LOCATION MONICO WI+MIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Endoaquods
TYPICAL PEDON: Monico silt loam - on a 1 percent slope in a wooded drainageway between drumlins at an elevation of about 1,780 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) dry; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine and coarse roots; about 5 percent pebbles and 8 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
E--4 to 7 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/2) silt loam; weak medium platy structure parting to moderate very fine subangular blocky; friable; many fine and coarse roots; about 5 percent pebbles and 8 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bs1--7 to 13 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; few medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) mottles; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; common fine soft rounded accumulations (iron manganese oxides); about 5 percent pebbles and 8 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bs2--13 to 21 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) mottles; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, few fine roots; common fine soft rounded accumulations (iron manganese oxides); about 5 percent pebbles and 8 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (The Bs horizon ranges from 7 to 21 inches thick.)
2BC--21 to 36 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) sandy loam; few medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) mottles; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; stratified with a few (5mm thick) lenses of loamy sand; blocky peds tend to part along lenses; about 10 percent pebbles and 4 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 16 inches thick)
2C--36 to 60 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) gravelly loamy sand; few medium distinct yellowish red (5YR 5/6) mottles; massive; friable; about 10 percent pebbles and 6 percent cobbles; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Vilas County, Wisconsin; about 1 1/2 miles northwest of Phelps; 160 feet south and 415 feet west of the northeast corner, sec. 34, T. 42 N., R. 11 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 24 to 50 inches. The silty or loamy mantle on the till is as much as 30 inches thick. The solum is extremely acid to slightly acid and the substratum is strongly acid to neutral. Volume of pebbles ranges from 0 to 20 percent in the silty or loamy mantle and 5 to 25 percent in the till. Volume of cobbles ranges from 0 to 15 percent throughout the pedon. Stony phases are recognized in some places. Some pedons have a thin Oa or Oe horizon.
The A horizon has 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR hue; value of 2 or 3; and chroma of 0 to 2. In some pedons the A horizon is discontinuous or so thin as to be impractical to describe. The A horizon is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or the gravelly or cobbly analogues.
The E horizon has 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR hue; value of 4 to 6; and chroma is 1 or 2. It is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or the gravelly or cobbly analogues.
The Bs horizons have 5YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. When value and chroma are 3 in the horizon, it is less than 3 inches thick. The Bs horizons are silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or the gravelly or cobbly analogues. Some pedons have an E' horizon. Some pedons have E/B, B/E, or 2Bw horizons.
The 2BC horizon has 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR hue; value of 3 to 5; and chroma of 3 or 4. It is sandy loam, loamy sand, or the gravelly or cobbly analogues.
The 2C horizon has 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR hue; value of 3 to 5; and chroma of 3 to 6. It is sandy loam, loamy sand, or the gravelly or cobbly analogues.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Kawbawgam series in the same family and the Tula series. Kawbawgam soils have sandstone at a depth between 20 and 40 inches. Tula soils have an argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Monico soils are in depressions and drainageways of ground moraines and in drainageways of interdrumlin areas. Slopes range from 0 to 6 percent. These soils formed in silty or loamy deposits, or both and in the underlying sandy loam or loamy sand till. Mean annual temperature ranges from 39 to 42 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 32 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are mainly the Goodman and Iron River soils and in some places the Cable soils. The well-drained Goodman and moderately well-drained Iron River soils are adjacent on more sloping areas. Cable soils are poorly drained and very poorly drained and in similar landscape positions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Surface runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate in the silty or loamy deposits and moderately slow in the sandy loam or loamy till.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forest. Forest vegetation is mainly sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch, balsam fir, white spruce, black spruce, and white ash.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Wisconsin and possibly the Upper Peninsula or Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Vilas County, Wisconsin, 1985.
REMARKS: Not all Monico pedons will meet the chemical requirements, as written, for a spodic horizon even though the podzolization process is well expressed. Some pedons show an increase in clay below the Bs horizon but the increase is not enough to constitute an argillic horizon.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric horizon - zone from 0 to 7 inches (A and E); spodic horizon - zone from 7 to 21 inches (Bs1, Bs2); other features - frigid temperature regime - aquic moisture regime.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to NSSL sample numbers 82P1101-1104 and 82P1110-1114 for data on two Monico pedons.