LOCATION SPINKS MI+IN MN OH WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, mesic Lamellic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Spinks loamy sand, on a 2 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 10 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loamy sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 13 inches thick)
Bw--10 to 22 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 30 inches thick)
E and Bt--22 to 85 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine sand (E); single grain and loose in the E part; lamellae and bands of brown (7.5YR 4/4) loamy fine sand (Bt); weak fine subangular blocky structure and friable in the Bt part; common fine roots in upper part, becoming few in lower part; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (20 to 65 inches thick)
C--85 to 105 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) fine sand; single grain; loose; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Washtenaw County, Michigan; about 3 miles west of Ann Arbor; 520 feet north and 100 feet east of southwest corner of sec. 22, T. 2 S., R. 5 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 36 to more than 60 inches. Depth to the first lamella is 15 to 40 inches. Rock fragments are glacial erratics (dominantly gravel) of sedimentary and crystalline lithology, and range from 0 to 14 percent. The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 49 to 52 degrees F.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5 (6 or more dry), and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sand, or fine sand. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
Some pedons have an E horizon.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 8. It is fine sand, sand, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral in the upper part, and includes slightly alkaline in the lower part.
The E part of the E and Bt horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 8. It is fine sand, sand, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand. Reaction is strongly acid to neutral in the upper part, and includes slightly alkaline in the lower part.
The Bt part of the E and Bt horizon occurs as lamellae, 1/8 to 5 inches thick with a cumulative thickness of more than 6 inches. It has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or loamy fine sand. Some pedons have a few thin lamellae of sandy loam, but the clay content of the argillic horizon averages less than 15 percent. When the Bt texture is sand or fine sand, it contains at least 3 percent more clay than the overlying eluvial horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is sand or fine sand. Reaction ranges from neutral to moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Bloomfield and Drammen series. Bloomfield soils have a mean annual soil temperature of more than 52 degrees F. Drammen soils do not have lamellae (Bt) within a depth of 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Spinks soils formed in sandy eolian or outwash material on dunes and on footslopes of moraines, till plains, outwash plains, beach ridges, and lake plains of Wisconsinan Age. Typically, the slope gradients are 2 to 18 percent, but ranges from 0 to 70 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 29 to 37 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 47 to 50 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Spinks soils are the well drained member of a drainage sequence that includes the somewhat poorly drained Thetford soils. They are associated with the Boyer and Oshtemo soils on lake plains or outwash plains, and the Oakville or Chelsea soils on either lake plains or moraines. Dryden, Lapeer, Metea, Ottokee, and Owosso soils are on adjoining till plains or moraines. The Spinks soils are associated with the Granby, Ottokee, and Tedrow soils on lake plains in MLRA 99. The very poorly drained Granby soils are in depressions and the somewhat poorly drained Tedrow soils are on flats or slight rises. These soils do not have lamellae within the series control section. The moderately well drained Ottokee soils are on lower or less sloping landform positions and have less than 6 inches of lamellae within the series control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to medium depending on slope gradient. Permeability is moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Spinks soils are used mostly for hay production or pasture. Some areas are cropped to corn, wheat, oats, and soybeans. A small part is in orchards. Steeper areas are in forest or permanent pasture. The native vegetation is hardwoods, dominantly of oak and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA's 95B, 96, 97, 98, 99, and 111 in southern Michigan, northwestern Ohio, northern Indiana, southern Wisconsin, and southern Minnesota. The series is of large extent, about 660,000 acres.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: McHenry County, Illinois, 1960.
REMARKS: A loamy substratum phase is recognized.
Pedons that have been correlated as a bedrock substratum phase, with a 2Cr horizon of sandstone or a 2R of limestone below 40 inches, will become a new series during modernization projects. The stony surface phase over bedrock will also be correlated as a new series during modernization projects.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 22 inches (Ap and E horizons); argillic horizon - the zone from 22 to 85 inches (Bt part of E and Bt horizon). Udic moisture regime.