LOCATION KATO MN+IA WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Endoaquolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Kato silty clay loam on a plane level slope on a glacial outwash plain at an elevation of about 1,300 feet in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; black (10YR 2/1) silty clay loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) dry; massive; friable; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
A--8 to 15 inches; black (10YR 2/1) silty clay loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of A horizons is 10 to 20 inches)
AB--15 to 21 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) fillings in root channels; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bg1--21 to 24 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silty clay loam; few fine distinct dark brown (10YR 4/3) mottles; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few vesicular pores; few fine dark brown concretions; few small very dark gray (10YR 3/1) vertical fillings in root channels; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
Bg2--24 to 31 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silt loam, many fine distinct olive (5Y 4/4) mottles; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few vesicular pores; few fine dark brown concretions; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
BCg--31 to 35 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) sandy loam; many fine distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) mottles; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine distinct soft black masses; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
2Cg1--35 to 39 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and olive gray (2.5Y 5/2) sand; few prominent yellowish brown vertical stains; single grain; loose; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary.
2Cg2--39 to 60 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) and olive (5Y 5/3) coarse sand; few prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) vertical mottles; single grain; loose; few fine pebbles; neutral in upper part becoming mildly alkaline; strongly effervescent below 50 inches.
TYPE LOCATION: Steele County, Minnesota; about 10 miles southeast of Owatonna; 1,220 feet south and 600 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 12, T. 106 N., R. 19W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to the 2C horizon typically ranges from 24 to 36 inches with an extreme range of 20 to 40 inches. Depth to free carbonates typically ranges from 48 to 60 inches with an extreme range of 40 to 65 inches. The mollic epipedon ranges from 14 to 24 inches in thickness.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or is N 2/ or N 3/. It is silt loam or silty clay loam. It typically is neutral but ranges to slightly acid and to mildly alkaline in the upper part in some pedons.
The B horizon matrix has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 3. It has distinct or prominent mottles in most to all parts. It typically is neutral or slightly acid but ranges to strongly acid in some pedons. The Bg horizon is silt loam or silty clay loam. The BC horizon is loamy sand, sandy loam, loam, or clay loam.
The 2C horizon typically has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y; value of 4 through 8; and chroma of 1 through 3. It typically is stratified sand or coarse sand with up to 20 percent coarse fragments but is loamy sand in some pedons. The upper part typically is slightly acid or neutral, and it becomes mildly alkaline and calcareous with depth.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the family. Similar soils include the Biscay, Hanska, and Marshan. Biscay and Marshan soils are fine-loamy in the upper part of the 10 to 40 inch control section. Hanska soils are coarse-loamy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Kato soils are on plane or slightly concave slopes with gradient of 0 to 2 percent predominantly on outwash plains and valley trains but on flood plains in some areas. They formed in a 20 to 40 inch thick mantle of loess or silty outwash sediments over coarse textured outwash. These sediments are Late Wisconsinan in age. Mean annual temperature is about 45 to 50 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is about 26 to 32 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Waukegan series. Waukegan soils lack aquic moisture regime.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly and very poorly drained. Surface runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate in the solum and rapid in the 2C horizon.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly drained and cultivated with corn and soybeans the principal crops. Native vegetation was a wetsite community of the tall grass prairie.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and southern Wisconsin. Moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Dakota County, Minnesota, 1942.
REMARKS: Classification only was changed 5/94. Competing series and other updates will be made later.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Central File Code Number 424 for results of some laboratory analyses of the typifying pedon.