LOCATION MUGGINS CO+MT WY
Established Series
Rev. RLM/GB/KLS
07/2022
MUGGINS SERIES
The Muggins series consists of very deep well drained soils that formed in thick reddish brown noncalcareous glacial till, colluvium, alluvial material, or valley filling deposits or residuum derived from interbedded sandstone or shale with basalt overburden. Muggins soils are on till plains, moraines, ridgeslopes, plateaus, or mountain sideslopes. Slopes range from 2 to 65 percent. Mean annual precipitation is 710 mm. Mean annual air temperature is 1 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic Eutric Glossocryalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Muggins sandy loam - forest. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--0 to 5 cm; undecomposed organic material principally needles, bark, twigs, and leaves.
Oe--5 to 8 cm; partially decomposed organic material like that of the horizon above; moderately acid.
E--8 to 38 cm; pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) sandy loam, light brown (7.5YR 6/4) moist; weak medium platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 10 percent pebbles and cobbles; slightly acid (pH 6.2); gradual wavy boundary. (10 to 51 cm thick)
E/B--38 to 53 cm; pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) sandy clay loam, light brown (7.5YR 6/4) and reddish brown (5YR 5/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; peds are very hard, firm; few faint clay films on the more clayey portions of peds and discontinuous clay film coatings in root channels and pores; 10 percent cobbles; slightly acid (pH 6.4); gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 30 cm thick)
Bt--53 to 122 cm; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) sandy clay, reddish brown (5YR 5/4) moist; moderate coarse and medium angular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, sticky and plastic; peds are extremely hard, very firm, many distinct clay films on faces of peds and in root channels and pores; clay film rims around the entrance to some pores; 10 percent cobbles; slightly acid (pH 6.2); gradual smooth boundary. (15 to 112 cm thick)
BC--122 to 135 cm; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) light sandy clay, reddish brown (5YR 5/4) moist; weak coarse angular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; peds are extremely hard, very firm; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in root channels and pores; 10 percent cobbles; moderately acid (pH 5.8); gradual smooth boundary. (8 to 20 cm thick)
C--135 to 160 cm; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) sandy clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 5/4) moist; massive; very hard, very firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; 10 percent cobbles; moderately acid (pH 5.8).
TYPE LOCATION: Summit County, Colorado; approximately 229 meters east of W1/4 corner Sec. 13, T. 5 S., R. 78 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--2 to 6 degrees C
Mean summer soil temperature--9 to 11 degrees C
Thin dark colored A horizons occur in some pedons
Base saturation--60 to 100 percent
Depth to base of argillic horizon--40 to 150 cm
Total rock fragment content--0 to 35 percent in a major part of the solum and any C horizon, mainly 15 to 250 mm in diameter
E horizon
Hue--10YR through 2.5YR
Value--5 through 8 dry, 4 through 7 moist
Chroma--1 through 4
Reaction--pH 5.1 to 7.0
Bt horizon
Hue--5YR or 2.5YR
Value--5 through 7, 4 through 6 moist
Chroma--1 through 6
Texture--clay loam, clay, or sandy clay
Clay--35 to 55 percent
Sand--15 to 60 percent with more than 15 percent fine or coarse sand
Reaction--pH 5.1 to 6.0
C horizon
Hue--5YR through 10R
Texture--loam, clay loam, or sandy clay loam
Clay--18 to 35 percent
Sand--20 to 75 percent
Reaction--pH 5.1 to 7.0
COMPETING SERIES: This is the
Gateway series. Gateway soils are moderately deep to a paralithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landform--till plains, moraines, ridgetops, plateaus, or mountain side slopes
Elevation--2275 to 3050 meters
Slope--2 to 65 percent
Parent material--glacial till, colluvium, alluvial fans, residuum, or valley fillings deposits derived principally from sedimentary rock and interbedded sandstone and shale with basalt overburden
Mean annual precipitation--660 to 940 mm with peak periods of precipitation in the spring and summer
Mean annual air temperature--negative 1 to 4 degrees C
Frost-free period--20 to 75 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: None listed.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used as grazing land, for timber production, and for recreation. Native vegetation is aspen, spruce, fir, and lodgepole pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Muggins series is moderately extensive in western Colorado, western Wyoming and western Montana; MLRAs 43B, 47 and 48A
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jackson County, Colorado. 1973
REMARKS: Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this pedon:
Albic horizon--8 to 38 cm (E horizon)
Glossic horizon--38 to 53 cm (E/B horizon)
Argillic horizon--53 to 122 cm (Bt horizon)
Particle-size control section--53 to 103 cm (part of the Bt horizon)
Muggins soils have a cryic temperature regime and a udic soil moisture regime.
The precipitation range was narrowed to exclude less than 660 mm to limit this series to the typic-udic moisture regime. 4/2001
Classification revised from Typic to Eutric Glossocryalf to accommodate base saturation of 60 to 100 percent in range in characteristics.
Converted to metric, updated formatting, and O horizons were updated to start at zero. 7/2022
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.