LOCATION GOWAN              MN
Established Series
LAS-RTR-KDS
09/2009

GOWAN SERIES


The Gowan series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils that formed in 51 to 102 centimeters of loamy glaciolacustrine deposits and in the underlying sandy glaciolacustrine deposits. These soils are on glacial lake plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 686 millimeters. Mean annual air temperature is about 4 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Argiaquolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Gowan silt loam on flat of 1 percent, in a cultivated field, on a glacial lake plain, at an elevation of about 400 meters. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 28 centimeters; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam, gray (10YR 5/1) dry; weak fine and moderate granular structure; very friable; common fine and very fine roots; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (20 to 33 centimeters thick)

Btg--28 to 46 centimeters; olive gray (5Y 5/2) silty clay loam; weak very fine angular blocky structure; firm; common fine and very fine roots; few faint grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) clay films on faces of peds; common fine prominent olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) and few fine prominent olive (5Y 5/6) redoximorphic concentrations; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (13 to 51 centimeters thick)

Bg--46 to 64 centimeters; olive (5Y 5/3) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and very fine roots; common medium distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) redoximorphic concentrations; common medium faint grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) redoximorphic depletions; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (13 to 51 centimeters thick)

2C--64 to 203 centimeters; light gray (2.5Y 7/2) loamy very fine sand; single grain; friable; few fine faint light gray (10YR 7/1) nodules of calcium carbonate; common fine distinct pale olive (5Y 6/4) Fe depletions, and common fine and medium prominent yellow (10YR 7/8) Fe concentrations; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) 88-Northern Minnesota Glacial Lake Basins; St. Louis County, Minnesota, Meadowlands subset; about 1 mile north and 2.5 miles east of Floodwood; located about 2,000 feet south and 1,300 feet west of the northeast corner of section 27, T. 52 N., R. 20 W.; USGS McCarty River topographic quadrangle; latitude 46 degrees 57 minutes 51 seconds N., and longitude 92 degrees 51 minutes 3 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mollic epipedon thickness--20 to 33 centimeters
Depth to free carbonates--38 to 102 centimeters
Depth to sandy sediments--51 to 102 centimeters
Rock fragment content--0 to 1 percent

Ap or A horizon:
Hue--10YR
Value--2 to 4
Chroma--1 or 2
Texture--silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam or silty clay loam
Reaction--moderately acid to neutral

Btg or Bt horizon:
Hue--10YR to 5Y
Value--4 to 6
Chroma--1 or 2
Texture--silty clay loam or silt loam. The clay content ranges from 18 to 35 percent
Reaction--slightly acid to neutral

Bw or Bg horizon:
Hue--2.5Y or 5Y
Value--5 or 6
Chroma--1 to 3
Texture--silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or silty clay loam; or stratified with these textures
Reaction--slightly alkaline to moderately alkaline

2C or 2Cg horizon:
Hue--2.5Y or 5Y
Value--5 to 7
Chroma--2 to 6
Texture--loamy very fine sand, very fine sand, fine sand, sand, or loamy fine sand; or stratified with these textures
Reaction--slightly alkaline to moderately alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Jimcreek series.
Jimcreek--do not have carbonates within the series control section

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material--loamy glaciolacustine deposits and the underlying sandy glaciolacustrine deposits on flats on glacial lake plains
Slope--0 to 2 percent
Mean annual air temperature--3 to 5 degrees C
Mean annual precipitation--635 to 711 millimeters
Frost free period--95 to 125 days
Elevation--350 to 490 meters above sea level

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Lahti soils. Lahti soils forms a hydrosequence with the Gowan soils.
Lahti--are on slightly higher landscape positions on the landscape and have a seasonal high zone of saturation as high as 46 centimeters during the wettest periods of normal years

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class--poorly drained--a seasonal high zone of saturation as shallow as 15 centimeters below the surface during the wettest periods of normal years
Saturated hydraulic conductivity--1.00 to 10.00 micrometers per second in the upper loamy glaciolacustrine deposits and 1.00 to 100.00 micrometers per second in the underlying sandy or loamy glaciolacustrine deposits

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cropped for hay.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Physiographic Division--Interior Plains or Laurentian Upland
Physiographic Province--Central Lowland Province or Superior Upland
Physiographic section--Western Lake section (if in the Central Lowland Province) or undefined (if in the Superior Upland)
MLRA--Northern Minnesota Glacial Lake Basins (88)
LRR K; northern Minnesota
Extent--small

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: St. Louis County, Minnesota, 2009. The source of the name is a small village in St. Louis County.

REMARKS:
Particle-size control section--the zone from a depth of 28 to 46 centimeters;
series control section--the zone from surface of the soil to a depth of 150 centimeters.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
mollic epipedon--the zone from 0 to 28 centimeters (Ap horizon);
argillic horizon-the zone from 28 to 46 centimeters (Btg horizon);
aquic moisture regime.

Taxonomy version--Keys to Soil Taxonomy, tenth edition, 2006


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.