LOCATION ELEVASIL WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, active, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Elevasil sandy loam (from an area of Boone-Elevasil complex) on a convex south facing 50 percent slope in a pastured woodland at an elevation of about 880 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oe--0 to 1 inch; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moderately decomposed plant material; about 45 percent fiber and 25 percent rubbed; weak thin platy structure; non-sticky; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
A--1 to 3 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
Bt1--3 to 9 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; few distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary.
Bt2--9 to 27 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine to medium roots; few distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; about 5 percent sandstone channers in the lower part of the horizon; very strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 12 to 35 inches.)
2BC--27 to 31 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) loamy sand; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few very fine roots; about 10 percent sandstone channers; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
2C--31 to 39 inches; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) sand; single grain; loose; about 14 percent sandstone channers; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
2Cr--39 to 60 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/4) weakly cemented sandstone; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Jackson County, Wisconsin; about 1.5 miles west and 0.5 miles north of North Bend; 1300 feet south and 1,000 feet east of the northwest corner sec. 30, T. 19 N., R. 6 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: (Unless otherwise stated, thickness and depth in the following paragraph are measured from the top of the mineral soil.) Thickness of the loamy mantle and depth to a paralithic contact with sandstone ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The particle-size control section averages 10 to 17 percent clay and 40 to 70 percent fine or coarser sand and has less than 10 percent weatherable minerals (0.02 to 20 mm fraction). Coarse fragments consist entirely of sandstone fragments. Volume of sandstone channers typically ranges from 0 to 15 percent in the loamy mantle but ranges up to 35 percent in individual subhorizons in some pedons. Volume of sandstone channers ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the sandy residuum. Some map units have 1 to 3 percent stones on the surface.
The O horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR or is neutral in hue. Value is 2 or 3 and chroma is 0 to 2. The O horizon is a layer of moderately decomposed plant material.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. Cultivated pedons have Ap horizons with hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 or 3. Reaction typically ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid but ranges to neutral where the soil is limed.
Some pedons have an E horizon with hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is sandy loam, loam, or the channery analogs. Reaction typically ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid but ranges to neutral where the soil is limed.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. It is sandy loam, loam, or the channery analogs. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid. Volume of sandstone flagstones ranges from 0 to 5 percent.
Some pedons have a 2Bt horizon with color, texture, and reaction like the 2BC horizon below.
The 2BC horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 4 to 6. It is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sand, fine sand, or the channery analogs. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid. Volume of sandstone flagstones ranges from 0 to 5 percent.
The 2C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is sand, fine sand, or the channery analogs. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid. Volume of sandstone flagstones ranges from 0 to 5 percent.
The 2Cr horizon has color like the 2C horizon described above. It is sandstone and is a paralithic contact but grades to a lithic contact below 40 inches in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Caverns and Silverhill series. Caverns soils do not have a paralithic contact within 60 inches. Silverhill soils have a paralithic contact at a depth of 40 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Elevasil soils are on hills and pediments on bedrock controlled uplands. Slope gradients range from 2 to 60 percent. These soils formed mostly in siliceous loamy colluvium or slope alluvium over siliceous sandy residuum from the underlying sandstone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 33 inches. Mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 52 degrees F. The frost free period ranges from about 135 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 700 to 1400 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Boone, Elkmound, Gale, Gardenvale, Hixton, and Silverhill soils. The excessively drained Boone soils are nearby on similar landscape positions where there is 20 to 40 inches of sandy colluvium or residuum over the sandstone. The excessively drained Elkmound soils are nearby where the depth to bedrock is less than 20 inches. The well drained Hixton, Gale and Gardenvale soils are on similar landscape positions where there is more silt and clay and less sand in the soil. The well drained Silverhill soils are nearby where the depth to the paralithic contact with sandstone ranges from 40 to 60 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to very rapid. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the loamy mantle; rapid in the sandy residuum; and moderately slow or moderate in the sandstone.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are used for woodland. Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods with some conifers. Common trees are northern pin oak, northern red oak, black oak, jack pine, red pine, and eastern white pine. Some areas are used for pastureland. Many of the less sloping areas are cleared and used for cropland. Common crops are corn, small grain and hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West central and southwestern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota. These soils are of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clark County, Wisconsin, 1994.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the pedon are: ochric epipedon - 1 to 3 inches (A); argillic horizon - 3 to 27 inches (Bt1, Bt2); paralithic contact - soft sandstone at 39 inches; siliceous feature - less than 10 percent weatherable minerals (0.02 to 20 mm fraction) in the particle-size control section; ultic feature - base saturation less than 60 percent in the residuum directly above the paralithic contact.
ADDITIONAL DATA - Soil Interpretation - WI0556