LOCATION LERCH WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: very-fine, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid Vertic Epiaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Lerch muck, on a plane, 0 percent slope, under shrub vegetation with young popular and birch trees, at an elevation of 807 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oa--0 to 3 inches; black (N 2.5/0) broken face muck (sapric material), black (5YR 2.5/1) rubbed, about 20 percent fibers, less than 10 percent rubbed; moderate medium and fine granular structure; friable; many fine, medium and coarse roots; primarily herbaceous fibers and some woody ones; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
Bg--3 to 7 inches; dark gray (2.5Y 4/1), clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; many fine and medium and common coarse roots; common fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulations; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Btg--7 to 12 inches; dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2), clay; strong fine angular blocky structure; firm; many fine and medium and common coarse roots; few faint brown (7.5YR 4/2) and dark gray (5YR 4/1) clay films on faces of peds; few fine distinct dark gray (7.5YR 4/1) redox depletions, many fine and medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) and brown (7.5YR 4/3) masses of iron accumulations; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bt--12 to 17 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; strong very fine and fine angular blocky structure; firm; common fine and medium and few coarse roots; common distinct reddish brown (5YR 5/4) clay films on faces of peds; few fine faint red (2.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulations; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.
Btk--17 to 29 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to strong medium angular blocky; firm; few fine roots; few faint reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds, and few prominent light gray (7.5YR 7/1) clay flows in root channels; few fine faint red (2.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulations; common prominent white (5YR 8/1) dry, calcium carbonate coatings on faces of peds; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Btk horizon is 4 to 27 inches.)
Bk1--29 to 40 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to strong medium angular blocky; firm; few fine roots; common prominent pinkish gray (5YR 6/2) silt coatings on faces of peds; few fine faint red (2.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulations; few fine prominent light greenish gray (5G 7/1) redox depletions in pores and root channels; common prominent white (5YR 8/1) dry, calcium carbonate coatings on faces of peds; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.
Bk2--40 to 47 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; weak coarse prismatic structure, with common very weak thick depositional plates evident; firm; few fine roots; few fine prominent light greenish gray (5G 7/1) redox depletions in pores and root channels; common prominent white (5YR 8/1) dry, calcium carbonate coatings on faces of peds; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.
Bk3--47 to 56 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) clay, with many thin strata of silty clay; weak coarse prismatic structure, with many weak thin depositional plates evident; firm; few fine roots; common fine distinct yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulations in the silty clay strata; few fine prominent light greenish gray (5G 7/1) redox depletions in root channels; common prominent white (5YR 8/1) dry, calcium carbonate coatings on faces of peds; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bk horizon is 4 to 27 inches.)
2C--56 to 80 inches; stratified brown (7.5YR 5/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam, very fine sandy loam, and loamy fine sand; massive, friable; common medium distinct reddish gray (5YR 5/2) redox depletions; 1 inch strata of gray (2.5Y 5/1) fine sand at contact between Bk3 and 2C; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Douglas County, Wisconsin; about 9 miles south and 6 miles west of Superior; 1110 feet south and 1170 feet west of the northeast corner of section 10, T. 47 N., R. 15 W.; USGS Borea WI topographic quadrangle; lat. 46 degrees 34 minutes 15.26 seconds N. and long. 92 degrees 13 minutes 41.71 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the clayey till or lacustrine material ranges from 40 to 60 inches over the stratified substratum. Reaction in the upper part of the solum ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid, and in the lower part of the solum and substratum is slightly or moderately alkaline. Depth to carbonates ranges from 11 to 23 inches. The weighted average clay content at 10 to 40 inches ranges from 60 to 85 percent. Total rock fragment content is less than 3 percent throughout the profile. Redox features, saturation and aquic conditions occur within 10 inches of the surface at some time in most years.
The Oa horizon has hue of 5YR or 10YR or is neutral; value of 2 or 3; and chroma of 0 to 2. Some pedons have a thin layer of hemic material at the surface.
Some pedons have an A horizon up to 4 inches thick. It has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y or is neutral; value of 2 or 3; and chroma of 0 or 1. It is silty clay loam, silty clay or clay. Some pedons have an Ap horizon up to 7 inches thick with colors similar to the A horizon. It is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay, or the mucky analogs of these textures.
Some pedons have an Eg horizon up to 8 inches thick. It has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR; value of 3 or 4; and chroma of 1 or 2. It is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
The Bg horizon has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y; value of 3 to 5; and chroma of 1 or 2. It is silty clay or clay.
Some pedons have a Bw horizon up to 8 inches thick. It has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR; value of 4 or 5; and chroma of 3 or 4. It is silty clay or clay.
The Btg horizon has colors and textures similar to the Bg horizon. It has few to common clay films but does not have a significant increase in clay content.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, or 2.5YR; value of 4 or 5; and chroma of 3 or 4. It has few to common clay films but does not have a significant increase in clay content.
The Btk horizon has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, or 2.5YR; value of 4 or 5; and chroma of 3 or 4. It has few to common clay films but does not have a significant increase in clay content. It contains visible free carbonates.
The Bk horizon has colors and textures similar to the Btk horizon. It has evidence of stratification or layered depositional origin in the lower part.
The 2C horizon has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR; value of 4 or 5; and chroma of 4 to 8. This layer is stratified. Textures in this layer include fine sand, very fine sand, loamy fine sand, loamy very fine sand, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, and silt loam. Thin lamella of clay loam or silty clay loam are in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Lerch soils are on nearly level areas and in depressions on lake plains and till plains. These soils formed in clayey till and/or clayey lacustrine deposits modified by wave action over stratified loamy and/or sandy lacustrine deposits. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 28 to 33 inches. Mean annual air temperature is about 36 to 40 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Anton, Borea, and Bergland series. The moderately well drained Anton and somewhat poorly drained Borea soils are in a drainage catena with Lerch soils. The poorly drained Bergland soils are on similar landscape positions where deeper clay deposits are present.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained and very poorly drained. Runoff is very low or ponded. Permeability is very slow in the clayey deposits and moderate to rapid in the stratified substratum. Lerch soils have a perched seasonal water table above the clayey till that ranges from 1 foot above the surface to 1 foot below the surface at some time during the period from September to June in normal years. This soil also has an apparent water table below 40 inches in the stratified substratum at some time during the same time period in normal years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for wildlife habitat or are idle cropland. Some areas are used for cropland or pasture. Native vegetation is balsam fir, black ash, black spruce, red maple, quaking aspen, paper birch, willow, speckled alder and redosier dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; MLRA 92; this series is of minor extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota; MLRA SSO 10-4 (Duluth, Minnesota).
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Douglas County, Wisconsin, 2005. The source of name is an unincorporated railroad stop in northwestern Douglas County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include: Sapric soil materials - 0 to 3 inches (Oa horizon);
Cambic horizon - 3 to 56 inches (Bg, Btg, Bt, Btk, Bk1, Bk2, and Bk3 horizons);
although there is translocated clay in this series - there is not enough to be an Argillic horizon.
Episaturation; Lerch soils react positively to the alpha, alpha-dipyridyl test: aquic moisture conditions.
The reddish colors inherent in the parent material mask the redoxomorphic features (color - chroma) and make taxonomic classification difficult. Water table studies in this soil and associated soils were used to classify this series.
Only series status, responsibility, and scrivener's errors changed - 4/09.