LOCATION LUCAS OH+IN

Established Series
Rev. RAR-RMG
09/2012

LUCAS SERIES

The Lucas series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in clayey glaciolacustrine sediments. They are on dissected areas on lake plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 45 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 838 mm (33 inches), and mean annual air temperature is about 11 degrees C (51 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, illitic, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Lucas silty clay, severely eroded, in a pasture at an elevation of 201 meters (660 feet) above mean sea level. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 13 cm (0 to 5 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; moderate medium angular blocky clods that crush to weak fine granular structure; firm; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. [13 to 23 cm (5 to 9 inches) thick]

Bt1--13 to 23 cm (5 to 9 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay; strong medium angular blocky structure; very firm; many faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bt2--23 to 51 cm (9 to 20 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium angular blocky; very firm; many faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bt3--51 to 63 cm (20 to 25 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; very firm; common faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) clay films on vertical faces of peds; few fine distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions in the matrix; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. [Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 20 to 102 cm (8 to 40 inches).]

C1--63 to 71 cm (25 to 28 inches); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silty clay; massive, with a tendency towards weak thick platy structure along bedding planes; very firm; common distinct gray (10YR 6/1) calcium carbonate coatings on faces of some vertical fractures; common medium faint grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions in the matrix; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary.

C2--71 to 152 cm (28 to 60 inches); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silty clay; massive, laminated; very firm; few thin lenses of silt and very fine sand; few fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Henry County, Ohio; about 1.5 miles southeast of Liberty Center, in Washington Township; about 2,020 feet west and 2,270 feet south of northeast corner of sec. 6, T. 5 N., R. 8 E.; USGS Colton, Ohio topographic quadrangle; lat. 41 degrees 25 minutes 21 seconds N. and long. 83 degrees 59 minutes 14 seconds W., NAD 27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the solum: 51 to 122 cm (20 to 48 inches)
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 33 to 114 cm (13 to 45 inches)
Rock fragments: absent throughout
Depth to carbonates: 46 to 102 cm (18 to 40 inches)
Particle-size control section: averages 45 to 60 percent clay

Ap horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 4 or 5 (6 or more dry)
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: commonly silt loam or silty clay loam, but includes silty clay in severely eroded pedons
Reaction: strongly acid to neutral

A horizon, where present:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 3 to 5
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: silt loam or silty clay loam
Reaction: strongly acid to neutral

E horizon, where present:
Thickness: 2.5 to 15 cm (1 to 6 inches)
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 5 or 6
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: silt loam or silty clay loam
Reaction: strongly acid or moderately acid

Some pedons have a BA, BE, or B/E horizon.

Bt horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 4 to 6
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: silty clay or clay
Reaction: strongly acid to slightly acid in the upper part and slightly acid to moderately alkaline in the lower part

C horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 4 to 6
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: commonly laminated silty clay or clay, or less commonly silty clay loam that has more than 35 percent clay; some pedons have thin strata of silt loam or very fine sand
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Alexandria, Brushcreek, Lairdsville, Morley, Ozaukee, Schoharie, and St. Clair series. Alexandria soils average less than 45 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Brushcreek and Lairdsville soils have a paralithic contact within a depth of 152 cm (60 inches). Morley soils have less than 35 percent clay in the lower part of the series control section. Ozaukee and St. Clair soils have rock fragments in the lower part of the series control section. Schoharie soils have hue redder than 10YR throughout the Bt horizon.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lucas soils are on dissected areas on lake plains of Wisconsinan age. Slopes commonly are 6 to 18 percent but range from 0 to 45 percent. The soils formed in clayey glaciolacustrine sediments. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 686 to 914 mm (27 to 36 inches). Mean annual air temperature ranges from 7 to 11 degrees C (45 to 52 degrees F). Frost-free period is 140 to 165 days. Elevation is 183 to 244 meters (600 to 800 feet) above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the somewhat poorly drained Fulton soils and the very poorly drained Bono and Toledo soils that form a toposequence with the Lucas soils. Bono and Toledo soils are on flats and in depressions. Fulton soils are on broad elevated flats and slight rises.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The depth to the top of an intermittent perched high water table ranges from 61 to 107 cm (2 to 3.5 feet) between January and April in normal years. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to very high depending on slope gradient. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low or low. Permeability is slow or very slow.

USE AND VEGETATION: Dominantly used for growing hay or for pasture with a few areas in cropland. Principal crops on cultivated areas are wheat and oats with some corn and soybeans. Native vegetation is deciduous hardwood forest with beech, hickory, maple, red oak, and white oak as prominent species.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Ohio; MLRA 99. The series is of small extent, about 6,000 acres.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Marion County, Ohio, 1916.

REMARKS: Lucas was formerly classified as Typic Hapludalfs.

The loamy and sandy substratum phases that were mapped in earlier surveys have substrata at 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches). These phases will not meet current criteria for substratum phases, and will be correlated as new series during future modernization projects.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: from the surface to a depth of 13 cm (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon: from a depth of 13 to 63 cm (Bt horizon).
Aquic conditions: redox features in all horizons below a depth of 51 cm.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.