LOCATION CUTTRE WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, mixed, active, frigid Aeric Glossaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Cuttre clay, on a concave, southeast facing, 1 percent slope in an area of mixed conifer and northern hardwoods at an elevation of about 860 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 3 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) clay, dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable; many fine and medium and few coarse roots; about 1 percent gravel; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
E/B--3 to 6 inches; 70 percent brown (7.5YR 5/2) clay loam (E), pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few faint reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; many medium distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) and few medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; extends as tongue into and surrounds remnants of reddish brown (5YR 5/3) clay (Bt); weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; many fine and medium and few coarse roots; about 1 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
B/E--6 to 12 inches; 70 percent reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay (Bt); moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; common distinct reddish brown (5YR 5/3) clay films on faces of peds; common brown (7.5YR 5/2) coatings of E material on faces of some Bt peds; penetrated by tongues of brown (7.5YR 5/2) clay loam (E), pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common fine and medium roots; common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; about 1 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Glossic horizon - 2 to 15 inches thick)
Bt--12 to 25 inches; dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) clay; moderate fine angular blocky structure; firm; common fine and few medium roots; common faint reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; few brown (7.5YR 5/2) coatings of E material on faces of peds; few fine faint reddish brown (2.5YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation; about 1 percent gravel; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary (5 to 19 inches thick)
Btk1--25 to 31 inches; dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) clay; moderate fine angular blocky structure; firm; few fine and medium roots between peds; common faint reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; common fine and medium irregular distinct light reddish brown (2.5YR 6/4) soft masses of calcium carbonate; strongly effervescent (11 percent calcium carbonate); about 1 percent gravel; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary.
Btk2--31 to 41 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; weak coarse angular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots between peds; few faint dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; common medium and coarse irregular faint light reddish brown (2.5YR 6/4) soft masses of calcium carbonate; many very fine and fine irregular prominent black (N 2.5/0) soft masses of iron-manganese oxides; violently effervescent (14 percent calcium carbonate); about 2 percent gravel; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Btk horizon ranges from 15 to 45 inches)
BC--41 to 80 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; weak coarse prismatic structure; firm; few fine roots between peds; common medium irregular faint light reddish brown (2.5YR 6/4) soft masses of calcium carbonate and few medium irregular prominent greenish gray (5GY 6/1) carbonate coats on vertical faces of peds; many very fine and fine irregular prominent black (N 2.5/0) soft masses of iron-manganese oxides; violently effervescent (13 percent calcium carbonate); about 2 percent gravel; moderately alkaline. (0 to 50 inches thick)
TYPE LOCATION: Douglas County, Wisconsin; about 1/2 mile east and 2 1/2 miles north of Poplar; 50 feet south and 920 feet west of the northeast corner of section 30, T. 48 N., R. 11 W.; USGS Poplar, WI quad.; lat. 46 degrees, 37', 08" N. and long. 91 degrees, 47', 14" W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the base of the argillic horizon ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Depth to free carbonates ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The weighted average clay content of the particle-size control section ranges from 60 to 85 percent. These soils have linear extensibility of 6 cm or more in the upper 40 inches. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 6 percent throughout. Volume of cobbles ranges from 0 to 2 percent throughout. Mudflow lenses or remnant discontinuous disoriented varves occur in individual horizons in some pedons. Redox features occur in all layers between either the lower boundary of an Ap horizon or a depth of 10 inches below the mineral soil surface (whichever is deeper) and a depth of 16 inches. Aquic conditions occur within 20 inches for some time in most years. Cuttre soils react positively to alpha, alpha-dipyridyl at some time when the soil is saturated.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR, or 7.5YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 3. Cultivated pedons have an Ap horizon with hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Reaction naturally ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid but ranges to neutral, where the soil is limed.
Some pedons have an E horizon with hue of 2.5YR, 5YR or 7.5YR; value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. Colors of 4/3 or 5/3 have value dry of 7 or more. The E horizon is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, clay loam, silty clay or clay.
Cuttre soils have a glossic horizon (E/B or B/E horizon or both). The E part has color like the E horizon described above. Typically it is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay or clay but in some pedons, it is silt loam or loam in the upper part. The Bt part has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Reaction is strongly acid or moderately acid.
The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 4 to 6. Reaction is neutral or slightly alkaline. Typically it is clay but subhorizons of silty clay are in some pedons.
The Btk horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR; value of 3 to 5; and chroma of 4 to 6. Reaction is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
The BC horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR and value of 3 to 5. It is moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Some pedons have a C horizon with color, texture, and reaction like the BC horizon described above.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Borea series. Borea soils have stratified loamy and sandy lacustrine deposits in the lower part of the series control section at a depth of 40 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cuttre soils are on flats, drainageways, depressions and long backslopes on till plains. Slopes typically are 0 to 3 percent but range to 8 percent on backslopes and footslopes. They formed in clayey till derived from clayey lacustrine deposits. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 33 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 36 to 43 degrees F. The frost free period ranges from about 90 to 120 days. Elevation ranges from 600 to 1000 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Amnicon(T), Anton(T), Bergland, Borea(T), Miskoaki(T), and Sedgwick soils. The moderately well drained Amnicon soils, the well drained Miskoaki soils, and the poorly drained Bergland soils form a drainage sequence with Cuttre soils. The moderately well drained Anton soils and the somewhat poorly drained Borea soils form a drainage sequence in areas adjacent to some Cuttre soils where there is stratified loamy and sandy lacustrine deposits at 40 to 60 inches. The somewhat poorly drained Sedgwick soils are nearby where there is a loamy outwash mantle 10 to 24 inches thick over the clayey till.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Runoff is low to high. Permeability is extremely slow or very slow. Cuttre soils have a perched seasonal high water table at a depth of 0.5 to 2.0 feet for much of the time from September to June in most years. On the steeper slopes the duration is about a month following snowmelt and/or periods of heavy rainfall.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most area are used for woodland. Some areas are used for cropland or pastureland. Oats, timothy, bromegrass, bluegrass, alfalfa, and trefoil are the principal crops. Many areas which were formally cropland are now idle and are reverting to natural vegetation. Native vegetation is mixed deciduous and coniferous forest. Common trees are red maple, balsam fir, balsam poplar, quaking aspen, paper birch, bur oak, and willow. Common understory plants are speckled alder, redosier dogwood, black snakeroot, wild sarsaparilla, and bracken fern.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Wisconsin along Lake Superior (MLRA K92). This series is extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Douglas County, Wisconsin, 1994. The name is coined.
REMARKS: An Aeric Vertic subgroup should be proposed to recognize the vertic feature. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon: ochric epipedon - 0 to 3 inches (A); glossic horizon - 3 to 12 inches (E/B, B/E); argillic horizon - 6 to 41 inches (B/E, Bt, Btk1, Btk2); vertic feature - linear extensibility is 6 cm or more in the upper 40 inches; aquic feature - redox features in all layers between a depth of 10 inches below the mineral soil surface and a depth of 16 inches and aquic conditions within 20 inches for some time in most years.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Soil Interpretation Record - WI0566. Refer to soil survey sample number S90WI-031-006 for NSSL data on the typical pedon. Refer to soil survey sample numbers S90WI-031-008, S90WI-031-009, and S90WI-031-010 for NSSL data on other Cuttre pedons.