LOCATION BEECHWOOD MIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, frigid Aquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Beechwood silt loam - on a 1 percent slope under a mixed conifer and northern hardwood stand of northern white-cedar, eastern hemlock, red maple, American elm, and balsam fir. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oi--4 to 2 inches; recent undecomposed leaf litter; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 2 inches thick)
Oa--2 inches to 0; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) well decomposed organic material; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium and few coarse roots; few fine irregular segregated dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) iron accumulations; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 2 inches thick)
E--0 to 2 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt loam; many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and many common faint very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) organic stains; weak medium platy structure; friable; many fine and medium and few very fine roots; about 5 percent cobbles; few fine rounded segregated dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) iron-manganese concretions; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bw1--2 to 16 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; many common distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky parting to moderate medium granular structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; about 5 percent cobbles; few fine rounded segregated dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) iron-manganese concretions; very strongly acid; wavy irregular boundary. (6 to 16 inches thick)
Bw2--16 to 32 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and few medium prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and very fine roots; about 3 percent cobbles; few fine rounded segregated dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) iron-manganese concretions; strongly acid; gradual irregular boundary. (8 to 18 inches thick)
2Bw3--32 to 47 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) sandy loam; few fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and common medium prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) mottles; moderate thick platy structure; friable; few fine and very fine roots; about 10 percent cobbles; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (12 to 18 inches thick)
2C--47 to 71 inches; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) loamy sand; common medium prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) mottles; massive; friable; about 10 percent cobbles and 5 percent gravel; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Iron County, Michigan; 5940 feet east of Forest Highway 16, off Forest Road 303, northeast 1/4, northeast 1/4, northeast 1/4 of sec. 12, T. 43 N., R. 37 W. (Forest Site No. 288).
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 51 inches. The loamy eolian mantle ranges from 24 to 51 inches thick. The control section averages between 6 and 16 percent clay and between 30 and 70 percent fine sand or coarser. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 5 percent in the E and Bw horizons and from 5 to 20 percent in the 2Bw and 2C horizons. Cobble content ranges from 0 to 5 percent in the E and Bw horizons and from 5 to 15 percent in the 2Bw and 2C horizons. The rock fragment content averages from 0 to 10 percent in the E and Bw horizons and from 10 to 35 percent in the 2Bw and 2C horizons. The silt loam mantle is very strongly acid or strongly acid. The underlying till ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
The Oa horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR or is neutral, value of 2 or 3, chroma of 0 to 4 and has weak or moderate, fine or very fine granular structure. The O horizons consist mostly of hardwood, conifer and herbaceous material, contain many fine to coarse roots and are extremely acid or very strongly acid.
The A horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. The A and E horizons are dominantly silt loam, but the range includes loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. The 2Bw3 horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. The Bw horizons are silt loam, loam, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.
The 2C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 6. It is loamy sand, sandy loam, or the gravelly or cobbly analogues. Some pedons have strata or pockets of sand or loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Fullam and Mylrea series in the same family. Fullam soils have firm compact till above a depth of 40 inches. Mylrea soils contain more than 35 percent rock fragments within depths of 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on drumloid ground moraines. They formed in loamy deposits. Slope gradients range from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 33 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 40 to 43 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the moderately well drained Pendleton soils that occur on higher positions within the landscape and areas of very poorly drained Borosaprists on lower landscape positions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Depth to the seasonal high water table ranges from 1 to 2 feet below the surface from September to July. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: The major portion of this soil is forested. Sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch, quaking aspen, American elm, balsam fir, northern white-cedar, eastern hemlock and black and white spruce are the major species. The Beechwood series is ecologically associated with the Tsuga-Maianthemum-Coptis (Dryupteris phase) Habitat Type.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES PROPOSED: Iron County, Michigan, 1982. Source of name is the Town of Beechwood in Iron County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the pedon are: albic horizon - the zone from the surface to 2 inches (E horizon); cambic horizon - the zone from 2 to 47 inches (Bw1, Bw2, and 2Bw3 horizons); aquic feature - mottles with chroma of 2 or less within 60 cm of the surface. The loamy eolian mantle has been modified through windthrow activity and post glacial erosion.