LOCATION SHIFFER WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Aquollic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Shiffer loam - on a slope of less than 1 percent cropped to corn at an elevation of about 890 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few roots; few pores; mildly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--7 to 11 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few roots; common pores; faint patchy clay films on faces of peds and in pores; some worm casts of very dark brown (10YR 2/2); some dark brown (10YR 3/3) coatings; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Bt2--11 to 14 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and few fine distinct dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) mottles; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few roots; common pores; faint patchy clay films on faces of peds and in pores and channels; few pebbles; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bt3--14 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loam; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few roots; common pores; faint patchy clay films on faces of peds and in pores and channels; few pebbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 7 to 18 inches.)
2Bt4--24 to 27 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) sandy loam; common fine and medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few roots; common pores; faint patchy clay films on faces of peds and in pores and channels; few pebbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
2BC--27 to 32 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loamy sand; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; very friable; few pebbles; medium acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
2C--32 to 60 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sand; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) mottles; single grain; loose; medium acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Sauk County, Wisconsin; about 2 1/2 miles northwest of Baraboo; 360 feet north and 1,290 feet west of the southeast corner of the NE1/4, sec. 29, T. 12 N., R. 6 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 50 inches. The A horizon is slightly acid to mildly alkaline. The B and C horizon is slightly acid to very strongly acid. Coarse fragments larger than 3 inches in diameter are not present in the pedon. Coarse fragments smaller than 3 inches are less than 2 percent by volume.
The Ap or A horizon has 10YR hue, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loam or sandy loam.
The Bt1 horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is loam or sandy loam.
The Bt2 or Bt3 horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 5. It is loam, sandy clay loam, or clay loam.
The 2bt and BC horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6. It is sandy loam or loamy sand. Sandy loam texture is less than 5 inches thick. Both high and low chroma mottles are in the B horizon.
The 2C horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 5 through 8, and chroma of 2 through 6. It is loamy sand, sand, or coarse sand.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Binghampton and Hayfield series in the same family. Binghampton soils have sola more than 40 inches thick and are in uplands. Hayfield soils have albic horizons and typically contain more coarse fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Shiffer soils are on low stream and lake terraces. Slope gradients range from 0 to 3 percent. They formed in water-laid loamy deposits and the underlying sandy deposits, either water-laid or weathered directly from sandstone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 35 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 53 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the lower-lying poorly drained Marshan soils and the higher-lying, well drained Meridian soils. In a few places there are the moderately well drained phases of the Meridian soils. In some nearby areas are the Dakota soils that occupy similar landscapea as the Meridian soils. Dakota soils do not have mottles and have darker or thicker surface horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate in the loamy deposit and rapid in the underlying sandy deposit. Shiffer soils are subject to rare or occasional but brief flooding.
USE AND VEGETATION: Drained areas are used for corn, small grain, and hay. Undrained areas are in pasture or woodland. Native vegetation was mixed deciduous hardwood forest with some sedges and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mainly in western Wisconsin and one county in southern Wisconsin. These soils are moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, 1969.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 7 inches (Ap horizon).
Argillic horizon - zone from 7 to 24 inches (Bt1, Bt2, Bt3 horizons).
Other features - strongly contrasting particle-size class below the argillic and within a depth of 40 inches - mottles with chroma of 2 or less within the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon.