LOCATION WHALAN MN+IA IL MI WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Whalan silt loam - on an east facing plane slope of 4 percent in the glaciated uplands in a mixed deciduous forest. (All colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A1--0 to 4 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) and brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; about 5 percent coarse fragments; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
A2--4 to 9 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam; weak thin platy structure; friable; about 5 percent coarse fragments; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
B1--9 to 12 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; thin coatings of clean silt and sand particles on faces of peds; about 5 percent coarse fragments; medium acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
B21t--12 to 17 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; thin continuous brown (10YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds; about 5 percent coarse fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
B22t--17 to 22 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay loam; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; firm; thin continuous dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds; about 5 percent coarse fragments; medium acid; clear irregular boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
IIB23t--22 to 24 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; very firm; medium continuous very dark brown (10YR 2/2) clay films on faces of peds; about 5 percent coarse fragments; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
IIR--24 inches; level bedded limestone; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and very pale brown (10YR 7/4) with some yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) spots.
TYPE LOCATION: Fillmore County, Minnesota; about 5 miles south of Spring Valley; 2,100 feet north and 300 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 21, T. 102 N., R. 13 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of solum and depth to limestone bedrock range from 20 to 40 inches. The solum typically contains 2 to 8 percent coarse fragments of mixed lithology, but the lower part of some pedons contains as much as 20 percent coarse fragments, most of which are limestone or chert.
The A1 horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3. It has weak or moderate granular structure or subangular blocky structure. The A2 horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It has weak or moderate platy structure. The A horizon is loam or silt loam. It is medium acid through neutral.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 through 5. It is silt loam or loam in the upper part and loam or clay loam in the lower part. It typically has few through many thin or medium coatings of clean sand and silt particles on faces of peds in the upper part. It has few through many, thin or medium clay films on faces of peds. It is strongly through slightly acid.
The IIB horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. It has few through many, thin through thick clay films. It is medium acid to mildly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Belmont, Belmore, Chili, Coggon, Conestoga, Council, Douds, El Dara, Gallman, Grellton, Hayden, Hebron, Hickory, High Gap, Hollinger, Kalamazoo, Kanawha, Kendallville, Kennan, Kidder, LeRoy, Letort, Lindley, Mandeville, Martinsville, McHenry, Miami, Mifflin, Military, Norden, Ockley, Owosso, Pecatonica, Princeton, Rawson, Relay, Renova, Riddles, Rockbridge, Roseville, Sisson, Strawn, Summitville, Teanaway, Theresa, Westville, and Woodbine soils in the same family. All the competing soils except High Gap, Mandeville, Military, and Norden soils lack a lithic or paralithic contact with depths of 40 inches. High Gap soils are more acid. Mandeville soils have lighter-colored A1 horizons. Military soils formed in thin deposits of loess and glacial till and residuum from sandstone (see Remarks). Norden soils formed in residuum from sandstone high in glauconite and are more acid in the upper part.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Whalan soils have plane or convex slopes on dissected glaciated uplands. Their slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. They formed primarily in loamy glacial till or drift and in a thin layer of clayey residuum from limestone bedrock. The glacial sediments are pre-Late Wisconsin in age. A mantle of loess as thick as 12 inches is on some pedons. The climate is humid continental with warm summers and cold winters. Mean annual precipitation is 28 to 34 inches, and mean annual temperature is 45 to 52 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Renova and Coggon series and the Bassett, Rockton, Waucoma, and Winneshiek series. Bassett soils have thicker sola and dark surface layers. Rockton and Winneshiek soils have similar drainage and depth to bedrock but have dark surface layers. Waucoma soils are well drained, have dark surface layers, and have bedrock beginning at depths ranging from 40 to 55 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is medium or rapid. Permeability in the upper horizons is moderate but ranges to slow in the clayey horizons. Large parting planes in the lower B and fractures in the limestone bedrock probably cause variations in permeability rates.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly cropped to corn, soybeans, small grains, and forage. Uncultivated areas are in forest and are used for pasture in some places. Native vegetation was deciduous forest.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and possibly southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. They are moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: St. Paul, Minnesota
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Fillmore County, Minnesota, 1955.
REMARKS: Whalan soils were classified as Gray Brown Podzolics in the former system. A closer study should be made of the Whalan and Military series to better differentiate these two soils.