LOCATION GERMANTOWN MNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Hapludolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Germantown clay loam with a convex north-facing slope of 3 percent on glaciated uplands in a cultivated field at an elevation of 1,420 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) clay loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; about 3 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 14 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) clay loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) dry; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine subangular blocky; friable; about 4 percent rock fragments; many very dark brown (10YR 2/2) worm casts; moderately acid; clear irregular boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bw2--14 to 19 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) clay loam; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine angular blocky; friable; about 3 percent rock fragments; common very dark brown (10YR 2/2) worm casts; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) iron concentrations; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to l6 inches thick)
Bk--19 to 27 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) loam; strong coarse angular blocky and subangular blocky structure; friable; about 5 percent rock fragments; about l8 percent calcium carbonate disseminated throughout and as common 5 to l0 mm diameter soft masses; few coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) iron concentrations; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to l2 inches thick)
C--27 to 36 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) loam; massive; friable; about 10 percent rock fragments; many 1 to 3 mm diameter dark oxides of iron and manganese; about 15 percent calcium carbonate disseminated throughout and as few 5 to 10 mm diameter soft masses; few coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) iron concentrations; violently effervescent; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
R--36+ inches; pinkish red, hard quartzite bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Cottonwood County, Minnesota; about 4 miles east and 2.5 miles north of Jeffers; 2,400 feet north and 1,200 feet east of the southwest corner of sec. 12, T. 107 N., R. 36 W.; USGS Sanborn SE quadrangle; lat. 44 degrees 05 minutes 11 seconds N. and 95 degrees 06 minutes 57 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Depth to free carbonates is 18 to 36 inches. The mollic epipedon is 7 to 16 inches thick. Rock fragments comprise 1 to 6 percent of the solum and 5 to 15 percent of the C horizon. Carbonates are disseminated and in few to many 5 to 10 mm diameter soft masses and threads in the Bk and C horizons. Calcium carbonate equivalent in these horizons is 15 to 25 percent. A coarser textured layer (lag line) as much as 6 inches in thickness overlies the rock contact in some pedons.
The A horizon has hue of l0YR, value of 1 or 2, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is clay loam or loam and has weak or moderate subangular blocky structure. It is moderately acid or slightly acid. Some pedons have an A3 horizon as much as 6 inches in thickness.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. It has few through many high chroma mottles in some to all parts in some pedons. It is clay loam or loam. It has weak through strong prismatic structure which parts to weak or moderate subangular blocky in the upper part and moderate or strong angular or subangular blocky structure in the lower part. It is friable or firm. It is strongly through slightly acid in the upper part grading to slightly or moderately alkaline in the Bk horizon.
The C horizon has 2.5Y hue, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 6. It is loam or clay loam, It has few to many high chroma redox and few to many dark oxides of iron and manganese in some pedons. It is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Arbor, Aredale, Bode, Clarion, Cresken, Everly, Farrar, Frontenac, Garmore, Kenyon, Limecreek, Liscomb, McClay, Moland, Neeper, Ocheyedan, Omsrud, Ostrander, and Rossfield series. All of these soil do not have a lithic contact within depths of 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Germantown soils have convex slopes with gradient of 1 to 6 percent on glaciated uplands. They formed in a 20- to 40-inch thick mantle of loamy calcareous glacial till of Late Wisconsin age. This till overlies quartzite bedrock. Mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 50 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 22 to 30 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Germantown soils are the dominant ones in their area of occurrence. A poorly drained variant of Webster soils are associated in a few places. Also, well drained Clarion and moderately well and somewhat poorly drained Nicollet soils are associated in a few places. These soils formed in glacial sediments that are more than 40 inches thick.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is low to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity, measured in inches per hour, is .6 to 2.0.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most Germantown soils are cultivated. Corn and soybeans are the principal row crops. Native vegetation is tall grass prairie.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Minnesota. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cottonwood County, Minnesota, 1978.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 14 inches (Ap and Bw1 horizons); cambic horizon - the zone from 14 to 27 inches (Bw2 and Bk horizons). Udic moisture regime. These soils were formerly included with the Ihlen series in some places.