LOCATION AU TRAIN MIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, isotic, frigid, shallow Oxyaquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Au Train coarse sand - on a 5 percent northwest-facing slope in a forested area at an elevation of 231 meters. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
0a--0 to 5 centimeters; black (5YR 2.5/1) highly decomposed leaf litter; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and medium and few very coarse roots; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 5 centimeters thick)
E--5 to 23 centimeters; reddish gray (5YR 5/2) coarse sand, light gray (5YR 7/1) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine to coarse roots; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (15 to 28 centimeters thick)
Bhs--23 to 36 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) coarse sand; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; about 20 percent of the horizon is strongly cemented dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) ortstein which occurs intermittently on a horizontal plane; few fine to coarse roots; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 20 centimeters thick)
2Cr--36 to 81 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) and reddish brown (5YR 5/3) highly weathered sandstone; extremely acid. (15 to 25 centimeters thick)
2R--81centimeters; brown (10YR 4/3) sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Alger County, Michigan; 900 feet south and 2100 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 27, T. 47 N., R. 20 W sec. 27, T. 47 N., R. 20 W. USGS Au Train Quadrangle, latitude 46 degrees 26 minutes 47.24 seconds N., longitude 86 degrees 47 minutes 25.15 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: (Unless otherwise stated the depths in this paragraph are measured from the mineral soil surface.) The depth to the weathered sandstone ranges from 25 to 51 centimeters and the depth to the lithic contact ranges from 51 to 102 centimeters. Gravel content ranges from 0 to 5 percent. Rock fragments are dominantly sandstone but include some igneous and metamorphic fragments. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to very strongly acid. Volume of ortstein ranges from 0 to 30 percent in the Bhs horizon.
The Oa horizon has hue of 5YR or is neutral, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 0 to 1.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR, or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 2 or 3. It is coarse sand, sand or loamy sand.
The Bhs horizons have hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value and chroma of 2 or 3. They are coarse sand, sand or loamy sand.
The Cr horizon has hue of 5YR to 7.5YR; value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 3.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series. Closely related series are the Deerton, Paquin and Skeel soils. Paquin and Skeel soils are very deep to bedrock. Deerton soils are well drained and are moderately deep to bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Au Train soils are on outwash terraces overlying sandstone benches along Lake Superior. They formed in sandy glaciofluvial deposits overlying Cambrian sandstone (Munising formation). Slopes range from 1 to 18 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 840mm and mean annual temperature is about 4 to 6 degrees C. Elevation ranges from 195 to 259 meters.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Deerton, Gongeau, Jeske, and Trout Bay soils. Deerton soils are excessively drained and are on knolls, ridges and shoulders of steeper side slopes. Trout Bay soils are very poorly drained, Gongeau soils are poorly drained and Jeske soils are somewhat poorly drained. These soils are in depressions and drainageways and on toe and foot slopes of seepy side slopes.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. Surface runoff is very low. These soils have representative depth to wet soil moisture status that ranges from 30 to 46 centimeters below the surface in February, March, April, May, September, October, November and December. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high above the bedrock, moderately high in the Cr horizon, and very low in the bedrock.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in second growth northern hardwoods. Sugar maple, red maple, American beech and eastern hemlock are the dominant tree species. Common ground vegetation is spinulose wood fern, shining clubmoss, ground pine, wild-lily-of-the-valley, partridge berry and starflower.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Central Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Major Land Resource Areas 93B and 94B. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota; MLRA SSO 10-8 (Marquette, Michigan).
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Alger County, Michigan, 2007. Source of the name is a town in western Alger County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: albic horizon - the zone from 2 to 9 centimeters (E horizon); spodic horizon - the zone from 9 to 14 centimeters (Bhs horizon); lithic feature - hard sandstone at 32 centimeters (R horizon). Oxyaquic subgroup - the soil is saturated with water in one or more layers within 100 centimeters of the mineral surface for one month or more per year in most years (Bhs horizons).
Only series status, responsibility, and scriveners errors changed - 3/09.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to S99MI-003-4 for NSSL data on reference pedon.