LOCATION ENSTROM MNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy over loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, frigid Aquic Udorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Enstrom fine sand with 2 percent convex slope on a till-floored glacial lake plain in an alfalfa-brome pasture field. (Colors are moist unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) fine sand, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak subangular blocky structure; loose; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 15 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) fine sand, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; few fine faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) mottles; single grain, loose; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--15 to 23 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) fine sand; few fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) mottles; single grain; loose; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of Bw horizon is 12 to 26 inches)
C1--23 to 33 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) fine sand; few fine faint brown (7.5YR 5/4), strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; single grain; loose; lag line of gravelly fine sand in lower part; slight effervescence; slighlty alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick)
2C2--33 to 60 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) loam; many medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), brownish yellow (10YR 6/6), and yellowish red (5YR 5/6) mottles; massive; very friable; about 10 percent gravel; strong effervescence. moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Kittson County, Minnesota; about one mile south of Halma; 165 feet north and 35 feet east of the center of Sec. 28, T. 160 N., R. 46 W. (Norway Township).
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to free carbonates ranges from 14 to 40 inches. The thickness of the sandy lacustrine sediments overlying the loamy glacial till or lacustrine sediments is 20 to 40 inches. The upper sediment has 0 to 5 percent rock fragments, but the lower few inches in some pedons contains as much as 35 percent rock fragments (a lag line). The glacial till has 2 to 15 percent rock fragments. The rock fragments are of mixed lithology.
The A or Ap horizon has value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is sand, fine sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sandy loam or very fine sandy loam. Reaction is neutral to moderately alkaline.
The Bw horizons have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Chroma and value of 3 are only in the upper part. Mottles are in at least some part of the Bw horizon. The Bw horizon typically is sand or fine sand but the upper part is loamy sand or loamy fine sand in some pedons. It is neutral to moderately alkaline. The content of organic matter is less than 1 percent in all parts of the B horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It has faint to prominent mottles. Texture is sand, fine sand, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand. It is neutral to moderately alkaline.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 2 or 3. It has mottles in all parts. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam glacial till, or silt loam or silty clay loam lacustrine sediments. These sediments contain less than 50 percent fine sand and coarser particles and less than 35 percent clay. Reaction is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline. Calcium carbonate equivalent ranges from 10 to 40 percent.
Some pedons have a 2Bw horizon or 2Bk horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: No other series is in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Enstrom soils have plane or slightly convex slopes with slope gradients typically 0 to 3 percent, but ranging from 0 to 12 percent. They are on glacial lake plains and till-floored glacial lake plains. They formed in 20 to 40 inches of sandy lacustrine sediments over calcareous loamy, glacial till or lacustrine sediments. The lacustrine sediments are of Glacial Lake Agassiz origin and the till is late Wisconsinan in age. Mean annual temperature ranges from 37 to 42 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 19 to 24 inches. Frost-free days range from 90 to 135. Elevation ranges from 800 to 1350 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Foxhome, Grygla, Kratka, and Poppleton soils. Foxhome soils have a mollic epipedon and are very gravelly in the upper part. Poorly drained Grygla and Kratka soils are on lower positions in the landscape. Poppleton soils are sandy throughout.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Surface runoff is slow. Permeability is rapid in the upper sediment and moderate or moderately slow in the lower sediments. Depth to an apparent seasonal high water table is as high as 2.5 to 5.0 feet at some time from April through June in most years.
USE AND VEGETATION: About one-half of these soils are cultivated with small grains and hay being the principal crops. The remainder is forested or pastured. Native vegetation is mixed or alternating prairie and deciduous forest. Quaking aspen is the dominant tree.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Minnesota on the Glacial Lake Agassiz Plain. Moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Roseau County, Minnesota in 1936.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 8 inches; aquic subgroup - mottles above 1.5 meters; contrasting family - texture change at 33 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to MAES Central File Code Nos. 1382 for results of some laboratory analyses of the typifing pedon.