Soils of the Northern Lake States Forest and Forage Region: LRR K
The Northern Lake States Forest and Forage Region is geologically and pedologically young; most of the landforms and parent materials date only to the last glaciation. The soils in this region are therefore mainly formed in recently deposited glacial and
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10
Randall J. Schaetzl
10.1
Introduction and Overview
Within the Northern Lake States Forest and Forage Region (NLSFFR) are 17 Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs), each of which is fairly internally homogeneous with respect to soils, landforms and land use (Fig. 10.1). The focus of this chapter is on the characteristics, distribution, classification, and genesis of soils within the NLSFFR, as well as on issues related to management and land use. In this chapter, soils of MLRA 95B (Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois Drift Plain) in southeastern Wisconsin (Fig. 10.1) are not specifically discussed; discussion of the soils there will be in Chap. 11. Additionally, MLRA 96 (Western Michigan Fruit Belt) of northwestern Lower Michigan is included in this chapter even though it is technically not part of the NLSFFR, because its soils are similar to many of the other soils in northern Michigan, especially those within MLRA 94A. Thus, coverage of the NLSFFR, as slightly modified in extent in this chapter, spans northern Lower Michigan, all of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP), northern Wisconsin, and northeastern Minnesota and includes 17 MLRAs (Fig. 10.1). The recently glaciated landscapes of the NLSFFR generally have gentle to moderately sloping topography (USDA-NRCS 2006). Most of the landscape has its origins in the last major glaciation. Nonetheless, two MLRAs in the NLSFFR occur south of the Late Wisconsin glacial border— one (94B) on areas of older drift in central Wisconsin (Attig et al. 2011a) and one that is dominated by the sandy, wet, former lake bed of Glacial Lake Wisconsin (Clayton and Attig 1989; Fig. 10.1). All other areas bear the conspicuous marks of recent (Late Pleistocene) glaciation, and most of the soils therein are formed in glacigenic sediments. This LRR is dominated by Histosols, Alfisols, Spodosols, Inceptisols, and Entisols (Fig. 10.2). Histosols are common in lowland areas, such as in glacial kettles and on former
glacial lake basins. Thus, with the exception of a few lake plains, most areas of Histosols are small in areal extent. Alfisols dominate large parts of the landscape where the parent materials are loamy or finer-textured, typical of tills or lacustrine sediment. Spodosols are more prevalent on sandier parent materials, and in the north. Young, sandy landscapes, e.g., sand dunes and recently exposed beaches, steeply sloping areas, and regions of shallow bedrock, are dominated by Entisols. Inceptisols are also found, commonly on wet, loamy lake plains and in areas of moderate slope where slope processes facilitate erosion and, thus, maintain soils in a minimally developed state. Much of northern Minnesota has a cover of Inceptisols and Entisols. A few areas of Vertisols and upland Mollisols are also mapped in parts of Minnesota, near the western and southwestern margins of the region. Small areas of lowland Mollisols are found in isolated areas across the region.
10.2
Geomorphology, Physiography, and Relief
The geologic and geomorphic history of this region involves repeated coverage
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