LOCATION STURGEON MI+WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, nonacid, frigid Aquic Udifluvents
TYPICAL PEDON: Sturgeon silt loam - on a 1 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) silt loam, light reddish brown (5YR 6/3) dry; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 11 inches thick)
C1--8 to 18 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) silt loam; common fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) mottles; moderate fine and medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 14 inches thick)
C2--18 to 24 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silt loam; few fine distinct yellowish red (5YR 4/6) mottles; moderate fine and medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 14 inches thick)
C3--24 to 30 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) silt loam; many fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) mottles; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly sticky; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary (0 to 24 inches thick)
2C--30 to 60 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) fine sand; single grained; nonsticky; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Baraga County, Michigan; about 1 1/2 miles north and 2 miles east of the Village of Pelkie; 300 feet north and 460 feet east of the southwest corner of sec. 2, T. 51 N., R. 34 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: This soil ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid. Color, arrangement, and thickness of horizons vary considerably because of the nature of the parent material. Thickness of the loamy horizons ranges from 16 to 36 inches.
The Ap has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is silt loam, fine sandy loam, or very fine sandy loam. Uncultivated areas have an A horizon with hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3, and chroma of 2 or 3.
The C horizon above a depth of 36 inches has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. Textures include loamy very fine sand, very fine sandy loam, and silt loam. Thin strata of fine sandy loam or very fine sand are in some pedons. The underlying 2C horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sand or sand. Thin individual horizons of silty clay loam or sand occur in the upper horizons in places, and loamy materials are below a depth of 40 or 50 inches in some pedons. High chroma redox concentrations are located throughout the loamy part of the profile.
COMPETING SERIES: There are none. Closely related soils are the Moquah, Wega and Winterfield series. Moquah soils lack redoximorphic features in the upper part of the profile. Wega soils lack sandy textures in the lower part of the particle size control section. Winterfield soils lack silty textures in the upper part of the particle size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sturgeon soils are on narrow, flat bottom lands of the major streams. The soils formed in loamy and sandy alluvium. Slopes range from 0 to 1 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 26 to about 33 inches, and the mean annual temperature ranges from 39 to about 44 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the moderately well drained Moquah soils on slightly higher landscape positions on floodplains. The Munising, Ontonagon, and Rubicon soils are on the steep side slopes in the uplands on nearby landscapes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Surface runoff is negligible. Permeability is moderate in the upper loamy material and rapid in the underlying sandy material.
USE AND VEGETATION: Some areas are cropped to hay, oats, and pasture; or remain idle. The remainder is forested with mixed hardwoods and conifers.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Upper Peninsula of Michigan and northern Wisconsin. These soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Baraga County, Michigan, 1984.
REMARKS: The classification of Aquic Udifluvents is based on a water table that is present within a depth of 50 cm. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 8 inches (Ap horizon).