LOCATION ETTER MNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Hapludolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Etter fine sandy loam with a convex slope of 5 percent in the uplands in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; few channel fillings of dark brown (10YR 3/2); slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 15 inches thick)
AB--8 to 12 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) fine sandy loam; brown (10YR 5/3) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; few channel fillings of dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4); medium acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bw1--12 to 18 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) coatings on faces of peds; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bw2--18 to 24 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam; weak
very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw3--24 to 29 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loam; moderate
fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; about 2 percent coarse fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bw horizons is 10 to 25 inches.)
2BC--29 to 32 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy fine sand; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; about 5 percent coarse fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
2C--32 to 60 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) fine sand; massive; friable; about 5 percent coarse fragments; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Rice County, Minnesota; about 1 mile east of Northfield; 1,360 feet north and 320 feet west of the southeast corner, sec. 31, T. 112 N., R. 19 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum and loamy mantle and depth to sandy residuum from sandstone are in the range of 20 to 40 inches. Coarse fragments comprise 0 to 5 percent of the loamy mantle and 2 to 35 percent of the horizons in the sandy residuum. The fragments are mostly sandstone. The sandy residuum is typically acid but has free carbonates in some pedons. The mollic epipedon is 7 to 20 inches thick. The control section has 10 to 18 percent clay and 15 to 50 percent of fine sand and coarser particles.
The A horizon has value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam high in content of sand. It is medium acid through neutral. The BA or AB horizons are not in all pedons.
The Bw horizon has a hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam. It has a few faint clay films on faces of peds in some pedons. It is very strongly acid through neutral.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is sand, fine sand or loamy sand. It is very strongly acid through moderately alkaline.
A 2Cr horizon of sandstone begins at depths as shallow as 40 inches in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Becker, Bertram, Bolan, Carmi, Dickinson, Flagler, Lowlein, Olin, Ridgeport, Wadenill, and Zenor series in the same family. All of these soils except Bertram lack 2B and 2C horizons in residuum from sandstone within depths of 40 inches. Bertram soils have an R horizon of limestone bedrock at a depth of less than 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Etter soils have plane, concave, or slightly convex slopes on rock-cored terraces or structural benches and in uplands. Slope gradients range from 1 to 45 percent. These soils formed in a mantle of loamy glacial drift, erosional sediments, or mixed loess and erosional sediments that are 20 to 40 inches thick and are underlain by sandy residuum from sandstone bedrock. Mean annual temperature is 44 to 52 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 25 to 34 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Brodale, Eyota, and Faxon soils. Well drained Brodale soils are loamy-skeletal, are upslope from Etter soils, and formed in colluvium and residuum from limestone. Well drained Eyota soils have a thicker mollic epipedon and are downslope from Etter soils. Poorly drained Faxon soils are downslope and have a lithic contact within depths of 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is slow through rapid. Permeability is moderate in the loamy mantle and rapid in the sandy residuum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Commonly cropped to corn and soybeans. Some is used for pasture. Native vegetation was mostly tall grass prairie.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Minnesota and north-central Iowa. Moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washington County, Minnesota, 1941.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: Mollic epipedon--the zone from the surface to a depth of 12 inches (Ap and AB horizons); Cambic horizon--the zone from 12 to 29 inches (Bw1, Bw2, and Bw3 horizons); udic moisture regime.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Central File Code Number 1062 for results of some laboratory analysis of the typical pedon.