range from about 5 to 14 percent. Ashgrove soils formed in exhumed gray clayey paleosols which were formed in glacial till commonly of Kansan age. Mean annual temperature ranges from about 5l to 53 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from about 32 to 34 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Rathbun and
Weller series and the
Keswick and
Lindley series. Rathbun and Weller soils formed in loess on higher and generally less sloping positions on the landscape. Keswick soils formed in mostly reddish colored late Sangamon paleosols on slopes below the Ashgrove soils, and they have a stone line in the lower part of the A horizon or upper part of the B horizon. Lindley soils are downslope and have formed in clay loam glacial till. Ashgrove soils form a biosequence with the
Clarinda soils which formed under prairie grasses and the
Rinda series which formed under grass and trees.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: These soils are poorly drained. Permeability is very slow. Runoff is medium to rapid. These soils are seasonally wet and seepy. Depth to an intermittent perched water table is 0 to 1 foot at some time from November through July in most years.
USE AND VEGETATION: The soils commonly are in hay and pasture but some areas are cropped to corn and oats; some areas are in woodland. Native vegetation was deciduous trees. See Additional Data section for native vegetative cover in Iowa.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Iowa. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Appanoose County, Iowa, 1970.
REMARKS: 1/25/2011-TYPE LOCATION error was corrected.
ADDITIONAL DATA: In Iowa, the native vegetative cover is a mixed herbaceous and woody community commonly inhabited with Green Ashes, American Elms, Common Hackberries, Eastern Cottonwoods, American Sycamores, Silky Dogwoods, Black Willows, Wild Black Currants, Riverbank Grapes, Grays Sedges, Hop Sedges, Virginia Wildryes, Stiff Bedstraws, White Avens, Wood Nettles, False Nettles, Canadian Clearweeds, and Common Bonesets. Source: Iowa State Office, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Des Moines, IA.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.