LOCATION WADENA MN+IAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Hapludolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Wadena loam with a plane slope of 1 percent on a glacial outwash plain in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; black (10YR 2/1) loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable; neutral; clear smooth boundary.
A--8 to 13 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the A horizon is 10 to 20 inches.)
Bw1--13 to 20 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, brown (10YR 4/3) dry; grading to dark brown (10YR 4/3), brown (10YR 5/3) dry, in the lower part; weak fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2--20 to 30 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) sandy loam with dark brown (10YR 4/3) coatings on peds; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of Bw horizons is 8 to 30 inches.)
2C1--30 to 40 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly coarse sand; few masses of dark brown (10YR 4/3) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4); single grain; loose; about 20 percent gravel; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
2C2--40 to 60 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly coarse sand; few masses of yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), and grayish brown (10YR 5/2); single grain; loose; about 20 percent gravel; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Carver County, Minnesota; about 4 miles west and 1.5 miles north of Mayer; 900 feet south and 40 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 32, T. 117 N., R. 26 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of solum and loamy mantle is 24 to 40 inches. Depth to free carbonates is 30 to 60 inches. Content of gravel ranges from 0 to 15 percent in the loamy mantle and 0 to 50 percent in the 2C horizon. The mollic epipedon is 12 to 24 inches thick. The loamy mantle has between 18 and 30 percent clay and 25 to 40 percent of fine sand and coarser particles.
The A horizon has color value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loam or clay loam. It is slightly acid or neutral.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is loam or clay loam in the upper part and coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, sandy clay loam, or loam in the lower part. It typically is slightly acid or neutral but is moderately acid in the upper part of some pedons.
A thin BC horizon with a fine-earth fraction of loamy coarse sand, loamy sand, coarse sandy loam, or sandy loam is in some pedons.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is coarse sand or sand or their gravelly or very gravelly analogues. It typically is stratified. It has as much as 10 percent fragments of shale in some pedons. It is neutral to moderately alkaline in the upper part and slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline in the lower part.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Cott, Fairhaven, Kanaranzi, Vanpetten, and Waukee series. Cott soils have fine sand 2C horizons at depths of less than 40 inches. The Fairhaven soils have silty clay loam or silt loam sola. Kanaranzi soils are underlain by sand and gravel at depths of less than 24 inches. Vanpetten soils have sola over 60 inches thick. Waukee soils are more acid and underlain by leached sands and gravels.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils have plane, slightly convex, and concave slopes on nearly level to rolling outwash plains and valley trains. Slope gradients range from 0 to 18 percent. They formed in glacial outwash sediments consisting of a 24 to 40 inch loamy mantle over sandy and sandy-skeletal sediments. These sediments are Late Wisconsin age. The climate is continental with warm summers and cold winters. Mean annual temperature is 45 to 55 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation is 25 to 36 inches. Frost-free days range from 124 to 190. The elevation above sea level ranges from 700 to 1600 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Biscay, Estherville, Mayer, and Talcot soils which formed in similar materials. Well drained Estherville soils have landscape similar to Wadena soils but have less clay in the sola. Poorly drained Biscay and Mayer soils are on nearby lower lying terrain. Very poorly drained Talcot soils are in depressions and swales. Mayer and Talcot soils have calcareous sola.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate in the solum and very rapid in the 2C horizon. Surface runoff is slow to medium.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all of the soils are cropped to corn, soybeans, and small grains. The native vegetation was tall grass prairie.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern and central Minnesota and northern Iowa. Moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wadena County, Minnesota, 1926.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: mollic epipedon - from the surface to 13 inches (Ap and A horizons); cambic horizon - the zone from about 13 to 30 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).