LOCATION RONDEAU            MN+MI WI
Established Series
Rev. LMC-TWN-AGG
01/2006

RONDEAU SERIES


The Rondeau series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in highly decomposed organic soil materials from herbaceous plants and underlying limnic materials, which are mostly marl. These soils are in bogs that formerly were post glacial lakes on outwash plains and moraines. They have moderately slow to moderately rapid permeability in the organic material and very slow or slow permeability in the limnic deposits. Slope typically ranges from 0 to 1 percent but slopes to 6 percent are included for seepland areas. Mean annual precipitation is about 26 inches. Mean annual air temperature is about 41 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Marly, euic, frigid Limnic Haplosaprists

TYPICAL PEDON: Rondeau muck, on a level plane slope, in a bog about 30 acres in size with marsh vegetation, on an undulating sandy glacial outwash plain. (Colors are for moist soil. The pH is in water unless otherwise indicated.)

Oa--0 to 9 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck; about 10 percent fiber, trace rubbed; weak fine granular structure; very friable; herbaceous fiber; about 25 percent mineral material; neutral; clear smooth boundary.

Oe--9 to 16 inches; black (10YR 2/1) matrix and very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) broken face, mucky peat, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) rubbed; about 40 percent fiber; about 15 percent rubbed; weak medium platy structure; very friable; herbaceous fiber; about 15 percent mineral material; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)

Oa'--16 to 37 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck; less than 5 percent fiber; massive; very friable; herbaceous fiber; about 35 percent mineral material; neutral; clear smooth boundary.

Oa2--37 to 42 inches; black (10YR 2/1) matrix and very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) broken face muck, black (10YR 2/1) rubbed; about 20 percent fiber; about 5 percent rubbed; massive; very friable; herbaceous fiber; about 25 percent mineral material; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Oa3--42 to 44 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck; about 10 percent fiber; about 5 percent rubbed; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; herbaceous fiber; about 40 percent mineral material; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizon is 16 to 51 inches.)

Cg1--44 to 49 inches; black (N 2/0) and very dark gray (N 3/0) coprogenous earth; trace of fiber; massive; friable; slightly sticky; about 5 percent shells and shell fragments 1 to 3 mm in size; about 70 percent mineral material; violently effervescent; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)

Cg2--49 to 66 inches; light gray (10YR 7/1) marl; few fine prominent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) Fe concentrations; massive; friable; slightly sticky; about 5 percent plant detritus; moderately alkaline; violently effervescent.

TYPE LOCATION: Anoka County, Minnesota; about 1 mile east of Circle Pines; located about 2,200 feet south and 1,300 feet east of the northwest corner of section 30, T. 31 N., R. 22 W.; USGS Circle Pines topographic quadrangle; lat. 45 degrees 8 minutes 50 seconds N. and long. 93 degrees 08 minutes 17 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to marl ranges from 16 to 51 inches. The fibers mostly are derived from herbaceous plants, but layers with Hypnum moss fibers are in some pedons. Content of woody fragments over 2 cm in size is less than 15 percent, by volume, in the organic materials. Snail shells and/or shell fragments comprise as much as 10 percent of the volume of the organic soil material in some pedons. The organic soil material contains 20 to 45 percent mineral material. The organic soil material is strongly acid to slightly alkaline. The surface tier and the organic portion of the lower tiers typically are muck (sapric material). However, mucky peat (hemic material) is as thick as 10 inches in some pedons.

The Oa horizons have hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2 broken face, value of 2 and chroma of 1 rubbed. Content of fiber is less than 25 percent and less than 10 percent rubbed.

The Oe horizon, when present, has hue of 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 2 or 3 on the broken face. There is a decrease of 1 or 2 units in value and/or chroma upon rubbing.

The Cg1 horizon, when present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, or is neutral, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 or 2. It has low bulk density (0.1 to 0.5 gm/cc) and feels like a silt loam. Snail shells commonly are in this material and in some pedons they occupy up to 25 percent of the volume. This layer is neutral to slightly alkaline.

The Cg2 horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has low bulk density (0.05 to 0.20 gm/cc) and feels like a silt loam. It has 80 to 98 percent of mineral material and more than one-half of it is calcium carbonate. It commonly contains snail shells, and in some layers snail shells comprise up to 50 percent of the volume. Plant detritus comprises less than 10 percent of the volume. It is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline. In some pedons it occurs as thin strata between layers of organic soil material with composite aggregate thickness of more than 2 inches.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils typically have plane or concave slopes with gradient of 0 to 1 percent in bogs on glacial outwash plains and moraines. The sloping phase has slopes ranging from 1 to 6 percent for seepland areas. They consist mostly of highly decomposed organic soil materials derived from herbaceous plants and layers of marl 2 inches or more thick within a depth of 51 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 37 to 45 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 19 to 33 inches. Frost-free period ranges from 90 to 172 days. Elevation ranges from 670 to 1600 feet above sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cathro, Haslie, Markey, Rifle, and Seelyeville series. Cathro and Markey soils have a mineral substratum beginning within 16 to 51 inches. Haslie soils have substratums dominated with coprogenous earth deposits. Rifle and Seelyeville soils have organic materials thicker than 51 inches.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Runoff is low or very low. Permeability in the organic materials is moderately slow to moderately rapid and is slow or very slow in the limnic deposits. Depth to an apparent seasonal high water table for the sloping phase is 0 to 2 feet.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of this soil is in native vegetation. Some is used for pasture or hay. Native vegetation is primarily sedges and grasses with scattered willow. The sloping phase may be wooded with black ash, white spruce, balsam fir, quaking aspen, and northern white cedar as primary tree species.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and northern Minnesota and northern Michigan and Wisconsin. This series is not extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Norman County, Minnesota, November, 1970.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: sapric soil materials from the surface to 44 inches (Oa, Oa', Oa2, Oa3 horizons); Limnic subgroup - the zone from 44 to 66 inches (Cg horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Central File Code No. 1445 for results of some laboratory analyses of the typical pedon. Soil Interpretation Record numbers are: MN0148, sloping phase MN0861.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.