LOCATION BRANDENBURG ND+MTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fragmental, mixed, frigid Typic Ustorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Brandenburg channery loam - grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated)
A--0 to 4 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) channery loam, brown (7.5YR 4/2) moist; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, very friable; many fine roots; 15 to 30 percent by volume small porcelanite chips; slight effervescence; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
C1--4 to 10 inches; reddish yellow (5YR 6/6) very channery loam, yellowish red (5YR 4/6) moist; weak medium and fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable; over 50 percent by volume porcelanite with thin carbonate crusts on undersides; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline; clear irregular boundary. (2 to 15 inches thick)
C2--10 to 60 inches; shattered porcelanite which is slightly weathered in upper 2 to 10 inches; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Bowman County, North Dakota; about 3 miles east and 1 1/4 miles north of Bowman; 1485 feet north of the southwest corner, sec. 33, T. 132 N., R. 101 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soil has more than 35 percent by volume of rock fragments although the surface layer in some pedons has as little as 10 percent. The mean annual soil temperature is estimated to range from 40 degrees to 46 degrees F.
The A horizon is sandy loam or loam. The upper 7 inches when mixed has 7.5YR or redder hue, value of 4 to 6, more than 3 moist and chroma of 2 or more. It has 10 to 55 percent rock fragments consisting of gravel or channers.
The C1 horizon is sandy loam or loam containing more than 45 percent by volume of channery material. The C2 material is shattered porcelanite, argillites or clinkers containing carbonates.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Brandenburg soils are on undulating to steep uplands. Slope gradients range from 2 to 70 percent. The Brandenburg soils formed in residuum containing more than 45 percent by volume of hard porcelanite coarser than 2 mm. The mean annual precipitation is 13 to 18 inches, 70 or 80 percent of which falls when the soil is not frozen. The mean annual air temperature is 39 to 45 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cabba, Flasher, Ringling, Searing and Yawdim soils. All these soils are on nearby slopes or hills. Cabba, Flasher and Yawdim soils are underlain with soft sandstone, siltstone, or shale at depths of 8 to 20 inches. Ringling and Searing soils have mollic epipedons. In addition, Searing soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to porcelanite.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained, moderate over very rapid permeability. Infiltration rate medium and high. Slow to medium runoff.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for range. Native vegetation is threadleaf and needleleaf sedges, short and mid prairie grasses, and creeping cedar, and other shrubs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Widely distributed in sedimentary plains of western North Dakota and eastern Montana. Moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Denver, Colorado.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bowman County, North Dakota, 1969.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 4 inches (A horizon).