LOCATION GORVAN MI

Established Series
Rev EPJ-MLK
08/2012

GORVAN SERIES

The Gorvan series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils formed in alluvium on flood plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 787 mm (31 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 8.9 degrees C (48 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, mesic Fluvaquentic Endoaquolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Gorvan mucky silt loam, on a slope of less than 1 percent in a wet woodland at an elevation of 183 meters (600 feet) above mean sea level. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

A1--0 to 10 cm (4 inches); black (5YR 2.5/1) mucky silt loam, very dark gray (7.5YR 3/1) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; few very fine roots; neutral; clear wavy boundary. [10 to 25 cm (4 to 10 inches) thick]

A2--10 to 28 cm (4 to 11 inches); dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) silt loam, very dark gray (7.5YR 3/1) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine roots; few medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) masses of oxidized iron throughout; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. [13 to 20 cm (5 to 8 inches) thick]

Cg1--28 to 69 cm (11 to 27 inches); dark gray (5Y 4/1) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron throughout; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary.

2Cg2--69 to 203 cm (27 to 80 inches); grayish brown (10YR 5/2) fine sand with thin strata of very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sand; single grain; loose; slightly alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Manistee County, Michigan; about 2 1/2 miles south of Norwalk corners; 700 feet north and 700 feet east of the southwest corner sec. 20, T. 22 N., R. 15. W.; Brown Township; USGS Onekama, Michigan 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; lat. 44 degrees 17 minutes 21 seconds N. and long. 86 degrees 9 minutes 34 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to the sandy material: 64 to 89 cm (25 to 35 inches)
Thickness of the mollic epipedon: 25 to 46 cm (10 to 18 inches)
Mean annual soil temperature: 8.9 degrees C (48 degrees F)

A horizon:
Hue: 5YR to 2.5Y, or is neutral
Value: 2.5 or 3, 4 or 5 dry
Chroma: 0 to 2
Texture: mucky silt loam, silt loam, or loam
Reaction: slightly acid to slightly alkaline

Cg horizon:
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 1 or 2
Texture: silty clay loam, clay loam, silt loam, or loam, and is stratified in some pedons
Rock fragment content: 0 to 5 percent gravel and cobbles
Reaction: neutral or slightly alkaline

2Cg horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 4 to 6
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: fine sand or sand
Rock fragment content: 0 to 14 percent gravel and cobbles
Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Gorvan soils are on flood plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. They formed in alluvium washed mainly from soils formed in loamy, calcareous drift. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 762 to 813 mm (30 to 32 inches). Mean annual temperature ranges from 7.8 to 8.9 degrees C (46 to 48 degrees F). Frost-free period is 100 to 120 days. Elevation is 183 to 305 meters (600 to 1000 feet) above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Plainfield, Coloma, Houghton and Glendora soils. The excessively drained Plainfield and Coloma soil are in uplands adjacent to the river. The very poorly drained Houghton soils are in old oxbows and stream channels along the river. The poorly drained or very poorly drained Glendora soils are nearer to stream channels or are along more active streams.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Very poorly drained. Depth to the top of an apparent seasonal high water table is 30 cm (1 foot) above the surface to 30 cm (1 foot) below the surface between September and June in normal years. Potential for surface runoff is negligible or very low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the upper part and high or very high in the lower part. Permeability is moderate or moderately slow over rapid. These soils are subject to frequent flooding from late fall to spring.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. The vegetation is lowland hardwoods, American elm, basswood, blue beach, green ash, and silver maple.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 96 in northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The series is of small extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Manistee County, Michigan, 2005.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon: from the surface to a depth of 28 cm (11 inches) (A1, A2).
Aquic conditions: mucky silt loam surface and redoximorphic features throughout the profile.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.