LOCATION LEAFRIVER MN+MIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, frigid Histic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Leafriver muck with a concave slope less than 1 percent on an outwash plain in a natural setting. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oa--0 to 9 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face; and very dark brown (10YR 2/2) rubbed, sapric material; about 20 percent fiber, 5 percent rubbed; moderate medium platy structure; very friable; herbaceous fiber; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
A--9 to 14 inches; black (N 2/0) sandy loam, moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 9 inches thick)
Cg1--14 to 28 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) loamy sand; few fine distinct dark gray (10YR 4/1) Fe depletions; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.
Cg2--28 to 60 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) loamy sand; common medium distinct brown (10YR 5/3) Fe concentrations; massive; nonsticky; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Wadena County, Minnesota; about 3 miles south and 1/2 mile east of the town of Nimrod; 850 feet west and 250 feet south of the northeast corner of section 20, T. 136 N., R. 33 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to free carbonates is 60 inches or more. The mineral soil may contain as much as 15 percent rock fragments.
The O horizon in the rubbed condition has hue 5YR to 10YR or is N, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. It is typically sapric material but in some pedons it is hemic material. It is very strongly acid to neutral.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y or is N, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, fine sand, sand, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam, loam, or has enough organic carbon to use a mucky modifier with these textures. It is extremely acid to neutral. Some pedons do not have an A horizon.
Some pedons have a Bg or BC horizon.
The Cg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5GY, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 2. High or low chroma redoximorphic features are in most pedons. It is loamy fine sand, fine sand, loamy sand, sand, loamy coarse sand, or coarse sand. The Cg horizon in some pedons is stratified with thin layers of loamy materials. The thickness of these strata range from less than 1/2 inch to about 3 inches. The Cg horizon is extremely acid to neutral. Some pedons have a C horizon with a chroma of 3 or 4.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Ausable, Deerwood, Searsport, and Tahawas series in the same family. Ausable soils have thin bands of organic material in the series control section. The Deerwood soils contain free carbonates in the control section. The Searsport soils are more moist in the soil moisture control section during the 120 days following the summer solstice. Tahawas soils have cambic horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Leafriver soils are on concave or plane surfaces in shallow depressions or drainage ways on glacial lake plains, disintegration and kame moraines, dune landscapes, outwash plains, and river terraces. They formed in a thin layer of organic material and underlying stratified sandy outwash or lacustrine sediments. Slopes are usually less than 1 percent. Mean annual temperature ranges from 36 to 45 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 24 to 33 inches. Frost-free days range from 88 to 150. Elevation above sea level ranges from 670 to 1450 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Cormant, Duelm, Forada, Friendship, Hiwood, Isan, Markey, Meehan, Newson, Redby, Roscommon, and Seelyeville soils. The moderately well drained Duelm, Friendship, and Hiwood soils and the somewhat poorly drained Meehan and Redby soils are on slightly higher landscapes. The Cormant, Forada, Isan, Newson, and Roscommon soils are poorly drained or very poorly drained and are on the edges of the depressions or on slightly higher parts of the landscape. All the soils except the Markey and Seelyeville soils lack histic epipedons. The Markey and Seelyeville soils have thicker layers of organic material and are usually toward the center of depressions or in deeper depressions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Runoff is negligible. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the organic material and rapid in the mineral part. The representative depth to wet soil moisture status ranges from 0 to 1.5 feet below the surface throughout the year. The representative depth of ponding ranges from 0.2 to 0.5 foot throughout the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in its natural condition of sedge, reed, willow, and alder cover. Some areas have quaking aspen, black ash, balm of gilead, tamarack, or black spruce. A small amount is used for meadow and hay or is pastured.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North-central and northern Minnesota. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wadena County, Minnesota, 1985.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: histic epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of approximately 9 inches (Oa horizon); aquic moisture regime based upon histic epipedon.