LOCATION SHERBURNE               MT

Established Series
Rev. JGH-HEH-KLS
03/2023

SHERBURNE SERIES

The Sherburne series consists of very deep well drained soils formed in glacial till or glacial outwash from mixed sources. They occur on remnants of high level plains bordering the eastern slopes of the northern Rocky Mountains. Slopes are 2 to 40 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 710 mm, and the mean annual air temperature is about 3 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, mixed, active Typic Haplocryods

TYPICAL PEDON: Sherburne gravelly loam - forest. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

Oi--0 to 1 cm; fresh needles and twigs. A few gravel and cobbles are exposed at the surface. (1 to 3 cm thick)

Oe--1 to 2 cm; platy, matted, partially decayed organic material. (1 to 2 cm thick)

E--2 to 6 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) gravelly loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; weak thin platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine and micro tubular pores and common fine vesicles and tubular pores; silt, sand and gravel are uncoated; 25 percent subangular gravel; extremely acid (pH 4.1); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 5 cm thick)

Bs1--6 to 28 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) gravelly loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate very fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many very fine roots, mostly horizontal, and few fine roots; many very fine and few fine tubular pores; silt, sand and gravel stained and gravel coated with silt; 30 percent gravel; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); clear wavy boundary. (13 to 25 cm thick)

Bs2--28 to 48 cm; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) gravelly loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine and few fine roots; many very fine and few fine tubular pores; silt, sand and gravel stained and gravel coated with silt; 30 percent gravel; strongly acid (pH 5.1); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 28 cm thick)

2Bt1--48 to 119 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly clay loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; common very fine and few fine roots; many very fine and few fine tubular pores; clay bridging sand and patches of clay films on gravel and walls of gravel sockets; silt and sand grains are stained; 40 percent gravel; very strongly acid (pH 4.7); clear wavy boundary.

2Bt2--119 to 231 cm; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) very cobbly clay, yellowish red (5YR 4/6) moist; moderate thick platy structure that parts to moderate fine blocks; extremely hard, very firm, sticky, plastic; few roots; many very fine tubular and common fine interstitial pores; thick patches of clay films on gravel and bridging of sand grains; patches of unstained sand; 30 percent cobbles and 20 percent gravel; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); clear wavy boundary.

3C--231 to 256 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; massive; extremely hard, friable, sticky, plastic; 10 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.3)

TYPE LOCATION: Glacier County, Montana; about 3 km north on Hilton Sawmill road off U. S. Highway 89 at milepost 440; northwest quarter of section 11, T.34N., R.14W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--3 to 4 degrees C
Mean summer soil temperature--6 to 7 degrees C
Mean winter soil temperature--minus 1 to 1 degrees C
The soil is usually moist but is generally dry between 25 and 75 cm for about 30 days in late July and early August, becoming moist again in the fall.
Solum thickness--1 to 3 meters

Bs1 horizon
Hue--7.5YR
Value--5 or 6 dry and 4 moist
Chroma--3 or 4 dry and 3 through 6 moist

Bs2 horizon
Hue--10YR or 7.5YR
Value--5 or 6 dry and 4 moist
Chroma--3 or 4 dry and 3 through 6 moist
Rock fragment content--20 to 35 percent and are mainly less than 75 mm in diameter. A few cobbles and stones occur in most pedons.

2Bt horizons
Hue--10YR to 5YR
Value--6 or 7 dry and 4 or 5 moist
Chroma--2 through 6
Texture--very gravelly clay loam to extremely cobbly clay
Clay content--35 to 45 percent in the upper 60 cm of the horizon, increasing with depth
Rock fragment content--40 to 70 percent, consisting of gravel, cobbles and stones up to 500 mm in diameter

COMPETING SERIES: None listed.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landform--nearly level to sloping remnants of old high level plains bordering the eastern slopes of the northern Rocky Mountains
Elevation--1675 to 2000 meters
Slope--2 to 40 percent
Parent material--glacial till or glacial outwash from mixed argillite, quartzite, limestone, and basic intrusive rock sources. Most of these materials are high in iron minerals. Volcanic ash makes up only 3 percent of the coarse silt fraction (20 to 50 microns) of the E horizon, and a trace below at the type location.
Climate--Long cold winters but they are frequently interrupted by warm Chinook winds. Summers are short and relatively warm.
Mean annual precipitation--510 to 890 mm, with approximately 5000 mm (5 meters) of winter snow
Mean annual air temperature--2 to 4 degrees C
Frost-free period--60 to 90 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: None listed.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; medium runoff; moderately slow to slow permeability. This, accompanied with frozen soils and rapid snowmelt in June, results in a perched water table for a short period in some years.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are primarily used for forest with very limited grazing. Timber stands range from lodgepole pine to mixed, overmature stands of lodgepole pine, alpine fir and Englemann spruce.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Sherburne soils are of small extent on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Montana; MLRA 43B.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Glacier County (Blackfeet Reservation-Cut Bank Area), Montana, 1969.

REMARKS: REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and feature recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--2 to 6 cm (E horizons)
Albic horizon--2 to 6 cm (E horizons)
Spodic horizon--6 to 28 cm; (Bs1 horizon)
Argillic horizon--48 to 231 cm; (2Bt1 and 2Bt2 horizons)
Particle-size control section--48 to 98 cm (part of the 2Bt1 horizon)

Classification was changed from Clayey-skeletal, mixed Boralfic Cryorthods to Clayey-skeletal, mixed, active Typic Haplocryods. 12/2001

Converted to metric and O horizons were updated to start at zero. Competing series section was not updated. 02/2023

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.