LOCATION PLAINFIELD WI+IL IN MI MN MO NY OHEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Typic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Plainfield sand - on a 1 percent slope in a cultivated field, at an elevation of about 1085 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) sand, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--7 to 16 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) sand; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine roots; about 6 percent gravel; a band at 14 to 16 inches contains about 25 percent gravel ; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Bw2--16 to 28 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) sand; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine roots; about 6 percent gravel; a band at 25 to 28 inches contains about 30 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bw horizons is 6 to 35 inches.)
BC--28 to 36 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) sand; single grain; loose; about 3 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 17 inches thick)
C--36 to 60 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sand; single grain; loose; about 2 percent gravel; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Waushara County, Wisconsin; about 1 mile southwest of Hancock, on the Hancock Experimental farm; 2180 feet north and 1020 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 16, T. 19 N., R. 8 E. USGS Coloma, Wis. Quad; Latitude 44 degrees 7 minutes 5 seconds N. Longitude 89 degrees 32 minutes 47 seconds W. NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the base of soil development ranges from 24 to 50 inches. The particle-size control section is dominated by medium sand, but individual horizons within or below the particle-size control section are fine sand or coarse sand. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 15 percent as a weighted average throughout the pedon, but thin subhorizons contain as much as 35 percent gravel in some pedons. Reaction naturally ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid in the surface layer and upper subsoil but ranges to neutral where the soil is limed. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral in the lower subsoil and in the substratum.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Uncultivated pedons have an A horizon with hue of 10YR or neutral, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 0 to 3. Texture of the Ap or A horizon is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sand, or fine sand.
Some pedons have an E horizon with hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is sand, loamy sand or coarse sand.
The Bw and BC horizons have hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is typically sand, but textures include loamy sand, coarse sand, and the gravelly analogs.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 4 t0 8. Texture is typically sand, coarse sand, or gravelly analogs.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Acquango, Aldo, Bigapple, Biltmore, Boplain, Breeze, Caesar, Chute, Dabney, Hodge, Oakville, Osolo, Pahuk, Penwood, Perks, Pinegrove, Poquonock, Samoa, Sardak, Sarpy, Scotah, Spessard, Suncook, Tyner, and Windsor series. Acquango soils are slightly to moderately saline. Aldo, Oslo and Scotah soils have redox features and a seasonal water table at depths between 40 and 60 inches. Bigapple soils have more than 40 inches of anthrotransported (dredge spoil) material. Biltmore soils have higher temperatures in the soil temperature control section. Boplain soils have a paralithic contact at depths between 20 and 40 inches. Breeze soils have more than 40 inches of anthrotransported material with more than 10 percent construction debris coarse fragments. Caesar soils average more than 30 percent coarse and very coarse sand in the lower half of the series control section. Chute, Hodge, and Sarpy soils have free carbonates in the control section. Dabney soils have thinner sola and are more moist in the moisture control section during the 120 days following the summer solstice (MAP=65 inches). In addition, they formed in sand derived mainly from andesite bedrock and have chroma of 1 or 2 throughout. Oakville soils average more than 50 percent fine and very fine sand in the particle-size control section. Pahuk and Somoa soils do not have B horizons. Penwood soils have hue redder than 7.5YR in the B horizon and have more moisture in all parts of the series control section during the growing season (MAP=46 inches). Perks soils have high chroma mottles above a depth of 40 inches. Pinegrove soils are formed in acid surface mine spoil and have up to 35 percent sandstone channers in the control section. Poquonock soils have a densic contact with till within the series control section. Suncook soils have individual subhorizons that have more than 75 percent fine and very fine sand or more than 30 percent coarse and very coarse sand in the control section. Tyner soils average more than 10 percent silt plus clay in the particle-size control section. Windsor soils are more moist in all parts of the moisture control section during the 120 days following the summer solstice.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Plainfield soils are on outwash plains, glacial lake basins, valley trains, stream terraces, and moraines and other upland places. Slopes range from 0 to 70 percent. These soils formed in sandy drift. Mean annual precipitation from 28 to 38 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 53 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are principally the Brems, Morocco, and Newton soils. The moderately well drained Brems, somewhat poorly drained Morocco, and poorly drained Newton soils form a drainage sequence with Plainfield soils. Since Plainfield soils have a wide geographic distribution, there are many other locally associated soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained. The potential for surface runoff ranges from negligible to medium. Permeability is rapid or very rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas of Plainfield soils are cleared and used for cropland. Common crops are corn, small grains, and hay. Increasingly, these soils are irrigated and specialty crops such as sweet corn, potatoes, and snap beans are grown. Many areas of non-irrigated cropland have reverted to woodland or have been planted to pine trees. Native vegetation is mixed deciduous and coniferous forest. Common trees are jack pine, red pine, eastern white pine and northern pin oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern half of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, southeast Minnesota, New York, and Ohio. Plainfield soils are of large extent (over three-quarters of a million acres).
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Waushara County, Wisconsin, 1909.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon 0 to 7 inches (Ap); sandy particle-size below the bottom of the Ap horizon in all subhorizons to a depth of 1 m.
There may be a need for field and lab study of the mineralogy of sandy soils in the central sand plain. After the requirements for siliceous mineralogy were changed from 95% unweatherable minerals to 90%, Dr. Milo Harpstead speculated that much of the central sand plain would now be siliceous (Quartzipsamments). This would include the Plainfield OSD site as well as several other sandy soils.
In Wisconsin, loamy substratum phases have been correlated in Buffalo Co. (200 ac.), Columbia Co. (8870 ac.), Eau Claire Co. (5180 ac.), Waupaca Co. (5135 ac.), and Waushara Co. (910 ac.). The loamy material appears to include till, lacustrine and stratified loamy outwash. One or more new series will probably be needed.
Also, in Wisconsin, a wet substratum phase was correlated in Waupaca Co. (7640 ac.) and in Waushara Co. (14,605 ac.) and a Wet Substratum Variant in Iowa Co. 975 ac.) The Aldo series is a possibility for these acres.
A granite substratum phase was correlated in Portage Co. WI (3050 ac.). A new series may be needed.
Various loamy, wet, and banded substratum phases have also been correlated in other states also.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to soil survey sample number 82WI137001 for NSSL data on the typical pedon.