LOCATION ELKMOUND WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Elkmound loam - on a 9 percent convex slope in a cultivated field at an elevation of about 920 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; about 12 percent sandstone channers and about 2 percent igneous gravel and cobble; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
Bw--6 to 12 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; about 30 percent sandstone channers; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 11 inches thick)
2Cr--12 to 60 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) fine grained weakly cemented platy sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Dunn County, Wisconsin; about 1.5 miles southeast of Elkmound; 1950 feet south and 2100 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 36, T. 28 N., R. 11 W. USGS Elk Creek Lake, Wis. Quad. Latitude - 44 degrees 51 minutes 53 seconds N. Longitude - 91 degrees 31 minutes 48.4 seconds W. NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the base of soil development and depth to the paralithic contact with sandstone range from 10 to 20 inches. Clay content of the particle-size control section ranges from 5 to 20 percent. Volume of sandstone channers or other gravel ranges from 0 to 20 percent in the A or Ap horizon. Volume of sandstone channers ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the Bw horizon and volume of other gravel from 0 to 20 percent. Volume of cobbles or sandstone flagstones ranges from 0 to 5 percent throughout the soil. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Where value moist is 3, value dry is 6 or more. Uncultivated pedons have a thin A horizon with hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture of the Ap or A horizon is loam or sandy loam or the gravelly analogues.
Some pedons have an E horizon with hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is the same as the Ap or A horizon above.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR, and value and chroma of 3 through 6. Value and chroma of 3 do not occur together. Texture is loam or sandy loam or the gravelly analogues.
Some pedons have a 2BC horizon with hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sand or fine sand.
The 2Cr horizon has color like the 2BC horizon. It is weakly cemented sandstone with horizontal cleavage. In some areas the sandstone formations contain thin, hard, iron-cemented layers.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series. Related series in other families are Basehor, Boone, Hixton, Northfield, and Ramsey. Basehor, Boone, and Ramsey soils are siliceous. Hixton and Northfield soils have an argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Elkmound soils are on convex slopes on upland ridges underlain by sandstone, but in some places are on lake terraces. In Dunn County, Elkmound soils are in previously glaciated, bedrock controlled landscapes and typically on the Eau Claire and Mt. Simon formations. Slopes range from 0 to 60 percent. Elkmound soils formed in a mixture of loess, slope alluvium, and residuum underlain by sandstone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to about 35 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 46 to about 51 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Boone, Gale, Hixton, and Northfield soils. They are all on similar landscapes but not easily distinguished from one another on surface features alone. Gale soils have thicker, finer textured sola and argillic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff ranges from negligible to high. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the loamy mantle and moderately slow or moderate in the sandstone.
USE AND VEGETATION: Some of the less sloping areas of these soils are used for cropland. Common crops are corn, small grain, and hay. Many areas are used for woodland and some are used for pastureland. Native vegetation is mixed deciduous forests, with oak predominating.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western and west-central Wisconsin. This soil is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Green County, Wisconsin, 1969. Source of the name is the city of Elkmound in Dunn County.
REMARKS: There is some question as to whether the mineralogy would be best characterized as siliceous rather than mixed mineralogy.
2006- Due to the shale seams that are common to the Eau Claire and Mt. Simon Formations, it remains classified as mixed. In Dunn, Chippewa, and Eau Claire Counties, previous glacial ice events provided the Precambrian rock fragments that are commonly on the surface of and mixed in the Elkmound soil.
This revision provides a new typical pedon in Dunn County which gets the type location back to where it was originally proposed. This revision also changes the bedrock from R to Cr which in turn changes the classification from Lithic Dystrudepts to Typic Dystrudepts. Field study is needed to determine if Elkmound mapped in other counties is on different unglaciated bedrock formations where the soil may be siliceous.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - 0 to 6 inches (Ap);
cambic horizon - 6 to 12 inches (Bw);
other features - paralithic contact - 12 inches (Cr).