LOCATION CUSINO MIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, isotic, frigid Typic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Cusino loamy sand, on a 2 percent slope in a forested area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oa--0 to 5 centimeters; black (N 2.5/0) well decomposed forest litter (sapric material); extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 5 centimeters thick)
E--5 to 20 centimeters; dark gray (5YR 4/1) sand, gray (5YR 6/1) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; many very fine to very coarse roots; about 3 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (10 to 15 centimeters thick)
Bhs--20 to 25 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) sand; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; many very fine to very coarse roots; about 3 percent gravel; extremely acid; abrupt broken boundary. (5 to 10 centimeters thick)
Bs1--25 to 36 centimeters; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) sand; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; many very fine to very coarse roots between the ortstein tongues; about 3 percent gravel; discontinuous tongues of strongly cemented, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) and reddish brown (5YR 4/4) ortstein 15 to 38 centimeters wide and 8 to 61 centimeters apart extending to a depth of 97 centimeters; ortstein occupies 43 percent (43 of 102 centimeters) of the horizon; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (5 to 36 centimeters thick)
Bs2--36 to 43 centimeters; strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) sand; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; few very fine to fine roots between the ortstein tongues; about 3 percent gravel; discontinuous tongues of strongly cemented, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) and reddish brown (5YR 4/4) ortstein 8 to 25 centimeters wide and 25 to 76 centimeters apart; ortstein occupies 30 percent (30 of 102 centimeters) of the horizon; very strongly acid; gradual irregular boundary. (48 to 30 centimeters thick)
BC--43 to 89 centimeters; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) gravelly sand; single grain; loose; about 27 percent gravel; few very fine to fine roots; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 66 centimeters thick)
C--89 to 203 centimeters; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) stratified sand, sand, and gravelly coarse sand; single grain; loose; about 12 percent gravel, 3 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Alger County, Michigan; about a mile southwest of the Village of Wetmore in a wooded area. USGS Powell Lake Quadrangle; lat. 46 degrees 22 minutes 4 seconds N. and long. 86 degrees 38 minutes 2 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Total volume of rock fragments averages less than 35 percent in the particle size control section. Volume of gravel content ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the A, E, Bhs and Bs horizons and from 15 to 35 percent in the BC and C horizons. Cobbles range from 0 to 5 percent throughout the pedon. Stones range from 0 to 2 percent throughout the pedon.
The 0 horizon, where present, is neutral, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. Reaction is ultra acid to extremely acid
Some pedons have an A horizon that has hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1. Texture is loamy sand or sand. Reaction is ultra acid to extremely acid.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is loamy sand, sand, or their gravelly analogs. Reaction is ultra acid to very strongly acid.
The Bhs horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 2. Texture is loamy sand, sand, or their gravelly analogs. Massive, cemented bodies (ortstein) range from 0 to 20 percent of the exposed surface area of the Bhs horizon. Reaction is extremely acid to very strongly acid.
The Bs horizons have hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 to 4, and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is loamy sand, sand, or their gravelly analogs. Massive, cemented bodies (ortstein) range from 20 to 45 percent of the exposed surface area of the Bs horizon. Reaction is extremely acid to very strongly acid.
The BC horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 6. The texture is sand, gravelly sand, or less commonly very gravelly sand. Reaction is extremely acid to strongly acid.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is commonly stratified with individual subhorizons of sand, coarse sand, gravelly sand, or very gravelly sand. Reaction is extremely acid to strongly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Adams, Duxbury, Kalkaska, Liminga, Pence, and Stutts series, and the closely related Garlic series. The Adams soil is moist within 91 centimeters of the soil surface in August. Kalkaska soils contain less than 10 percent coarse fragments throughout the series control section. Garlic soils have 50 to 90 percent ortstein in the spodic horizon. Liminga soils have more than 50 percent fine sand in the sand fraction throughout the series control section. The Stutts, Duxbury and Pence soils have combined content of silt plus clay greater than 15 percent in the A, E, Bhs and Bs horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cusino soils are on nearly level to very steep outwash plains, kame terraces, and moraines. Slope ranges from 0 to 70 percent. These soils formed in sandy and gravelly outwash deposits. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 4 to 6 degrees C., mean annual precipitation ranges from 760 to 860 millimeters, and mean annual frost-free period ranges from 80 to 155 days. Elevation ranges from 201 to 305 meters above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Dawson, Dillingham, Garlic, Greenwood, and Kalkaska soils. The very poorly Dawson and Greenwood soils are found in adjacent depressions. Dillingham and Garlic soils are on surrounding uplands in sandy till and glaciofluvial deposits. Kalkaska soils are on similar landscape positions and are commonly in a complex with Cusino soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Cusino soils are dry within 91 centimeters of the soil surface during the month of August. Runoff is negligible to low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in the surface layer and upper part of the subsoil and very high in the lower part of the subsoil and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are in second growth northern hardwoods. The dominant tree species is sugar maple. Common ground vegetation is spinulose shield fern, wild-lily-of-the-valley, trout lily, american fly honeysuckle, starflower, twisted stalk, and shining clubmoss.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; MLRAs 93B and 94B. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota; MLRA SSO 10-8 (Marquette, Michigan).
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Alger County, Michigan 2007. Source of the name is a former CCC camp located in Alger County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
Ochric horizon - from the surface to 20 centimeters (Oa and E horizons); Albic horizon - from 5 to 20 centimeters (E horizon); Spodic horizon - from 20 to 43 centimeters (Bhs, Bs1, Bs2 horizons).
Only series status, responsibility, and scrivener's errors changed - 3/09.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to S02MI-003-2 for NSSL data on series type location pedon.