LOCATION SALIDA MN+IAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Entic Hapludolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Salida gravelly sandy loam on a 4 percent convex slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) gravelly sandy loam; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)
Bw--7 to 11 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly loamy coarse sand; massive; very friable; common tongues of very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2); neutral; clear irregular boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
C--11 to 45 inches; variegated brown (10YR 5/3), yellowish brown (10YR 5/4, 5/6), and dark brown (10YR 4/3) very gravelly coarse sand; few penetrations of gravelly loamy coarse sand; single grain; loose; slight effervescence; mildly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Wright County, Minnesota; about 6 miles west and 3 miles south of Delano; 440 feet west and 50 feet north of the center of sec. 35, T. 118 N., R. 26 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of solum is 7 to 20 inches. The depth to free carbonates is 0 to 20 inches. The mollic epipedon is 7 to 14 inches thick. The control section has 35 to 85 percent coarse fragments of mixed lithology. It is mostly gravel and typically is 2 to 20 mm in size.
The A horizon has value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3. It is coarse sand, sand, loamy coarse sand, loamy sand, coarse sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. It lacks or has a small amount of free carbonates. It is slightly acid through moderately alkaline.
The B horizon has value and chroma of 3 or 4. It is coarse sand, sand, loamy coarse sand, or loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction. It is slightly acid through moderately alkaline.
The C horizon has value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6. It is coarse sand or sand in the fine-earth fraction. It is mildly or moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Hawick soils are similar but have fewer coarse fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils have convex slopes on valley trains and glacial outwash plains and moraines. Slope gradients range from 0 to 40 percent. The soils formed in sandy-skeletal outwash with or without a thin loamy mantle. These sediments are Late Wisconsin in age. Mean annual temperature is approximately 45 to 52 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is approximately 26 to 32 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The main ones are Estherville and Wadena soils, which formed over similar textured outwash but have a thicker loamy mantle.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained. Permeability is very rapid. Surface runoff is slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Usually too droughty for general farm crops. They are used mostly for hay or pasture or as a source of gravel. Native vegetation was tall grass prairie.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central and east-central Minnesota and northcentral Iowa. Moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wright County, Minnesota, 1965.