LOCATION CHASKA MN+SDEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Aeric Fluvaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Chaska silt loam, on a level slope, on a flood plain, in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine fragments of snail shells; slight effervescence; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
C1--8 to 38 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) and very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam with strata of dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loamy fine sand and very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) and dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) very fine sandy loam; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4), and prominent olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) mottles; friable; few fine fragments of snail shells; slight effervescence; moderately alkaline.
C2--38 to 60 inches; stratified dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and olive (5Y 5/3) fine sandy loam and grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) loamy fine sand; common fine prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) mottles; friable; few fine fragments of snail shells; slight effervescence; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Blue Earth County, Minnesota; about 14 miles west and 4 miles north of Mankato; 1,320 feet south and 20 feet west of the northeast corner of section 22, T. 109 N., R. 29 W.; USGS Cambria quadrangle; lat. 44 degrees 14 minutes 09 seconds N. and long. 94 degrees 17 minutes 29 seconds W., NAD83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Free carbonates generally are in all parts of these soils, but in some pedons the upper 10 inches or less do not have free carbonates. The control section has between 3 and 10 percent calcium carbonate. These soils do not have rock fragments in the upper 40 inches and to considerably greater depths. The control section has 15 to 30 percent fine sand and coarser sand.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam. It ranges from neutral to moderately alkaline.
The C horizon has colors in a stratified pattern. It mostly has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, but hue of 5Y is in the lower part in some pedons. It has value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 3. It has chroma of 3 only in the lower part or with hue of 5Y. It is stratified; dominant textures are silt loam, loam, and very fine sandy loam; but the range includes fine sand, loamy fine sand, fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, and clay loam. It is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline. Snail shell fragments are absent in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Chaska soils have plane or concave slopes on flood plains that commonly have intermingled backwater sloughs and oxbows. Their slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. These soils formed in calcareous, loamy, recent alluvium. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 24 to 32 inches. Frost-free days range from 110 to 160. Elevation above sea level ranges from 500 to 1000 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Oshawa soils are the main ones. The Oshawa soils are in backwater sloughs and oxbows of the flood plain.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Permeability is moderate. Runoff is slow. Early spring flooding is common. The water table is at or near the surface for significant periods during the year unless artificially drained. The water table typically rises and falls with the rise and fall of the water level in the nearby river.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils are cropped to soybeans and corn. Native vegetation was marsh grasses, and sedges, and deciduous trees such as elm and ash.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Minnesota, mostly along the Minnesota and Blue Earth Rivers and in South Dakota. The soil is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hennepin County, Minnesota, 12/5/69.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - from the surface of the soil to a depth of 8 inches - too thin for a mollic horizon. Stratification of textures and colors below the A horizon and subsequent irregular decrease in organic matter.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to MN. Agr. Exp. Station Central File Code No. 516 for some results of laboratory analysis of a pedon of this series.