LOCATION MUNCIE                  IN

Established Series
Rev. GRS-TRZ-TJE
11/2021

MUNCIE SERIES

The Muncie series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in as much as 46 cm (18 inches) of loess and in the underlying till overlying outwash. Muncie soils are on kames, eskers, and outwash floored till plains. Slope ranges from 2 to 18 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 991 mm (39 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 11.1 degrees C (52 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Muncie silt loam, on a convex, 5 percent slope in a cultivated field at an elevation of 300 meters (980 feet) above mean sea level. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 15 cm (6 inches); brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure parting to moderate medium granular; friable; many very fine and fine roots; many fine and very fine tubular pores; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. [13 to 23 cm (5 to 9 inches) thick]

2Bt1--15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; many very fine and fine roots; many fine and very fine tubular pores; common distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; 1 percent gravel; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.

2Bt2--30 to 46 cm (12 to 18 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) clay loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; common very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; many distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent gravel; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.

2Bt3--46 to 76 cm (18 to 30 inches); brown (10YR 4/3) clay loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; many distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent gravel; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. [Combined thickness of the 2Bt horizon is 41 to 114 cm (16 to 45 inches).]

2BCt--76 to 94 cm (30 to 37 inches); yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; few distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; 5 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. [13 to 23 cm (5 to 9 inches) thick]

2C1--94 to 142 cm (37 to 56 inches); yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay loam; massive with weak coarse prismatic partings; firm; few distinct light gray (10YR 7/2) carbonate coatings on vertical partings; 5 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. [36 to 137 cm (14 to 54 inches) thick]

3C2--142 to 203 cm (56 to 80 inches); brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly loamy coarse sand; single grain; loose; 25 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Delaware County, Indiana; about 1 1/4 miles southeast of Desoto; 2,200 feet south and 2,100 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 33, T. 21 N., R. 11 E.; USGS Muncie East, Ind. topographic quadrangle; lat. 40 degrees 13 minutes 41 seconds N. and long. 085 degrees 16 minutes 55 seconds W., NAD 27; UTM Zone 16, 646169 easting and 4454491 northing, NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the loess: 0 to 46 cm (0 to 18 inches)
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 63 to 127 cm (25 to 50 inches)
Depth to carbonates: 43 to 122 cm (17 to 48 inches)
Depth to sandy or gravelly material: 122 to 244 cm (48 to 96 inches)
Particle-size control section: averages 35 to 45 percent clay

Ap or A horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 4
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: silt loam or in severely eroded pedons is clay loam
Rock fragment content: 0 to 10 percent
Reaction: moderately acid to neutral

2Bt horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 3 to 6
Texture: silty clay loam, clay loam, or clay
Rock fragment content: 0 to 10 percent
Reaction: moderately acid or slightly acid in the upper part, and slightly acid to slightly alkaline in the lower part

2BCt horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: clay loam or silty clay loam
Clay content: 27 to 40 percent
Sand content: 15 to 30 percent
Rock fragment content: 1 to 10 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 20 percent
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

2C horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 5
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: silty clay loam or clay loam
Clay content: 27 to 35 percent
Sand content: 18 to 30 percent
Rock fragment content: 1 to 10 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 20 to 35 percent
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

3Bt and/or 3BCt horizon, where present: these horizons usually occur directly beneath vertical partings in the overlying till
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 to 5
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: sandy clay loam, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam, or loamy coarse sand or the gravelly analogs of these textures
Rock fragment content: 0 to 34 percent
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

3C horizon:
Hue: 10YR
Value: 5
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: commonly stratified with textures of sand, coarse sand, or loamy coarse sand or the gravelly analogs of these textures
Clay content: 2 to 5 percent
Sand content: 85 to 90 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 34 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 25 to 55 percent
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Beasley, Bledsoe, Bonnell, Brashear, Bratton, Bucklick, Caneyville, Cosperville, Donahue, Eden, Elba, Enott, Estate, Faywood, Fredonia, Haggatt, Heitt, Heverlo, Jessup, Kewaunee, Lowell, Markland, Milton, Mountpleasant, Shrouts, and Vandalia series. Beasley, Bratton, Caneyville, Donahue, Eden, Enott, Faywood, Fredonia, Haggatt, Heverlo, Milton, and Shrouts soils have paralithic or lithic contact within a depth of 152 cm (60 inches). Bledsoe, Brashear, Elba, and Lowell soils have rock fragments that are dominantly limestone, siltstone, shale, or sandstone. Bonnell soils are more acid than moderately acid in the upper part of the argillic horizon. Bucklick, Estate, and Kewaunee soils have hue redder than 7.5YR in some part of the argillic horizon. Cosperville soils are not clearly differentiated from the Muncie soils because of overlapping properties within the series control section. Muncie soils are greater than 183 cm (6 feet) to a seasonal high water table and Cosperville soils have a seasonal high water table at a depth ranging from 91 to 183 cm (3 and 6 feet). However, redox depletions in Cosperville soils are not always present within the series control section. Heitt and Jessup soils average more than 35 percent clay in the lower part of the series control section. Markland soils do not have rock fragments in the lower part of the series control section. Mountpleasant soils have more than 10 percent rock fragments in the lower part of the series control section. Vandalia soils do not have carbonates within a depth of 122 cm (48 inches).

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Muncie soils are on shoulders and backslopes on kames, eskers, and dissected outwash floored till plains. Slope ranges from 2 to 18 percent. The soils formed in as much as 46 cm (18 inches) of loess and in the underlying till overlying outwash. Depth to the underlying sandy outwash is 1.2 to 2.4 meters (4 to 8 feet). Mean annual precipitation ranges from 914 to 1092 mm (36 to 43 inches). Mean annual temperature ranges from 8.9 to 12.2 degrees C (48 to 54 degrees F). Frost-free period is 150 to 180 days. Elevation is 274 to 335 meters (900 to 1100 feet) above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Fox, Glynwood, Lybrand, and Morley soils. The well drained Fox soils do not have till above the outwash and are on similar landforms. The moderately well drained Glynwood and Morley soils and the well drained Lybrand soils do not have sandy substrata and are on knolls and backslopes on dissected till plains and moraines.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Potential for surface runoff is medium on the gentle slopes and high on the steeper slopes. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the till; moderately low or moderately high in the substratum formed in till; and high or very high in the underlying outwash. It is moderately low or moderately high between the structural units in the 2C horizon. Permeability is moderately slow in the subsoil; moderately slow or slow in the substratum formed in till; and rapid or very rapid in the underlying outwash. Permeability is slow between the structural units in the 2C horizon.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly used to grow corn, soybeans, wheat and hay. Native vegetation is deciduous hardwood forest.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 111B in east-central Indiana. The series is of small extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Delaware County, Indiana, 1997.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: from the surface to a depth of 15 cm (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon: from a depth of 15 to 76 cm (2Bt horizon).

These soils were correlated as gravelly substratum phases of the Morley series previously.

A representative data mapunit for this soil is DMU ID 123723 in MO 11.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.