LOCATION EBEN MIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, frigid Pachic Hapludolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Eben very cobbly sandy loam, on a 3 percent slope, in a forested area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 15 centimeters; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) very cobbly sandy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many very fine to coarse roots; about 23 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles, 10 percent stones and 1 percent boulders; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 15 centimeters thick)
Bw1--15 to 56 centimeters; dark brown (10YR 3/3) very cobbly sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) worm casts; many very fine to coarse roots; about 25 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles, 10 percent stones, and 1 percent boulders; slightly alkaline; clear irregular boundary. (36 to 51 centimeters thick)
Bw2--56 to 64 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) very cobbly loamy sand; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few faint discontinuous dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) clay bridging between sand grains; many very fine to coarse roots; about 23 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles, 10 percent stones, and 1 percent boulders; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 25 centimeters thick)
2BC--64 to 89 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) extremely gravelly loamy coarse sand; single grain; loose; few fine to medium roots; about 49 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (25 to 38 centimeters thick)
2C--89 to 203 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) extremely gravelly coarse sand; single grain; loose; about 55 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Alger County, Michigan; about 2,000 feet south and 2100 feet west of northeast corner of sec. 15, T. 46 N., R. 21 W.; USGS Rock River topographic quadrangle; lat. 46 degrees 23 minutes 09 seconds N. and long. 86 degrees 54 minutes 58 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to free carbonates ranges from 46 to 76 centimeters. Rock fragments are dominantly dolomite, dolomitic sandstone and limestone containing glauconite. Gravel content ranges from 10 to 30 percent in the A, Bw1 and Bw2 horizons and from 40 to 65 percent in the 2BC and 2C horizons. Cobbles range from 10 to 20 percent, stones range from 5 to 20 percent and boulders range from 0 to 2 percent throughout the pedon.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value and chroma of 2 or 3. It is the cobbly or very cobbly analogues of fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
The Bw1 horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value and chroma of 3. It has textures similar to the A horizon.
The Bw2 horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 4. It is the cobbly or very cobbly analogues of sandy loam or loamy sand.
The 2BC horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value and chroma of 4. It is extremely gravelly loamy coarse sand or extremely gravelly coarse sand.
The 2C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 and chroma of 4. It is extremely gravelly coarse sand.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series. Closely related series are the Alpena, Coe, and Sioux series. These soils do not have a cambic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Eben soils are on summits and side slopes of glacial outburst flood deposits within glacial drainage channels. Slope gradient ranges from 1 to 35 percent. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 760 to 860 millimeters and the mean annual air temperature ranges from 4 to 6 degrees C.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Chatham, Ensign, Nykanen, Ruse, Shoepac, and Trenary soils. Chatham soils are loamy skeletal and are on similar landscape positions. The moderately well drained Nykanen, somewhat poorly drained Ensign, and the poorly drained Ruse soils are all shallow to bedrock. They are on adjacent bedrock terraces that were eroded by the glacial drainage channels. The moderately well drained Shoepac and well drained Trenary soils formed in loamy till. They are on summits and side slopes of adjacent ground moraines.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Runoff is low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high in the loamy upper part and very high in the sandy lower part.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for woodland, cropland and as a source of sand and gravel. Sugar maple is the major tree species growing on this soil. Common ground vegetation is sweet cicely, spinulose shield fern, maidenhair fern, bloodroot, wild leek, rattlesnake fern, Canada violet and blue cohosh.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Central Upper Peninsula Michigan. Major Land Resource Area 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 name is a town in Alger County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 18 centimeters (A and Bw1 horizon); cambic horizon - the zone from 15 to 56 centimeters (Bw1 horizon).
Only series status, responsibility, and scrivener's errors changed - 3/09.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to S99MI-003-1 for NSSL data on reference pedon.