LOCATION GALE WI+IA IL MNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Gale silt loam - on a convex north facing 15 percent slope in a cultivated field at an elevation of about 305 meters. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 20 centimeters; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; many very fine to coarse roots; common fragments of dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) subsoil; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 23 centimeters thick)
Bt1--20 to 30 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine to coarse roots; common distinct dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--30 to 56 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine to medium roots; many distinct dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt3--56 to 69 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine to medium roots; many distinct dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons ranges from 23 to 76 centimeters.)
2Bt4--69 to 79 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sandy loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few distinct dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; common prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) iron coatings on faces of peds; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 10 centimeters thick)
3C--79 to 99 centimeters; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) sand; single grain; loose; few thin strata of yellowish red (5YR 5/8) loamy sand; about 10 percent sandstone channers; strongly acid. (2 to 50 centimeters thick)
3Cr--99 to 152 centimeters; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) 105-Northern Mississippi Valley Loess Hills, Jackson County, Wisconsin; about 0.5 miles south and 4.5 mi. west of Hixton; 2340 feet south and 460 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 22, T. 22 N., R. 6 W.; USGS Taylor topographic quadrangle; latitude 44 degrees, 22 minutes, 19 seconds N.; longitude 91 degrees, 6 minutes, 11 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to the base of argillic horizon--38 to 99 centimeters
Depth to siliceous sandy residuum--38 to 99 centimeters
Depth to paralithic contact--51 to 102 centimeters
Rock fragments--absent in the loess mantle; 0 to 35 percent sandstone channers in the 2Bt, 3BC, and 3C horizons
Reaction--very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout but ranges to neutral in the upper part, where the soil is limed
Ap horizon:
Value--3 or 4; where the value moist is 3, the dry value is 6 or more
Chroma--2 or 3
A horizon (when present):
Hue--10YR
Value--2 or 3
Chroma--1 or 2
E horizon (when present):
Hue--10YR
Value--4 or 5
Chroma--2 or 3.
Bt horizon:
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--3 or 5
Chroma--4 to 6
Texture--silt loam or silty clay loam
2Bt horizon:
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--4 to 6
Chroma4 to 6
Texture--sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam or the channery analogs
3BC horizon (when present):
Hue--7.5YR, or 10YR
Value--4 to 7
Chroma--3 to 8
Texture-- loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sand, fine sand, or the channery analogs
3C horizon:
Hue--7.5YR, or 10YR
Value--4 to 7
Chroma--3 to 8
Texture--sand, fine sand, or the channery analogs
The 3Cr horizon has color like the 3C horizon described above.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the
Tell series.
Tell--do not have a paralithic contact within a depth of 152 centimeters
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent Material--formed mostly in loess over siliceous sandy residuum from the underlying sandstone
Landform-- on hills on bedrock controlled uplands
Slope--0 to 60 percent
Elevation--213 to 427 meters
Mean annual air temperature8 to 11 degrees C
Mean annual precipitation762 to 838 millimeters
Frost Free Days--135 to 160 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Hixton,
Norden, and
Seaton soils near the type location.
Hixton--are nearby on landscape positions similar to those of the Gale soils, the loess mantle is thinner, and the family particle size class is fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal
Norden--are nearby on similar landscape positions, have more than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine in the control section and the underlying sandstone is glauconitic
Seaton--are in similar landscape positions where the loess mantle is more than 60 centimeters thick and the family particle size class is fine-silty
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class--well drained--a saturated zone does not occur within a depth of 1.8 meters during April to June in normal years
Saturated hydraulic conductivity--4.23-14.11 micrometers per second (moderate)
in the silty and loamy mantle, 42.34-141.14 micrometers per second (rapid) in the sandy residuum, and 1.41-14.11 micrometers per second (moderately slow or moderate)in the sandstone
USE AND VEGETATION: Many of the less sloping areas are used for cropland. Common crops are corn, small grain, and hay. Other areas are used for woodland or pastureland. Native vegetation is mixed hardwood forest. Common trees are northern red oak, black oak, white oak, and shagbark hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Physiographic division--Interior Plains
Physiographic Province--Central Lowland
Physiographic sections--Wisconsin driftless section,
MLRAs--Northern Mississippi Valley Loess Hills (105); Central Mississippi Valley Wooded Slopes, Northern Part (115C); Wisconsin and Minnesota Thin Loess and Till, Southern Part (90B).
LRR M and K; west central and southwestern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, southeastern Minnesota and eastern Iowa.
Extentlarge
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, 1940.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon include:
ochric epipedon--the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 20 centimeters (Ap);
argillic horizon-- the zone from a depth of 20 to 79 centimeters (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3, 2Bt4 horizons);
paralithic contact--99 centimeters (3Cr);
udic moisture regime; mesic soil temperature regime.
Angular sandstone flagstones and stones are on the surface in some areas and a stony phase is recognized.
Gale has been mapped on the Wonewoc Cambrian sandstone formation and the Ordovician St. Peter sandstone formation in Wisconsin. Future MLRA correlations may separate these mapunits by geologic formation.
Small areas of Gale soils have been mapped in areas beyond the physiographic concept of the Gale series; future MLRA soil survey updates may investigate and re-correlate these areas.
Taxonomy versionKeys to Soil Taxonomy, tenth edition, 2006.
ADDITIONAL DATA: