LOCATION MINOCQUA WI+MIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, nonacid, frigid Typic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Minocqua silt loam - on a 1 percent slope in a wooded area at an elevation of 1,660 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
0a--0 to 1 inches; black (10YR 2/1) muck (sapric material which is a mat of partially decomposed forest litter); about 25 percent fibers and 10 percent rubbed; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 25 percent mineral material; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Eg--1 to 9 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt loam, light gray (10YR 7/2) dry; weak very thick platy structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; friable; many fine and medium roots; few medium prominent olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) and yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 3 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Bg1--9 to 17 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silt loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; many medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions in the matrix; common medium prominent reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) and distinct olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 3 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
2Bg2--17 to 22 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common medium distinct gray (5Y 6/1) iron depletions in the matrix; many medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 2 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bg horizons is 10 to 29 inches.)
3BCg--22 to 25 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly loamy coarse sand; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine roots; common medium faint gray (10YR 5/1) iron depletions in the matrix; common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 15 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 9 inches thick)
3Cg--25 to 61 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/2) stratified coarse sand and gravelly coarse sand; single grain; loose; few fine and medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 10 percent gravel as an average; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Oneida County, Wisconsin; about 5 miles northeast of Monico; 300 feet east and 900 feet north of the southwest corner, sec. 2, T. 36 N., R. 11 E. USGS Monico NE, Wis. Quad. Latitude 45 degrees 37 minutes 30 seconds N. Longitude 89 degrees 5 minutes 24 seconds W. NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: (Unless otherwise stated, thickness and depth are measured from the top of the mineral soil.) Depth to the base of the cambic horizon, thickness of the silty and loamy mantle, and depth to sandy outwash all range from 20 to 40 inches. Volume of rock fragments averages less than 35 percent in the silty and loamy mantle. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 35 percent in the silty and loamy mantle but is typically less than 15 percent. Volume of gravel averages from 3 to 50 percent in the sandy outwash but ranges from 0 to 65 percent in individual strata. Volume of cobbles ranges from 0 to 5 percent throughout the pedon. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly alkaline throughout the soil. Carbonates are absent to depths of 60 inches or more. Redox concentrations typically are throughout the profile below the A horizon. Redox depletions are more than 50 percent of the matrix or coatings on ped faces. Saturation occurs at or near the surface for long periods.
The O horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y or it is neutral in hue. It has value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 0 to 2.
Some pedons have an A horizon with hue of 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR; value of 2 or 3; and chroma of 0 to 2. It is less than 6 inches thick. Texture is silt loam, loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, or the mucky analogs.
The Eg horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y; value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is silt loam, loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or very fine sandy loam.
The Bg horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y, 5Y, or 5GY; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is silt loam, loam, or very fine sandy loam.
The 2Bg horizon (Bg horizon in pedons without a silty mantle) has color like the Bg horizon described above. Typically texture is loam or gravelly loam but in some pedons, it is sandy loam or fine sandy loam or the gravelly analogs. Horizons with texture of sandy loam or fine sandy have less than 50 percent fine or coarser sand or are less than 5 inches thick
Some pedons have a 2Bw horizon (Bw horizon in pedons without a silty mantle) with hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is like that of the 2Bg horizon described above.
The 3BCg or 3BC horizon (2BCg or 2BC horizon in pedons without a silty mantle) has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is sand, loamy sand, coarse sand, loamy coarse sand, or the gravelly, very gravelly, or extremely gravelly analogs.
The 3Cg or 3C horizon (2Cg or 2C horizon in pedons without a silty mantle) has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 2 to 4. Typically Texture is stratified with sand, coarse sand, or the gravelly, very gravelly, or extremely gravelly analogs. Some pedons have strata of loamy sand or loamy coarse sand or the gravelly, very gravelly, or extremely gravelly analogs.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Minocqua soils are in drainageways and in depressions on outwash plains and outwash terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. These soils formed mostly in silty and loamy alluvium underlain by stratified sandy outwash. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 33 inches. Mean annual temperature ranges from 36 to 42 degrees F. The frost free period ranges from about 70 to 125 days. Elevation ranges from 800 to 1950 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Oesterle and Worcester soils and various kinds of Histosols. The somewhat poorly drained Oesterle and Worcester soils occupy slightly higher elevations nearby. The Histosols are nearby in landscape positions like those of the Minocqua soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained and very poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff ranges from negligible to low. Permeability is moderate in the silty and loamy alluvium and rapid or very rapid in the sandy outwash. Minocqua soils have an apparent seasonal high water table from 1 foot above to 1 foot below the surface for much of the time from October to June in most years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are used for woodland. Native vegetation is deciduous forest and mixed deciduous-coniferous forest. Major species of trees include American elm, balsam fir, black ash, black spruce, eastern hemlock, northern white cedar, quaking aspen, red maple, tamarack, and white ash. A few areas have been cleared and used for cropland or pastureland.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These soils are of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Shawano County, Wisconsin, 1981.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - 1 to 9 inches (Eg); albic horizon - 1 to 9 inches (Eg); cambic horizon - 9 to 22 inches (Bg1, Bg2).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to soil survey sample number S79WI-085-012 for NSSL data on a Minocqua pedon. Data indicates a clay pickup below the E horizon, but no evidence of clay skins were noted in describing the soil. The increase in clay is considered an expression of the nature of the parent material (depositional strata) and not genetic.