LOCATION DELLS WI+IAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Aquollic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Dells silt loam - on a 2 percent slope in a cultivated field at an elevation of about 790 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
E--7 to 9 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; few fine distinct dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) mottles; weak medium platy structure; friable; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
BE--9 to 16 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; common fine distinct dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) and fine faint dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) mottles; weak medium platy and moderate very fine subangular blocky structure; firm; medium acid; gradual smooth boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--16 to 28 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) silty clay loam; common medium distinct dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) and faint brown (10YR 5/3) and dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) mottles; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; faint thin patchy clay films on all faces of peds; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 15 inches thick)
2Bt2--28 to 33 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) loam; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and faint dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; many prominent thin clean silt coats and few faint thin patchy clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
2C--33 to 60 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) sand; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; single grain; loose; medium acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Green County, Wisconsin; about 2 1/2 miles west of Brodhead; 1500 feet south and 400 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 27, T. 2 N., R. 9 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 36 inches and commonly is the same as the thickness of the silty deposit over the loamy sand or sand. The A horizon is medium acid to neutral. The B and C horizons are strongly acid to neutral. The upper part of the solum does not have coarse fragments, but the lower part of the solum and the substratum have 0 to 5 percent pebbles by volume.
The Ap or A horizon has 10YR hue, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2.
The E horizon has 10YR hue, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3.
The BE horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 through 5.
The Bt horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 5, but in some subhorizons of the Bt horizon, the chroma is 2. It is silt loam or silty clay loam. The part of the control section formed in the silty deposits averages between 20 and 32 percent clay.
The 2Bt2 horizon has similar colors as the Bt horizon. It is sandy loam, loam, or sandy clay loam.
The 2C horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 4 through 8, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is loamy sand or sand, but some pedons have thin strata of sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the only series in this family. Other series in closely related families are Canoe, Curran, Halder, Hayfield, Lawler, Poskin, Shiffer, and Tell. Canoe and Curran soils have a thicker mantle of silty deposits and do not have a contrasting texture shallower than 40 inches. Halder, Hayfield, and Shiffer soils contain more fine sand or coarser in the control section. Lawler soils are fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal and have a mollic epipedon. Poskin soils are in the same strongly contrasting particle-size class but have tonguing of the E horizon into the Bt horizon and are frigid. Tell soils do not have mottles of low chroma in the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Dells soils are on stream terraces and lake terraces. Slope gradients are 0 to 3 percent. The soils formed in 20 to 36 inches of loess or other silty deposits, or both, and in the underlying sand or loamy sand. Mean annual preciptation ranges from 28 to 32 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 43 to 53 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Curran, Lawler, Shiffer, and Tell soils and the Bertrand soils. Curran, Lawler, and Shiffer soils are on similar landscape positions. The Tell series are on higher positions in the landscape. Bertrand soils formed in a thicker mantle of silty deposits. In addition, the Bertrand soils are on higher positions in the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Surface runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate in the solum and rapid in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Much of this soil is cleared and partially drained. Principal crops are corn, small grain, and forage. Undrained areas are in pasture or woodland. Native vegetation was mixed deciduous forests with some sedges and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: In northeastern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin. These soils are of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Green County, Wisconsin, 1969.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and feature recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 16 inches (Ap, E, and BE horizons); argillic horizon - zone from 16 to 33 inches (Bt1 and 2Bt2 horizons); udic moisture regime; mesic temperature regime; have moist color value of less than 4 and dry color value of less than 6 in the Ap horizon; have mottles with chroma of 2 or less in the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon.