LOCATION LENZWHEEL IL

Established Series
SES
03/2020

LENZWHEEL SERIES

The Lenzwheel series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slowly permeable soils on uplands. These soils formed in materials that have been excavated during surface mining operations. The regolith dominantly is fine earth material. Some areas have been graded. Slope ranges from 1 to greater than 60 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 52 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is about 37 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, spolic, mixed, active, calcareous, mesic Anthroportic Udorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Lenzwheel silty clay loam - on 45 percent linear slope in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 3 inches; 80 percent brown (10YR 4/3), 15 percent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) and 5 percent brown (10YR 5/3) silty clay loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots; about 10 percent fine pebbles; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (1 to 7 inches thick.)

AC--3 to 7 inches; 70 percent brown (10YR 4/3), 20 percent brown (10YR 5/3), 5 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), and 5 percent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silty clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; about 10 percent fine pebbles; very slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.

C1--7 to 26 inches; 60 percent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), 30 percent brown (10YR 5/3), 5 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), and 5 percent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) clay loam; massive; firm; few very fine and fine roots; about 10 percent randomly oriented relict dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay loam peds, often with clay films and redox concentrations; about 4 percent fine pebbles; slightly effervescent; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.

C2--26 to 44 inches; 70 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), 15 percent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), 10 percent brown (7.5YR 4/4), and 5 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) silty clay loam with pockets of silt loam; massive; friable; few very fine roots; about 10 percent randomly oriented relict dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silty clay loam peds, often with clay films and redox concentrations; less than 1 percent fine pebbles; slightly alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.

C3--44 to 80 inches; 45 percent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), 45 percent grayish brown (10YR 5/2), 5 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), and (5percent) brown (7.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; massive; firm; few very fine roots; about 5 percent randomly oriented relict dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay loam peds, often with clay films and redox concentrations; about 2 percent fine and 1 percent medium pebbles; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Fulton County, Illinois; about 3 1/2 miles southeast of Canton; 2600 feet north and 2165 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 25, T. 6 N., R. 4 E.; USGS Duck Island topographic quadrangle; lat. 40 degrees 28 minutes 24 seconds N. and long. 89 degrees 59 minutes 59 seconds W., NAD 27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Isolated peds of relict genetic horizons of pre-mined soils are randomly distributed throughout, and are disordered relative to any plane in the profile. Content ranges from 5 to 15 percent by volume. Some of the peds have identifiable properties such as redox concentrations, clay films or other coatings that are characteristic of their previous formation. The organic carbon content decreases irregularly with depth. The particle size control section ranges from 18 to 35 percent clay. Content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 15 percent.

The upper part of the series control section (A and AC horizons) has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. It commonly is silty clay loam but includes silt loam and loam. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to slightly alkaline.

Some pedons do not have an AC horizon.

The lower part of the series control section (C horizon) has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 8. It is clay loam, silty clay loam, silt loam, or loam. Thin strata or small pockets of coarser or finer textured material are in some pedons. Individual layers within the C horizon are variable in number and thickness. Rock fragment content generally increases below a depth of about 60 inches. Reaction ranges from neutral to moderately alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Lenzburg series. Schuline series is in a closely related family. Lenzburg soils have more than 5 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section that are 3 inches in diameter or larger. Schuline soils have a superactive cation-exchange activity class.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lenzwheel soils are on summits and side slopes of ridges on reconstructed upland landscapes. Slope ranges from 1 to greater than 60 percent. These soils formed in cast overburden material from surface mining that consists of a mixture of glacial till and loess with a few rock fragments. Mean annual temperature varies from 50 to 54 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation varies from 35 to 40 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Lenzburg and Schuline soils on surface mined areas, and the Fayette, Hickory, Keomah, Rozetta, and Wakeland soils on adjacent unmined areas. Lenzburg and Schuline soils are nearby in similar positions on the landscape. Keomah and Rozetta soils are on summits of ridges and Fayette soils are on side slopes. Hickory soils are on backslopes along drainageways. The somewhat poorly drained Wakeland soils are on flood plains.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Runoff is slow to very rapid. Permeability is moderately slow.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most ungraded areas of Lenzwheel soils are wooded. Other areas that have been graded are used mainly for pasture.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Illinois; MLRA 108 and 115. The soils of this series are moderately extensive.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Fulton County, Illinois, 1997. Name coined from Lenzburg series, spoil from bucket-wheel excavator.

REMARKS: These soils were formerly mapped as mine spoils, surface mines, loamy Orthents, or other miscellaneous categories. They mostly result from mining methods using the wheel excavator.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of approximately 7 inches (Ap and AC horizons).

03/2020 Updated Taxonomic Class based on Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.