LOCATION BEAVERBAY WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Alfic Oxyaquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Beaverbay silt loam - on a convex, east-facing 22 percent slope, in a hardwood forest, at an elevation of about 1,350 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oa--0 to 2 inches; black (10YR 2/1) highly decomposed plant material; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine, fine roots and coarse roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)
E--2 to 5 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/2) silt loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) dry; weak fine and medium platy structure; friable; common medium and few very fine and fine roots; about 3 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)
Bs--5 to 14 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common very fine, fine and coarse roots and many medium roots; about 3 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 20 inches thick)
E--14 to 21 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very fine sandy loam, very pale brown (10YR 7/3) dry; moderate medium platy structure; friable; few very fine and fine and common coarse roots; about 3 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
2E/B--21 to 28 inches; 60 percent brown (7.5YR 5/3) sandy loam (E), pink (7.5YR 7/3) dry; extends as tongues into and surrounds remnants of brown (7.5YR 4/4) sandy loam (Bt); weak coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky; friable to firm; few distinct dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; few very fine, fine, and medium roots and common coarse roots; about 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Thickness of the glossic horizon ranges from 4 to 20 inches)
2Bt1--28 to 39 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) sandy loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few medium and coarse roots; common distinct dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; few coarse distinct yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; about 5 percent gravel and 7 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick)
3Bt2--39 to 56 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) gravelly loamy sand; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable to firm; few medium and coarse roots; common distinct dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; few coarse distinct yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; about 10 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
3Cd--56 to 80 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) gravelly loamy sand; massive; firm; about 15 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Sawyer County, Wisconsin; about 8.5 miles north of Hayward; 150 feet north and 1550 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 11, T. 42 N., R. 9 W.; USGS Totagatic Lake, WI quad; lat. 46 degrees 7 minutes 42 seconds N., and long. 91 degrees 27 minutes 15 seconds W.; NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the silty mantle ranges from 12 to 36 inches. Depth to the densic contact ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Content of clay averages from 7 to 17 percent in the particle-size control section and in the argillic horizon. The content of sand coarser than very fine averages 15 to 70 percent. Coarse fragments are dominantly of igneous origin and are of mixed lithology. Total volume of rock fragment ranges from 0 to 10 percent in the silty mantle, 0 to 25 percent in the loamy alluvium, and 5 to 35 percent in the dense till. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 10 percent in the silty mantle, from 0 to 20 percent in the loamy alluvium, and from 5 to 35 percent in the dense till. Volume of cobbles ranges from 0 to 3 percent in the silty mantle and from 0 to 5 percent in the loamy alluvium and in the dense till. Volume of stones ranges from 0 to 1 percent in the silty mantle and from 0 to 3 percent in the loamy alluvium and in the dense till. Surface stones have coverage ranging from 0 to 3 percent. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid in the upper part of the silty mantle, but ranges to neutral where the soil is limed. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the lower part of the silty mantle and in the loamy alluvium. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral in the dense till. Masses of iron accumulations are below the spodic horizon and within 40 inches. Saturation occurs within 40 inches at some time in normal years.
O horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR, or neutral
Value: 2 or 3
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: a mat of partially to highly decomposed forest litter
Some pedons have an A or Ap horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR
Value: 2 or 3
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: silt loam
E horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR
Value: 4 or 6
Chroma: 2 or 3
(Colors of 4/3, 5/3, or 6/3 have dry value of 7 or more)
Texture: silt loam
Bs horizon
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 5
Chroma: 4
Texture: silt loam or very fine sandy loam
Where the silty mantle is thin, some pedons have a 2Bs horizon with colors like the Bs horizon. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam or the gravelly analogs.
E horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR
Value: 4 or 6
Chroma: 2 or 3
(Colors of 4/3, 5/3, or 6/3 have dry value of 7 or more)
Texture: silt loam or very fine sandy loam
Where the silty mantle is thin, some pedons have a 2E horizon with color like the E horizon described above. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, loamy sand, or the gravelly analogs.
Beaverbay soils have a glossic horizon. Horizonation below the spodic horizon has a wide range depending on the thickness of the silty mantle and the extent to which eluviation has occurred. Therefore, there can be E/B, B/E, 2E/B, or 2B/E horizons singly or in combination.
The E part of the E/B or B/E horizon has color and texture like the E horizon described above. The Bt part has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is silt loam.
Some pedons have a Bt horizon with color and texture like the Bt part described above. Clay content ranges from 8 to 17 percent.
The 2E part of the 2E/B or 2B/E horizon, has color and texture like the 2E horizon described above. The 2Bt part of the 2E/B or 2B/E horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 to 4, and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or the gravelly analogs. Loam texture occurs only immediately below the silty mantle. Bulk Density is 1.65 to 1.85 gm/cc.
2Bt horizon
Color and textures are like the 2Bt part of the 2E/B or 2B/E horizon described above.
3Bt horizon
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 4
Chroma: 4 or 6
Texture: loamy sand or gravelly loamy sand
Clay content--averages from 2 to 7 percent
Bulk Density: 1.65 to 1.85 gm/cc
Some pedons have a 3BCd horizon
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 4
Chroma: 4
Texture: predominantly loamy sand or gravelly loamy sand, but some pedons have sandy loam or gravelly sandy loam textures
Clay content--averages from 2 to 7 percent
Bulk Density: 1.85 to 2.00 gm/cc
3Cd horizon
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 4
Chroma: 4
Texture: predominantly loamy sand or gravelly loamy sand, but some pedons have sandy loam or gravelly sandy loam textures
Clay content--averages from 2 to 7 percent
Bulk Density: 1.85 to 2.00 gm/cc
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Annalake, Chequamegon, Goodwit, Gulliver, Loggerhead, Padwood, Sarwet, Shoepac, Spiderlake, Stanberry, and Tipler series. The Annalake, Goodwit, Gulliver, Loggerhead, Padwood, Sarwet, Shoepac, Spiderlake, and Tipler soils do not have a densic contact within the series control section. Chequamegon soils average more than 7 percent clay in the dense till. Stanberry soils do not have a 12 to 36 inch mantle with more than 50 percent silt.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: loess or silty alluvium over loamy alluvium underlain by dense sandy or loamy lodgement till
Landform: Disintegration moraines
Slope: 2 to 30 percent
Elevation: 1000 to 1500 feet
Mean annual air temperature: 39 to 45 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 28 to 33 inches
Frost-free days: 110 to 135 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Parkfalls, Stanberry, Stinnett, and Wozny soils. The somewhat poorly drained Parkfalls soils are on lower or less sloping landscape positions and do not have a silty mantle. The moderately well drained Stanberry soils are on similar landscape positions, but do not have a silty mantle. The somewhat poorly drained Stinnett soils are on lower or less sloping landscape positions and the very poorly drained Wozny soils are in depressions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Surface runoff is low to high. Permeability is moderate in the silty mantle, moderately slow in the loamy alluvium, and slow in the dense till. Beaverbay soils have seasonal saturation perched above the densic contact at a depth of 2 to 3.5 feet for 1 month or more at some time during the period April to June in normal years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for woodland. Native vegetation is mostly deciduous forest with some conifers. Common trees are sugar maple, yellow birch, American basswood, white ash, black cherry, and eastern hophornbeam with some red pine and eastern white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Wisconsin. LRR K and MLRA 90. The soil is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota; MLRA SSO 10-9 (Rhinelander, Wisconsin).
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bayfield County, Wisconsin, 2004. Source of the name is a bay on Nelson Lake in northwestern Sawyer County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle size control section: the zone from 10 to 40 inches.
Ochric epipedon: from 0 to 5 inches (Oa, E);
Albic horizon: from 2 to 5 inches (E), 14 to 21 inches (E), and 21 to 28 inches (E part of 2E/B);
Spodic horizon: from 5 to 14 inches (Bs);
Glossic horizon: from 21 to 28 inches (2E/B);
Argillic horizon: from 28 to 56 inches (2Bt1, 3Bt2);
Densic contact: the contact with dense till (3Cd) at 56 inches;
Oxyaquic feature: redoximorphic features and saturation within 40 inches;
Lithologic discontinuity: at the upper boundary of the 2E/B horizon at 21 inches and at the upper boundary of the 3Bt2 horizon at 39 inches.
Only series status, responsibility, and scriveners errors changed - 3/09.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to soil survey sample number S00WI-113-027 for NSSL data on the dense till in a nearby soil.