LOCATION BUTTERNUT WI
Established Series
Rev. ALV-JJJ
06/2011
BUTTERNUT SERIES
The Butternut series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that are moderately deep to a densic contact. These soils formed in a mantle of loess or silty alluvium and loamy till underlain by dense mostly sandy lodgement till on drumlins. Permeability is moderate in the silty mantle, moderate or moderately slow in the loamy till, and slow in the dense till. Slope ranges from 1 to 30 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 31 inches. Mean annual air temperature is about 42 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Alfic Oxyaquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Butternut silt loam - on a west-facing 13 percent slope, in a hardwood forest, at an elevation of about 1,565 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; common medium roots and many fine roots; about 1 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
E--4 to 7 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt loam, light gray (10YR 7/2) dry; weak thin platy structure; very friable; common medium roots and many fine roots; about 2 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
Bs1--7 to 12 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; about 2 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bs2--12 to 17 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; about 3 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon ranges from 4 to 18 inches.)
E/B--17 to 25 inches; 80 percent brown (7.5YR 5/3) silt loam (E), light brown (7.5YR 6/3) dry; extends as tongues into and surrounds remnants of brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam (Bt); few distinct brown (7.5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; about 5 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (glossic horizon ranges from 4 to 15 inches thick)
2Bt--25 to 38 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; common faint reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; friable to firm; few fine roots; few medium distinct yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; about 8 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 16 inches thick)
3Cd--38 to 80 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) gravelly loamy sand; massive; firm; few medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation in fractures; about 14 percent gravel and 3 percent cobbles; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Price County, Wisconsin; about 5 miles west and 3 miles north of Park Falls; 400 feet south and 2,500 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 1, T. 40 N., R. 2 W.; USGS Butternut Lake quad; lat. 45 degrees 58 minutes 50 seconds N., and long. 90 degrees 33 minutes 52 seconds W.; NAD83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the silty mantle ranges from 12 to 30 inches. Depth to the densic contact ranges from 24 to 40 inches. Clay content in the family particle-size control section ranges from 3 to 7 percent. Volume of rock fragments averages less than 35 percent in the particle size-control section. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 10 percent in the silty mantle and from 5 to 35 percent in the underlying till. Volume of cobbles ranges from 0 to 3 percent in the silty mantle and from 0 to 5 percent in the till. Volume of stones ranges from 0 to 3 percent throughout. Surface stones have coverage ranging from 0 to 3 percent. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the silty mantle, but ranges to neutral where the soil is limed. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid in the loamy till and in the substratum. Redoximorphic accumulations are below the spodic horizon and within 40 inches. Saturation occurs within 40 inches at some time in most years.
Some pedons have an O horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 2 or 3
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: a mat of partially decomposed forest litter
A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 2 or 3
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: silt loam
Some pedons have an Ap horizon with similar hues, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3
E horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 2 or 3
(Colors of 4/3 and 5/3 have value dry of 7 or more)
Texture: silt loam
Bs horizon
Hue: 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 the gravelly analogs.
Butternut 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. There is not enough clay increase to meet the requirements of an argillic horizon in the E/B or B/E horizons. Bulk density ranges from 1.65 to 1.80 gm/cc.
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.
The 2E part of the 2E/B or 2B/E horizon, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3 (colors of 4/3 and 5/3 have value dry of 7 or more). The 2Bt part has color and texture like the 2Bt horizon described below.
2Bt horizon
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 5
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or the gravelly analogs
Some pedons have a 3BCd horizon with colors and textures like those of the 3Cd horizon described below
3Cd horizon
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 5
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: Predominantly loamy sand or gravelly loamy sand, but some pedons have sandy loam or gravelly sandy loam textures
Clay content of the dense till--ranges from 2 to 7 percent
Moist bulk density--1.85 to 2.0 g/cc
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Newood and
Nonesuch series. Newood soils have dense till at depths of 40 to 60 inches that averages more than 7 percent clay. The Nonesuch soils have a lithic contact (siltstone) at depths of 30 to 50 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: loess or silty alluvium and loamy till underlain by dense mostly sandy lodgement till
Landform: drumlins
Slope: 1 to 30 percent
Elevation: 1100 to 1650 feet
Mean annual air temperature: 39 to 45 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 28 to 33 inches
Frost-free period: 90 to 120 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Cable,
Shanagolden, and
Torch soils. The somewhat poorly drained Torch soils, and the very poorly drained Cable soils form a drainage sequence with Butternut soils. The moderately well drained Shanagolden soils are in landscape positions similar to those of Butternut soils where the silty mantle is absent or very thin.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Potential for surface runoff is medium to very high. Permeability is moderate in the silty mantle, moderate or moderately slow in the loamy till, and slow in the dense till. Butternut soils have a perched water table above the densic contact at a depth of 2 to 3.5 feet for 1 month or more at some time during the period October 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: North-central Wisconsin. LRR K, MLRA 90. The soil is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Price County, Wisconsin, 2005. Source of the name is a small town in southern Ashland County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle size control section: the zone from 10 to 38 inches;
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 7 inches (A, E);
Albic horizon: 4 to 7 inches (E);
Spodic horizon: 7 to 17 inches (Bs1, Bs2);
Glossic horizon: 17 to 25 inches (E/B);
Argillic horizon: 25 to 38 inches (2Bt);
Oxyaquic feature: redoximorphic features and saturation within 40 inches.
Densic contact: 38 inches (3Cd);
Lithologic discontinuity: at the upper boundary of the 2Bw horizon at 25 inches and at the upper boundary of the 3Cd horizon at 38 inches.
Only series status, responsibility, and scriveners errors changed - 3/09.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to soil survey sample numbers S85WI-113-004, S03WI-099-004, and S03WI-003-007 for NSSL data on similar pedons.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.