LOCATION LOWS WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, nonacid, frigid Mollic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Lows loam - on a 1 percent slope in a pasture at an elevation of about 835 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 6 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) loam, gray (10YR 5/1) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine fibrous roots; many medium fine and very fine and few continuous, mostly exped dendritic pores; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 8 inches thick)
Eg--6 to 13 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) loam, light gray (10YR 7/1) dry; common fine distinct brown (7.5YR 4/3) masses of iron accumulation; weak medium platy structure; friable; common fine fibrous roots; common fine and very fine and few medium and coarse, continuous, inped and exped dendritic pores; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bg1--13 to 16 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) loam; many coarse and medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine fibrous roots; common fine and very fine and few medium and coarse, continuous, inped and exped, dendritic pores; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bg2--16 to 23 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) loam; many fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine fibrous roots; common medium, fine and very fine, continuous, obliquely-oriented, mostly exped pores; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bg3--23 to 26 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) silt loam with a relatively high percentage of fine sand; many fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and very fine and few medium, continuous, obliquely-oriented, inped and exped pores; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bg horizons is 8 to 21 inches.)
Bg4--26 to 28 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) loam; many medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and very fine, continuous, vertically-oriented, inped and exped pores; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
2Cg--28 to 60 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) sand with few thin (1/2 to 2 inch thick) bands of finer-textured sediments at widely-spaced (12 to 14 inch) intervals; single grain; loose; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Dunn County, Wisconsin; about 3 1/2 miles east of Downsville; 1,840 feet south and 400 feet east of the center of sec. 32, T. 27 N., R. 12 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the loamy alluvium and the depth to sandy alluvium ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 5 percent in the loamy alluvium and from 0 to 15 percent in the sandy alluvium. Lows soils have aquic conditions for some time in most years, unless artificially drained, in a layer between 16 and 20 inches.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is sandy loam or loam. Where cultivated, the Ap horizon has color and texture similar to the A horizon. Reaction typically ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid, but ranges to neutral where limed.
The Eg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loam, silt loam, or sandy loam. Reaction typically ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid, but ranges to neutral where limed.
The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loam, silt loam, or sandy clay loam. Reaction typically ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid, but ranges to neutral in the upper part where limed.
Some pedons have a 2BCg horizon with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loamy sand or sand.
The 2Cg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is fine sand, loamy sand, sand, or coarse sand and often stratified at widely-spaced intervals by thin layers of finer textured material. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: There no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lows soils are on plane or slightly concave positions on low stream terraces, valley fills, valley trains, outwash plains, and on lake terraces that border glacial lake basins. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. Frost free period ranges from 110 to 135 days. Elevation ranges from 750 to 1050 feet. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 33 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 42 to 46 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Lows soils are next to the higherlying well drained and moderately well drained Meridian, and somewhat poorly drained Shiffer soils with which it forms a drainage sequence.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; surface runoff is very slow or ponded. Permeability is moderate in the loamy alluvium and rapid or very rapid in the sandy alluvium. Lows soils have an apparent seasonal high water table, above or near the surface in undrained areas, at some time during the period of October to June in most years. In some places, Lows soils are subject to rare or common, but brief, flooding.
USE AND VEGETATION: Much of this soil has been cleared for livestock pasture. Some areas have been drained and are cropped to small grain, corn, and forage crops. Native vegetation was water-tolerant deciduous and coniferous forests with some sedges, rushes, and water-tolerant grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and western Wisconsin. These soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Dunn County, Wisconsin, 1970.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 6 inches (A) and too dark to be in the Typic subgroup; cambic horizon - zone from 13 to 28 inches (Bg1, Bg2, Bg3); other features - aquic moisture.