LOCATION WILDALE WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Mollic Paleudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Wildale silt loam - on a 4 percent slope with east aspect in an alfalfa field at an elevation of about 1350 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; moderate fine and medium granular and weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; about 3 percent chert fragments by volume; a few dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) worm casts and chunks of subsoil material; common very fine roots and many very fine pores; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--9 to 15 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular and angular blocky and weak fine and medium platy structure; firm; thin brown (7.5YR 4/4) coatings on faces of peds and in root channels; scattered light gray (10YR 7/2) clean silt coatings on faces of some peds; about 10 percent chert fragments by volume; common very fine roots and very fine pores; medium acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
2Bt2--15 to 21 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to strong fine and medium angular blocky; extremely firm; thin continuous yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; light gray (10YR 7/2) silt coatings on vertical faces of peds mainly in the upper 3 inches of the horizon; common very fine roots and few very fine pores; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
2Bt3--21 to 30 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to strong medium and coarse angular blocky; extremely firm; thin continuous yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; common very fine roots mainly between faces of peds; few very fine pores and root channels; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
2Bt4--30 to 41 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; moderate medium and coarse prismatic structure parting to strong medium and coarse angular blocky; extremely firm; thin continuous yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; few very fine roots mainly between faces of peds; about 7 percent chert fragments by volume; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
2Bt5--41 to 52 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to strong medium and coarse angular blocky; extremely firm; thin continuous yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; few very fine roots mainly between faces of peds; about 7 percent chert fragments by volume; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the 2Bt2 through 2Bt5 horizons ranges from 30 to 50 inches.)
2Bt6--52 to 61 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate coarse angular blocky; very firm; thin continuous yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; a few black (N 2/0) soft iron nodules; few very fine roots between faces of peds; few very fine pores; about 7 percent chert fragments by volume; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
2Bt7--61 to 73 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate coarse angular blocky; firm; thin continuous yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films on faces of peds; a few black (N 2/0) iron nodules; some areas of red (2.5YR 4/6); about 3 percent chert fragments by volume; few very fine pores; very strongly acid. (Combines thickness of the 2Bt6 and 2Bt7 horizons ranges from 0 to 25 inches.)
TYPE LOCATION: Monroe County, Wisconsin; about 2 1/2 miles northeast of Norwalk; 620 feet east and 570 feet south from the northwest corner of sec. 15, T. 16 N., R. 2 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock is 60 to 80 inches or greater. Thickness of the loess ranges from 5 to 15 inches. Volume of chert fragments ranges from 0 to 22 percent in the loess and from 0 to 35 percent in the clayey residuum. Volume of chert fragments larger than 3 inches in size ranges from 0 to 15 percent throughout the pedon. The A horizon is neutral to medium acid and the B horizon is medium acid to extremely acid.
The A horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3. It is silt loam or cherty silt loam. Where present, the A horizon is 3 to 6 inches thick.
The Bt1 horizon has 10YR or 7.5YR hue, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is silt loam or silty clay loam, or cherty analogues.
The 2Bt horizon has 2.5YR, 5YR, or 7.5YR hue; value of 3 through 6; and chroma of 4 through 8. Many pedons have variegated colors or layers with 10YR hue. They are typically silty clay or clay, or cherty analogues, but thin individual horizons of sandy clay, silty clay loam, or clay loam, or cherty analogues are within the range.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Other closely related series are Dodgeville, Dubuque, Dunbarton, NewGlarus, Palsgrove, Southridge, and Valton. Dodgeville, Dubuque, and NewGlarus soils are underlain by limestone at depths of 20 to 40 inches. In addition, Dodgeville soils have a mollic epipedon; Dubuque soils are fine-silty; and NewGlarus soils are fine-silty over clayey. Dunbarton soils have a lithic contact at less than 20 inches. Palsgrove soils formed in 36 to 55 inches of loess and have only the lower part of the solum formed in residuum weathered from limestone. Southridge soils are similar but have a lighter colored surface and contrasting textures because of the thicker loess mantle. Valton soils are similar but formed in thicker loess over clayey residuum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wildale soils are on ridgetops and side slopes (back slopes) in strongly dissected uplands underlain by thick clayey residuum over limestone. Slopes range from 2 to 45 percent. They formed in 5 to 15 inches of loess and in the underlying clayey residuum weathered from limestone. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 49 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 32 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the NewGlarus, Palsgrove, Reedsburg, and Valton soils. Nearby, where the limestone is at a depth of 20 to 40 inches on side slopes of ridgetops, are the NewGlarus soils. On similar slopes as Wildale, but in areas of thicker loess over the residuum, the Palsgrove and Valton soils are nearby. Where the loess is thicker and the ridgetops somewhat broader, the somewhat poorly drained Reedsburg soils are in drainageways and depressions, or on the upper side slopes of ridgetops.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to very rapid. Permeability is slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: The less sloping areas are in corn, soybeans, small grain, and legume hay as the principal crops. The steeper areas are in pasture or woodland. Native vegetation was deciduous forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Wisconsin. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Sauk County, Wisconsin, 1977.
REMARKS: Refer to National Soil Survey Laboratory numbers 77P2172-77P2179 for data on the typical pedon. Depending upon thickness of loess and texture of the upper part of the residuum, some pedons of Wildale may be very fine.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 9 inches (Ap horizon); argillic horizon zone from 9 to 60 inches (Bt1, 2Bt2, 2Bt3, 2Bt4, 2Bt5, 2Bt6, and 2Bt7 horizons); clay distribution that does not decrease from its maximum amount by as much as 20 percent of that maximum within a depth of 1.5 m from the soil surface; hue redder than 10YR and chroma more than 4 dominant in the matrix of at least the lower part of the argillic horizon; Ap horizon with value (moist) of less than 4 and value (dry) of less than 6; udic moisture regime; mesic temperature regime.