LOCATION MEDARY WI+IA IL MNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Medary silt loam, on a 3 percent slope, in a once cultivated area, at an elevation of about 680 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine fibrous roots; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick)
BE--7 to 14 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) silt loam; moderate medium platy structure parting to fine subangular blocky; friable; many worm casts; common fine fibrous roots; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
2Bt1--14 to 20 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; strong medium angular blocky structure; firm; few fine fibrous roots; many faint reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
2Bt2--20 to 30 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) silty clay; strong medium angular blocky structure; very firm; few fine fibrous roots; many faint reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 11 to 25 inches.)
2C1--30 to 36 inches; red (2.5YR 4/6) clay; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very firm; common fine and medium distinct yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; small spots of iron-manganese stains; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 20 inches thick)
2C2--36 to 60 inches; variegated yellowish red (5YR 4/6), reddish brown (5YR 5/4) and pinkish gray (5YR 6/2) clay that grades to clay stratified with thin seams of very fine sand and silt at 50 inches; massive; few small streaks of iron-manganese stains; slightly acid in upper part, near neutral at 60 inches.
TYPE LOCATION: Richland County, Wisconsin; about 3 1/2 miles southwest of Excelsior; located about 2,640 feet west and 400 feet north of the southeast corner of section 31, T. 9 N., R. 2 W.; USGS Boscobel topographic quadrangle; lat. 43 degrees 12 minutes 22 seconds N. and 90 degrees 39 minutes 23 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness typically is 24 to 36 inches and ranges from about 20 to 40 inches. Loess silty alluvium ranges from 0 to 20 inches thick. The solum ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid in the upper part and very strongly acid to moderately acid in the lower part. The substratum is strongly acid to slightly acid in the upper part and neutral to slightly alkaline in the lower part. Depth to carbonates ranges from 40 to greater than 60 inches. Coarse fragments are lacking in the pedon.
The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 or 4. Uncultivated pedons have an A horizon with similar hue, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. The Ap or A horizon is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The BE horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The 2Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR, 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. It is stratified clay to silty clay loam and very thin strata of coarser textures are common. Average clay content in the Bt horizons typically is 40 to 50 percent, but ranges from 35 to 60 percent.
The 2C horizon has hue of 2.5YR, 5YR, or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8 or it is variegated with these colors. It is stratified clay to silt loam and very thin strata of coarser textures are common.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Aaron, Alsup, Brookside, Derinda, Ebal, Gunlock, Losantville, Miamian, Morrisville, Shircliff, Useful, and Vincent series. Aaron, Morrisville and Useful soils have a lithic contact at depths within 60 inches. Alsup, Derinda and Ebal soils have a paralithic contact at depths within 60 inches. Brookside, Shircliff, and Vincent soils have a solum greater than 40 inches thick. Gunlock soils have horizons with fragic characteristics at depths of 20 to 34 inches and have more than 5 percent rock fragments in the lower part of the series control section. Losantville soils have a solum less than 20 inches thick and have carbonates above a depth of 20 inches. Miamian, Purdin, and Winnegan soils have free carbonates at depths less than 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Medary soils are on high river or stream terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 45 percent. They formed primarily in silty clay or clay slack water or glacial lacustrine deposits with a thin mantle of loess or silty alluvium. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 32 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 55 degrees F. Frost-free period ranges from 135 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 600 to 800 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the poorly drained Zwingle soils with which the Medary soils form a drainage sequence. In other places, they are near the well drained, coarse-loamy Kingsley soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; Runoff is medium to rapid; permeability is slow. Medary soils have a perched seasonal high water table at a depth of 2.5 to 3.5 feet for one month or more per year at some time from October to June in normal years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cultivated and used for the production of corn, oats, hay, and pasture. Native vegetation included a forest growth consisting primarily of sugar maple, northern red oak, American basswood, and similar hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: High river and stream, which have considerable elevation above the flood plain terraces along the Mississippi River and its tributaries in western Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa. This soil is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Richland County, Wisconsin, 1956.
REMARKS: Classification was changed from Typic to Oxyaquic and drainage class was changed from well and moderately well to just moderately well drained. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include: ochric epipedon - zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 14 inches (Ap and 2BE horizons); argillic horizon - zone from 14 to 30 inches (2Bt1 and 2Bt2 horizons); udic moisture regime; mesic temperature regime.