LOCATION MINNEHAHA IN

Established Series
Rev. PMC-BGN-TJE
11/2021

MINNEHAHA SERIES

The Minnehaha series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in loamy materials from surface mining. Minnehaha soils are on spoil hills on till plains. Slope ranges from 35 to 75 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1118 mm (44 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 12.2 degrees C (54 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, spolic, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Anthroportic Udorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Minnehaha silty clay loam, on a 45 percent slope in a forest at an elevation of about 180 meters (590 feet) above mean sea level. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

A1--0 to 2 cm (1 inch); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) parachannery silty clay loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; many fine and medium interstitial and tubular pores; 30 percent pararock fragments (shale); 2 percent indurated sandstone channers; neutral; clear smooth boundary.

A2--2 to 8 cm (1 to 3 inches); dark gray (10YR 4/1) parachannery silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; firm; many fine and medium roots; common fine and medium interstitial and tubular pores; common fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of oxidized iron in the matrix; 5 percent indurated sandstone channers; 30 percent pararock fragments (shale); slightly acid; gradual irregular boundary. [Combined thickness of the A horizon is 5 to 13 cm (2 to 5 inches).]

C1--8 to 38 cm (3 to 15 inches); mixed 45 percent irregularly shaped clods of yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silty clay loam and 45 percent dark gray (10YR 4/1) pararock fragments (shale); massive; firm; common fine and medium roots; common fine and medium interstitial and tubular pores; few faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay films on faces of clods; 10 percent indurated sandstone channers; slightly acid; gradual irregular boundary.

C2--38 to 152 cm (15 to 60 inches); mixed 50 percent dark gray (10YR 4/1) pararock fragments (shale); 30 percent irregularly shaped clods of yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; and 10 percent clods of dark gray (10YR 4/1) silt loam; massive; firm; common medium roots; few fine interstitial and tubular pores; few faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay films on faces of clods; 10 percent indurated sandstone flagstones; mixed neutral to moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Owen County, Indiana; about 5 miles northeast of Clay City, Indiana; 1,250 feet south and 75 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 12, T. 10 N., R. 6 W.; USGS Clay City, Indiana topographic quadrangle; lat. 39 degrees 19 minutes 35.79 seconds N. and long. 87 degrees 2 minutes 1.8 seconds W., NAD 27; UTM Zone 16, 497083 easting and 4353028 northing, NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Particle-size control section: averages 22 to 34 percent clay and 5 to 15 percent fine sand or coarser
Other features: Individual layers within the soil are variable in thickness and composition. In most pedons soil clods of relict horizons from pre-mined soils are randomly distributed in the soil, and have identifiable properties such as redox depletions and clay films that are characteristic of the pre-mined soil.

A horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 3 to 5; where value is 3, the horizon is less than 15 cm (6 inches) thick
Chroma: 1 to 6
Texture: parachannery or very parachannery analogs of silty clay loam or silt loam
Rock fragment content: averages 0 to 10 percent very strongly cemented or indurated sandstone, siltstone or shale (mainly channers)
Pararock fragment content: 20 to 50 percent shale parachanners
Reaction: commonly moderately acid to neutral and less commonly ranges to strongly acid

C horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 4 to 6
Chroma: 1 to 8
Texture: mixed; textures include very parachannery or extremely parachannery analogs of silty clay loam, silt loam, clay loam, or loam
Rock fragment content: mainly channers and flagstones, average 2 to 15 percent very strongly cemented or indurated sandstone, siltstone or shale
Pararock fragment content: 35 to 80 percent shale parachanners
Reaction: commonly mixed, and ranges from moderately acid to moderately alkaline, and less commonly ranges to strongly acid

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. Hollybrook series is in a closely related family. Hollybrook soils have root and water restrictive dense layers and a perched water table within the series control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Minnehaha soils are on backslopes of spoil hills on till plains. Slope ranges from 35 to 75 percent. Minnehaha soils formed loamy materials from mixed mine spoil. The spoil consists of shale, soil, till, and minor amounts of sandstone, siltstone and shale rock fragments. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 1016 to 1143 mm (40 to 45 inches). Mean annual temperature ranges from 10.0 to 13.3 degrees C (50 to 56 degrees F). Frost-free period is 170 to 200 days. Elevation is 104 to 320 meters (340 to 1050 feet) above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ava, Cincinnati, Hickory, Shakamak, and Vigo soils in undisturbed areas on till plains, and the Hollybrook, Nawakwa, and Tapawingo soils in mined areas. The moderately well drained Ava, Cincinnati, and Shakamak soils are on summits and shoulders. The well drained Hickory soils are on backslopes. The somewhat poorly drained Vigo soils are on summits. The well drained, less permeable Nawakwa and Tapawingo soils and the somewhat poorly drained Hollybrook soils are on summits and shoulders on reconstructed areas from surface mining.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Potential for surface runoff is medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high. Permeability is moderately rapid.

USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all areas are in deciduous hardwood forest. A few areas have been planted to pine trees.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 111D and 114B in west-central Indiana. The type location is in MLRA 114B. The series is of small extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Owen County, Indiana, 1997.

REMARKS: These areas were mined using draglines and the spoil was generally not graded or compacted. The acreage extent of these soils will increase as adjoining subset soil surveys are updated.

These soils were included in mapping as strip mines or Fairpoint soils in nearby counties, and as strip mines in the 1964 Owen County, Indiana Soil Survey.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: from the surface to a depth of 8 cm (A1, A2 horizons).

03/2020 Updated Taxonomic Class based on Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Lab data available for the typical pedon, S94IN119-5, at the National Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, NE.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.