LOCATION MASSIE                  NE

Established Series
Rev. LGR, DJK
11/2021

MASSIE SERIES

The Massie series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in loess. Massie soils are in the lowest parts of closed depressions on loess uplands in the Central Loess Plains, MLRA 75. Slopes are less than 1 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 686 millimeters (27 inches) and mean annual temperature is about 11 degrees C (51 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Vertic Argialbolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Massie silty clay loam, on a concave, less than 1 percent slope in marshland under vegetation of giant sedge, perennial smartweed, and other water-tolerant plants at an elevation of 524 meters (1720 feet). (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

A1--0 to 8 centimeters (0 to 3 inches); black (10YR 2/1) silty clay loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1), dry; moderate medium granular structure; very friable, slightly hard; on the surface is a layer of partially decayed leaves and stems; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.

A2--8 to 18 centimeters (3 to 7 inches); black (10YR 2/1) silty clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1), dry; weak coarse platy structure parting to weak fine granular; very friable, slightly hard; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary.

E--18 to 23 centimeters (7 to 9 inches); gray (10YR 5/1) silt loam, gray (10YR 6/1), dry; moderate medium platy structure parting to weak fine granular; very friable, soft; few fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), moist, masses of oxidized iron; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.

Bt1--23 to 33 centimeters (9 to 13 inches); black (10YR 2/1) silty clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1), dry; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine subangular blocky; firm, hard; many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), moist, masses of oxidized iron and many fine to coarse iron-manganese concretions; slightly acid; light gray coatings on faces of peds; clear wavy boundary.

Bt2--33 to 64 centimeters (13 to 25 inches); black (10YR 2/1) silty clay, dark gray (10YR 4/1), dry; strong coarse prismatic structure parting to strong coarse angular blocky; very firm, very hard; few to common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), moist, masses of oxidized iron and many fine to coarse iron-manganese concretions; neutral; shiny surfaces on faces of peds; gradual wavy boundary.

Bt3--64 to 165 centimeters (25 to 65 inches); very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay, gray (10YR 5/1), dry; strong coarse prismatic structure parting to strong medium angular blocky; very firm, very hard; many fine to coarse iron-manganese concretions; neutral; shiny surfaces on faces of peds; diffuse smooth boundary.

BC--165 to 200 centimeters (65 to 80 inches); very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silty clay, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2), dry; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium angular blocky; very firm, very hard; neutral; gradual smooth boundary.

TYPE LOCATION: Clay County, Nebraska; about 10 kilometers (6 miles) east and 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of Clay Center; located about 192 meters (630 feet) north and 81 meters (265 feet) west of the southeast corner, sec. 24, T. 6 N., R. 6 W.; Edgar NW USGS quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees, 28 minutes, 5.5 seconds N. and longitude 97 degrees 56 minutes 20.4 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Aquic soil moisture regime
Mollic thickness: 58 to over 200 cm
Depth to argillic horizon: 15 to 69 cm
Depth to secondary carbonates: deeper than 150 cm - most pedons lacking
Depth to redoximorphic features: Redox starting within 25 cm of the surface and continuing through most of the profile.

Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 42 to 48 percent
Sand content: 4 to 8 percent

O horizon (where present):
Texture: MPM or SPM
Reaction: strongly to moderately acid

A horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 3 to 5 dry; 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 1 or 2 dry or moist
Texture: silty clay loam or silt loam
Clay content: 23 to 35 percent
Sand content: 4 to 8 percent
Redoximorphic concentrations: Hue, 7.5YR or 10YR; Value, 4 or 5 moist; Chroma, 4 or 6 moist
Reaction: strongly to slightly acid

E horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 5 to 7 dry; 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 1 dry or moist
Texture: silt loam
Clay content: 15 to 25 percent
Sand content: 7 to 14 percent
Redoximorphic concentrations: Hue, 7.5YR or 10YR; Value, 5 or 6 moist; Chroma, 4 to 8 moist
Reaction: moderately to slightly acid

Bt horizon(s):
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 4 or 5 dry; 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 1 or 2 dry or moist
Texture: silty clay or silty clay loam
Clay content: 36 to 48 percent
Sand content: 4 to 8 percent
Redoximorphic concentrations: Hue, 7.5YR or 10YR; Value, 3 to 6 moist; Chroma, 4 or 6 moist
Redoximorphic depletions: Hue, 10 YR or 2.5Y; Value, 5 to 7 moist; Chroma, 1 or 2 moist
Reaction: moderately acid to slightly alkaline

BC horizon:
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 4 to 6 dry; 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 1 or 2 dry or moist
Texture: silty clay loam or silty clay
Clay content: 32 to 42 percent
Sand content: 4 to 8 percent
Redoximorphic concentrations: Hue, 7.5YR or 10YR; Value, 5 to 7 moist; Chroma, 4 or 6 moist
Reaction: slightly acid to slightly alkaline

C horizon:
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 5 to 7 dry; 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 1 to 3 dry or moist
Texture: silt loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay
Clay content: 24 to 42 percent
Sand content: 4 to 8 percent
Redoximorphic concentrations: Hue, 7.5YR or 10YR; Value, 5 to 7 moist; Chroma, 4 or 6 moist
Reaction: neutral to slightly alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Barbert, Crestmeade, Edina, Filbert, Fillmore, Scott, Sturges, and Triplett series
Barbert soils allow for rock fragments in the series control section.
Crestmeade, Filbert, Fillmore, Sturges, and Triplett soils are somewhat poorly drained and do not pond water for 45 consecutive days during the growing season.
Edina soils only pond water for brief periods during the growing season.
Scott soils pond water for long periods or very long periods but for less than 45 consecutive days during the growing season.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: loess
Landform: closed depressions on loess uplands
Slopes: 0 to 1 percent
Elevation: 470 to 750 meters (1540 to 2470 feet)
Mean annual air temperature: 10 to 11 degrees C (50 to 52 degrees F)
Mean annual precipitation: 585 to 737 millimeters (23 to 29 inches)
Frost-free period: 149 to 175 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Butler, Crete, Fillmore, Hastings, and Scott soils. Butler soils are on higher flat or slightly concave positions in the landscape and are somewhat poorly drained.
Crete and Hastings soils are on interfluves and hillslopes of loess uplands, lack an albic horizon, and are moderately well and well drained, respectively.
Fillmore soils are on higher landform positions of closed depressions, are somewhat poorly drained, and pond water for shorter durations.
Scott soils are on slightly higher landform positions of closed depressions and do not pond water for as long as Massie soils..

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage: very poorly drained
Saturated hydraulic conductivity: Low
Ponding: Water is usually ponded on the surface during most of the growing season with depths ranging from a few inches to up to 2 feet. Saturation: The soil is typically saturated to the soil surface. During drier periods there is still typically a perched water table that is within a foot of the soil surface.

USE AND VEGETATION: The Massie soils are used mostly as habitat for wildlife. (See Remarks.) They are generally too wet for pasture, range or cultivated crops. Vegetation consists mainly of giant and other sedges, spikerush and bulrush, cattails, perennial smartweed, arrowhead, pondweed, and other water-tolerant plants. Some reed canarygrass is present on outer margins.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central and southeastern Nebraska; Land Resource Region H, Central Great Plains Winter Wheat and Range Region; Major Land Resource Area 75, Central Loess Plains. The series is of moderate extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Salina, Kansas.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clay County, Nebraska, 1979.

REMARKS: Massie soils were formerly mapped as Marsh land type. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
mollic epipedon--the zone from 0 to 200 cm (0 to 80 inches) (A, E, Bt and BC horizons);
albic horizon--the zone from 18 to 23 centimeters (7 to 9 inches) (E horizon)
argillic horizon--the zone from 23 to 165 centimeters (9 to 65 inches) (Bt1, Bt2 and Bt3 horizons).
Redoximorphic concentrations: the zone from 18 to 165 cm (7 to 65 inches) (E and Bt horizons)
The linear extensibility exceeds 6.0 between the surface and 100 cm.

12/2011 DJK Updated basic formatting to meet MO5 standards.
Changed MAP from 23 to 27 inches and MAAT from 52 to 51 degrees F.
Added elevation to typical pedon and changed Massie clay to silty clay loam as pedon description states and the mapunit it is in.
Changed colors to say for moist unless otherwise stated as should be for an Aquic soil. Changed horizon depths from inches to centimeters.
Added quadrangle and lat/long to type location.
Changed ROC to tab and entered new data according to pedon data and lab data. Deleted clay and silty clay from possible textures for A because no mapunits correlated to these.
Competing series updated.
Geographic setting updated using current data. Changed parent material from alluvium derived from loess to just loess.
Geographically associated soils updated with deletions of Harney, Holder, and Holdrege which are not found at the type location.
Drainage and permeability changed to tab and permeability changed to saturated hydraulic conductivity. Ponding and saturation updated using info from MUDs from county soil surveys.
LRR and MLRA added to Distribution and Extent.
In remarks depths were changed to cm and redox was added. The actual pedon ID number was added to additional data and data from NE Dept. of Roads was deleted because seems to be for Fillmore not Massie.

ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL pedon 76NE035026 (layers 78PO867 to 78PO871).
In Nebraska, the native vegetative cover is an herbaceous wetland community commonly inhabited with: lesser duckweed (Lemna aequinoctialis), turion duckweed (L. turionifera) Herbaceous: river bulrush (Bolboschoenus fluviatilis), largespike spikerush (Eleocharis macrostachya), rice cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides), short-beak arrowhead (Sagittaria brevirostra), duck-potato arrowhead (S. cuneata), swamp smartweed (Persicaria coccinea), large-fruit burred, (Sparganium eurycarpum), narrowleaf cattail (TYPHA ANGUSTIFOLIA), broadleaf cattail (Typha latifolia). Source: Terrestrial Ecological Systems and Natural Communities of Nebraska, Version IV. S.B. Rolfsmeier and G. Steinauer. Nebraska Natural Heritage Program, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, 2010.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.