LOCATION GREENRIDGE WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Greenridge silt loam - on a convex 6 percent slope in cropland at an elevation of about 1,070 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; some particles of dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) subsoil; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (7 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--9 to 17 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine roots; common faint brown (10YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; a few very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) worm casts; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--17 to 38 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky; friable; common very fine roots; common faint brown (10YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; few light gray (10YR 7/2) silt coatings on vertical faces of peds; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt3--38 to 50 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; friable; common very fine roots; common faint brown (10YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; few light gray (10YR 7/2) silt coatings on vertical faces of peds; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons ranges from 16 to 53 inches.)
2Bt4--50 to 56 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) loam; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; friable; few very fine roots; common faint olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; about 3 percent pebbles and channery glauconitic sandstone fragments by volume; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary.
2Bt5--56 to 69 inches; grayish green (5G 4/2) fine sandy loam; weak coarse prismatic structure; firm; few faint dark grayish green (5G 3/2) clay films on faces of peds; about 6 percent pebbles and channery glauconitic sandstone fragments by volume; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the 2Bt horizons ranges from 15 to 40 inches.)
2Cr--69 to 80 inches; strata of light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) and grayish green (5G 4/2) weakly cemented fine-grained glauconitic sandstone; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: LaCrosse County, Wisconsin; about 3 miles northeast of Burns; 1,030 feet south and 20 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 34, T. 18 N., R. 5 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the loess ranges from 25 to 60 inches. Depth to the paralithic contact with sandstone ranges from 45 to 80 inches but is typically more than 60 inches. Coarse fragments are absent in the loess mantle. Volume of sandstone channers ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the slope alluvium and residuum. The particle-size control section averages 20 to 25 percent clay.
The Ap horizon has value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 or 3. Uncultivated pedons have an A horizon with hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
Where present, the E horizon has value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is silt loam. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. The Bt horizon is silt loam or silty clay loam. Clay content ranges from 18 to 29 percent. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
The 2Bt horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, 5Y, 5GY, 10GY, or 5G; value of 3 to 6; and chroma of 1 to 6. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, sandy clay loam, loam, or the channery analogs. Also included are thin layers of loamy fine sand. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid. Volume of channers ranges from 0 to 35 percent.
In some pedons C horizons are present. Textures are loamy fine sand and fine sand. Color and reaction are similar to the 2Bt horizons. Volume of channers ranges from 0 to 35 percent.
The underlying bedrock consists of fine-grained glauconitic sandstone and has color similar to the 2Bt horizon above. Narrow joints containing residuum are common in the sandstone. The sandstone becomes more cemented with depth.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Baraboo, Bertrand, Blackhammer, Camden, Dubuque, Fayette, Flagg, Jackson, Jemerson, LaFarge, Lambeau(T), Martinsburg, Menfro, Navlys, Palsgrove, Pepin, Piscasaw, Ridgeway, Rozetta, Ruma, Rush, Russell, Seaton, St. Charles, Stookey, Sylvan, and Yellowriver series. All of these soils, except the LaFarge soils, do not have soil color hues of 5Y, 5YG, 10GY, or 5G in the lower part of the series control section. These hues are associated with residuum weathered from glauconitic sandstone. The LaFarge soils have a paralithic contact at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Greenridge soils are on hills on highly dissected bedrock controlled uplands. Slopes range from 4 to 20 percent. These soils formed in loess and in the underlying slope alluvium and loamy residuum. Residuum weathered from the underlying fine-grained glauconitic sandstone (typically the Tunnel City sandstone that is identified), in part by it's high content of glauconitic minerals. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 33 inches. Mean annual temperature ranges from 47 to 51 degrees F. The frost free period ranges from about 135 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 900 to 1200 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Near the Type Location this includes the Norden soil. Norden soils are nearby on landscape positions similar to those of Greenridge soils where the loess mantle is less than 25 inches thick.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate in the loess, moderate to moderately rapid in the slope alluvium and residuum, and ranges from slow to moderate in the sandstone.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for cropland. Common crops are corn, small grain, and hay. A few areas are in woodland. Native vegetation was mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Greenridge soils occur throughout the "Driftless Area" where Tunnel City sandstone is exposed and covered by loess deposits 2 to 5 feet thick. They have been correlated only in La Crosse County, Wisconsin.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: LaCrosse County, Wisconsin, 1998. The name of the series is coined.
REMARKS:Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - 0 to 9 inches (Ap); argillic horizon - 9 to 69 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3, 2Bt4, 2Bt5); paralithic contact at 69 inches (2Cr). Some of the LaFarge soils that have a thick loess mantle may fit the concept of the Greenridge series.
ADDITIONAL DATA: