LOCATION PORTWING WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, frigid Oxyaquic Glossudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Portwing silt loam, on a convex, northeast facing, 2 percent slope, under a recent clearcut with new growth aspen, at an elevation of 975 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 4 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) silt loam, pinkish gray (5YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine and medium and common coarse roots throughout; about 1 percent gravel; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
E/B--4 to 9 inches; 80 percent reddish gray (5YR 5/2) silt loam, pinkish gray (5YR 7/2) dry (E); moderate thick platy structure; few faint distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; extends as tongues into or surrounds remnants of reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay (B); moderate medium angular blocky structure; friable; many fine, common medium and few coarse roots; common faint dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; about 1 percent gravel; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Glossic horizon - 2 to 20 inches thick)
Bt1--9 to 21 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium angular blocky; firm; few fine and medium roots between peds; common faint dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; about 1 percent gravel; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.
Bt2--21 to 32 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to strong medium angular blocky; firm; few fine and medium roots between peds; common faint dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds and common distinct dark red (2.5YR 3/6) silt coats on faces of peds; about 1 percent gravel; slightly alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 0 to 26 inches thick.)
Btk--32 to 51 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay; moderate coarse angular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots between peds; common faint dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) clay films on faces of peds; common fine and medium irregular light reddish brown (2.5YR 6/3) soft masses of calcium carbonate; strongly effervescent; about 1 percent gravel; moderately alkaline; (about 4 percent calcium carbonate); abrupt smooth boundary. (10 to 35 inches thick)
2Ck--51 to 80 inches; stratified reddish brown (5YR 5/4) and dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) stratified very fine sand and silt, with several thin, less than 2 inches thick, strata of silty clay; massive; friable; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; common fine and medium irregular light reddish brown (2.5YR 6/3) soft masses of calcium carbonate in the thin, less than 2 inches thick, silty clay strata; strongly effervescent in the silty clay strata; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Bayfield County, Wisconsin; 1750 feet north and 1000 feet west of the southeast corner of section 36, T. 46 N., R. 6 W.; USGS Mason, Wisconsin topographic quadrangle; lat. 46 degrees 25 minutes 4 seconds N. and long. 91 degrees 3 minutes 12 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the base of the argillic horizon, thickness of the clayey till, and depth to the stratified substratum all range from 40 to 60 inches. The weighted average clay content of the particle-size control section ranges from 35 to 60 percent. Depth to carbonates ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Volume of gravel ranges from 0 to 10 percent throughout. Redox accumulations and saturation occur within 40 inches at some time in most years.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR, 7.5YR or 10YR, value and chroma of 2 or 3. Cultivated pedons have an Ap horizon with hue of 5YR, 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Reaction naturally ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid, but ranges to neutral where the soil is limed.
Some pedons have an E horizon with hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Colors of 4/3 and 5/3 have value dry of 7 or more. The E horizon is silt loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, silty clay loam or silty clay. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
Portwing soils have a glossic horizon (E/B or B/E horizon or both). The E part has color and texture like the E horizon described above. The Bt part has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value and chroma of 3 or 4. It is clay but in some pedons it is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay or sandy clay. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value and chroma of 3 or 4. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to slightly alkaline.
The Btk horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value and chroma of 3 or 4. It is typically clay but subhorizons of silty clay, clay loam or silty clay loam are in some pedons. Reaction ranges from slightly alkaline to strongly alkaline.
The 2Ck or 2C horizon has a hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is stratified very fine sand to silt, but a few thin strata of finer texture are in most pedons. Reaction is slightly acid or moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Portwing soils are on knolls and side slopes on till plains. Slope ranges from 2 to 6 percent. These soils formed in clayey till and/or clayey lacustrine deposits modified by wave action over stratified loamy and/or sandy lacustrine deposits. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 33 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 36 to 43 degrees F. The frost-free period ranges from about 90 to 120 days. Elevation ranges from 600 to 1100 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cornucopia, Herbster, Eaglebay, Frogbay, Kellogg, Morganlake, and Sanborg soils. The well drained Cornucopia and somewhat poorly drained Herbster soils form a drainage sequence with Portwing soils. Eaglebay soils are nearby where there is a loamy outwash mantle 10 to 24 inches thick over the clayey till. Frogbay soils are on similar landscapes and have loamy till within 15 to 36 inches below the clay. Kellogg soils are nearby and slightly upslope, and have 20 to 40 inches of sandy outwash over clay. Morganlake soils have 20 to 40 inches of sandy outwash over loamy till and occur on adjacent higher landscape positions. Sanborg soils have greater than 60 inches of clay, and occur adjacent to some Portwing soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Runoff is slow or medium. Permeability is slow in the clayey deposits and moderate to rapid in the stratified lacustrine deposits. Portwing soils have a perched seasonal water table above the clayey till at a depth of 1.0 to 2.5 feet for 20 or more consecutive days or 30 or more cumulative days1 month or more per year at some time during the period September to June in 6 or more out of 10 normal years. Portwing soils also have an apparent water table below 40 inches in the stratified substratum at some time during the same time period in normal years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for woodland. Some areas are used for cropland or pastureland. Oats, bromegrass, timothy, alfalfa, trefoil, and red clover are the principal crops. Many areas which were formerly cropland are now idle and are reverting to natural vegetation. Native vegetation is mixed deciduous and coniferous forest. Common trees are red maple, balsam fir, white spruce, eastern white pine, quaking aspen, paper birch and red oak. Common understory plants are beaked hazelnut, red-osier dogwood, black snakeroot, big-leaved aster, wild sarsaparilla, sweet coltsfoot and bracken fern.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Wisconsin (MLRA K92). This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota; MLRA SSO 10-4 (Duluth, Minnesota).
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bayfield County, Wisconsin, 2004. Source of the name is a town along Lake Superior in Bayfield County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 4 inches (A horizon);
glossic horizon - 4 to 9 inches (E/B horizon);
argillic horizon - 9 to 51 inches (Bt1 , Bt2 and Btk horizons);
particle-size control section--9 to 29 inches.
The intense reddish colors inherent in the parent material often mask the redoximorphic features (color - chroma) and make taxonomic classification difficult. Water table studies in this soil (and associated soils) were used to classify this series.
Only series status, responsibility, and scrivener's errors changed - 4/09.