LOCATION ROOT MNEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Mollic Fluvaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Root silt loam - on a 2 percent plane slope on a low lying flood plain in a pasture field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
C1--0 to 17 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam with many thin strata of dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2); few fine distinct dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) mottles; moderate thin platy structure; very friable; slightly alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 40 inches thick)
C2--17 to 34 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam with a few strata of channery loam; common fine distinct dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) mottles; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; slightly alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 40 inches thick)
IIC3--34 to 60 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) channery loam; common medium distinct dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) mottles; massive; very friable; about 30 percent channers and about 20 percent gravel, mostly limestone; strong effervescence; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Olmsted County, Minnesota; about 6 miles southeast of Rochester; 900 feet west and 1,960 feet south of the northeast corner of sec. 21, T. 105 N., R. 13 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the loamy C horizons and depth to the loamy-skeletal IIC horizon ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Free carbonates are lacking in horizons in the upper sediment in some pedons. In other pedons, they are in some to many parts but not all parts of the 10- to 20-inch depth zone. The coarse fragments are mostly limestone, but a few are sandstone, shale, or igneous rocks. These soils are saturated with water during at least part of the growing season.
The C horizon in the upper sediment has dominant value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1, but it has subhorizons with value as high as 5 and chroma as high as 2. It has few through many mottles. It is mostly loam or silt loam but it has coarser textured subhorizons in some pedons. It has as much as 35 percent coarse fragments in some pedons. It has weak or moderate, platy, granular, or subangular blocky structure or it is massive. It is friable or very friable. It is neutral or mildly alkaline.
The IIC horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has few through many mottles. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has 35 to 90 percent of coarse fragments with channers commonly being dominant. It also contains pebbles and cobblestones in varying amounts. It has thin sandy or sandy-skeletal subhorizons in some pedons. It is mildly or moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Hockinson, Kalmarville, and Schooley series in the same family. All of these soils lack a loamy-skeletal IIC horizon beginning within depths of 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Root soils have plane or convex slopes with gradient of 1 to 4 percent on the lowest flood plain level adjacent to streams. Most areas are no more than 500 feet wide. Relative relief in their area of occurrence ranges from 100 to 400 feet. These soils formed in recent alluvium from glacial sediments, loess, and sedimentary bedrock. The mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 25 to 32 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These comprise a variety of soils that formed in loess, glacial sediments, and sedimentary bedrock. Some of the more common ones are Frontenac, Brodale, Seaton, Port Byron, Ostrander, and Racine soils. These soils are on uplands and are well drained.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly and very poorly drained. Runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate in the upper part and rapid in the lower part. Flooding is frequent and of brief duration. Periods of flooding are mostly in the period March to June.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in deciduous forest. Some are in permanent pasture or used for hay crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Minnesota. Series is of small extent with Olmsted County containing about 2,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1978.
REMARKS:
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Central File code No. 2178 for results of some analyses of the typical pedon.