LOCATION FONTANELLE         NE
Established Series
Rev. GAB-PTC-JFH
06/2007

FONTANELLE SERIES


The Fontanelle series consists of deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in silty alluvium. These soils are on ephemeral oxbow lakes on floodplains and have slopes from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual temperature is 10 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation is 760 millimeters.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Fluvaquentic Endoaquolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Fontanelle silty clay loam, with a slope of less than 1 percent on a nearly level flood plain - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 18 centimeters; black (10YR 2/1) silty clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine and medium roots throughout and few medium and coarse throughout; common very fine and fine moderate continuity tubular pores; neutral; clear smooth boundary.

Bg--18 to 33 centimeters; 60 percent black (10YR 2/1) and 40 percent very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine roots throughout and few medium and coarse throughout; common very fine and fine moderate continuity tubular pores; slightly effervescent throughout; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.

Cg1--33 to 56 centimeters; 50 percent very dark gray (10YR 3/1) and 50 percent dark gray (10YR 4/1) silt loam; massive parting on planes or horizontal weakness; very friable; few fine roots throughout; common very fine moderate continuity tubular pores; common fine rounded grayish brown (10YR 5/2) masses of carbonate throughout and few fine irregular strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation throughout; strongly effervescent throughout; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.

2Cg2--56 to 74 centimeters; 50 percent very dark gray (2.5Y 3/1) and 50 percent dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) stratified silt loam and fine sandy loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) dry; massive parting on planes or horizontal weakness; very friable; few fine roots throughout; common very fine moderate continuity tubular pores; and few fine irregular strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation throughout; strongly effervescent throughout; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary.

2Cg3--74 to 104 centimeters; 35 percent very dark gray (2.5Y 3/1) and 34 percent dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) and 31 percent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) stratified silty clay loam and fine sand; massive parting on planes or horizontal weakness; very friable; few fine roots throughout; common very fine moderate continuity tubular pores; common fine irregular strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation throughout; neutral; clear smooth boundary.

2Cg4--104 to 122 centimeters; dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) stratified loam; massive parting on planes or horizontal weakness; very friable; common fine irregular strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation throughout; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.

3Ab--122 to 152 centimeters; black (2.5Y 2/1) silty clay loam, gray (2.5Y 5/1) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium irregular strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation throughout; slightly effervescent throughout; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary.

3Cg--152 to 203 centimeters; 50 percent dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) and 50 percent gray (2.5Y 5/1) silt loam, gray (2.5Y 6/1) dry; massive; friable; common fine irregular strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation throughout; slightly alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) 102C - Loess Uplands; Washington County Nebraska Subset; south of Arlington; 2300 feet west and 1100 feet south of the northeast corner of section 13, T. 17 N., R. 9 E. at an elevation of 1155 feet above mean sea level. USGS Arlington Nebraska Topographic Quadrangle; latitude 41 degrees 26 minutes 54.3 seconds N. and longitude 96 degrees 21 minutes 23.3 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Combined thickness of the A and B horizons: 18 to 142 centimeters
Mollic Epipedon thickness: 18 to 91 centimeters
Depth to Buried Soil: 60 to 152 centimeters, average 75 centimeters. The buried soil can be under sand or sand may be under the buried soil where the two features appear in the same pedon.
Depth to Sand and gravel: 60 to 152 centimeters (if present), average 75 centimeters
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 0 to 90 centimeters
Depth to Free Carbonates: 25 to 152 centimeters
Soil Reaction: Neutral to slightly alkaline

RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
A horizon:
Value: 2 to 3
Chroma: 1 to 2
Redox Concentrations: value: 4 or 5
Texture: Silty clay loam, and less commonly silty clay, loam, sandy clay loam or silt loam.
Reaction: Neutral or slightly alkaline.
Thickness: 15 to 50 centimeters, average 25 centimeters

Bg horizons:
Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR
Value: 2 or 3 (3 or 4 dry)
Chroma: 2 or less moist (1 dry)
Redox Concentrations: value: 4 or 5
Texture - Silty clay loam, or silty clay
Reaction -- Neutral to moderately alkaline
Thickness: 0 to 75 centimeters, average 48 centimeters

Cg horizon:
Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR
Value: 3 to 5
Chroma: 1 or 2
Redox Concentrations: value: 4 or 5
Texture - Loam, fine sandy loam, silty clay loam and silt loam
Reaction -- Neutral to moderately alkaline
Thickness Range - 25 to 125 centimeters, average 60 centimeters

2Cg horizon:
Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR
Value of 3 to 5
Chroma of 2 or less
Redox Concentrations: value: 4 or 5
Texture - Stratified loam, fine sandy loam, fine sand, silty clay loam and silt loam
Reaction -- Neutral to moderately alkaline
Thickness Range - 25 to 125 centimeters

3Ab horizon:
Value: 2 to 3
Chroma: 1 to 2
Redox Concentrations: value: 4 or 5
Texture - Silty clay loam, and less commonly silty clay, or silt loam.
Reaction -- Neutral or moderately alkaline.
Thickness Range - 18 to 38 centimeters, when present

3Cg horizon:
Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR
Value: 3 to 5
Chroma: 2 or less
Redox Concentrations: value: 4 or 5
Texture - silt loam, silty clay loam, loam; or if no Ab horizon, sand, fine sand, loamy fine sand and coarse sand
Reaction -- Neutral to moderately alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Zillah series. Zillah soils do not have free carbonates at a depths of 25 to 152 centimeters.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent Material - Silty alluvial sediments
Landscape - River valleys
Landform - Ephemeral oxbow lakes on flood plains
Elevation - 350 to 360 meters above mean sea level
Mean Annual Air Temperature - 9 to 11 degrees C
Mean Annual Precipitation - 750 to 770 millimeters
Frost Free Period - 155 to 165 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are:
Cass - are higher on the landscape and lack carbonates above 152 centimeters.
Inglewood - are higher on the landscape and have loamy fine sand, fine sand, loamy sand, or sand surface textures.
Platte - are higher on the landscape and have sand and gravel at 25 to 50 centimeters.
Shell - are higher on the landscape and lack stratification.
Zook - are on higher or similar landscapes, lack stratification, and are in the fine particle-size class.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage - Saturation at the surface to depths of 15 centimeters all year.
Saturated hydraulic conductivity - Moderate
Surface Runoff - Very slow

USE AND VEGETATION: Some areas are cropped to corn and soybeans in some years, but many areas are not cropped. Native vegetation was tall, water tolerant prairie grasses and cottonwood and willow trees.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Physiographic Division Interior Plains
Physiographic Province Central Lowland
Physiographic Section Dissected Till Plains
Land Resource Region Central Feed Grains and Livestock Region (LRR M)
Major land Resource Area Loess Uplands (MLRA 102C)
Extent small; less than 200 acres on the flood plain of the Elkhorn River.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washington County, Nebraska, 2003. Name comes from a nearby village.

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
Mollic epipedon 0 to 18 centimeters (Ap horizon)
Strongly contrasting particle size classes between individual strata within the control section.
Buried soil at a depth of 122 to 152 centimeters (Ab horizon).

These soils were originally mapped as Rauville in the 1957 Washington County, Nebraska soil survey. The Rauville soils are frigid. These soils were also mapped as Gibbon Variant soil in Dodge County, Nebraska (MLRA 102C). These soils are highly variable and this classification may not be correct in every situation; some pedons may be coarse-silty over sandy or sandy skeletal.

ADDITIONAL DATA: None available at this time.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.