LOCATION MADAUS INEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, carbonatic over mixed, mesic Histic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Madaus muck, on a less than 1 percent slope in a cultivated field at an elevation of 764 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oap--0 to 9 inches; black (N 2.5/0) broken face and rubbed muck (sapric material); moderate fine granular structure; very friable; common very fine and fine roots throughout; about 1 percent fiber, a trace rubbed; 1 percent shell fragments; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 16 inches thick)
C1--9 to 13 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) silt loam (marl); massive; friable; common very fine and fine roots throughout; common very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores with moderate continuity; common fine prominent dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) irregular masses of iron oxide accumulation in root channels; about 1 percent fiber, a trace rubbed; 3 percent shell fragments; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary.
C2--13 to 31 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam (marl); massive; friable; common very fine and fine roots throughout; common very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores with moderate continuity; common medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) cylindrical iron depletions in cracks; about 1 percent fiber, less than 1 percent rubbed; 3 percent shell fragments; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary.
C3--31 to 48 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silt loam (marl); massive; friable; common very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores with moderate continuity; about 1 percent fiber, less than 1 percent rubbed; 1 percent shell fragments; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the C horizon is 4 to 44 inches.)
2Cg--48 to 80 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) sand; single grain; loose; 5 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Elkhart County, Indiana; about 3 miles east of Elkhart; 90 feet south and 600 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 7, T. 37 N., R. 6 E.; U.S.G.S. Bristol, IN topographic quadrangle; lat. 41 degrees 40 minutes 53 seconds N. and long. 85 degrees 52 minutes 23 seconds W., NAD 27; UTM Zone 16, 593795 easting and 4615021 northing, NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the organic surface layer: 7 to 16 inches
Depth to sand: 17 to 56 inches
Oa or Oap horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR or N
Value: 2, 2.5, or 3
Chroma: 0 to 2
Texture: muck (sapric material)
Reaction: slightly acid to moderately alkaline
C horizon:
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 4 to 8
Chroma: 1 to 4
Texture: silt loam (marl) or silty clay loam (marl)
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline
2Cg or 2C horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR to 5Y
Value: 4 to 7
Chroma: 1 to 4
Texture: loamy sand, fine sand, sand, or coarse sand, or their gravelly analogues
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline
Rock fragment content: 0 to 25 percent
A clay substratum is recognized below 60 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Similar soils in related families are the Aurelius, Edwards, Kjar, Martisco, Rondeau, and Warners series. Aurelius soils have loamy substratum layers within a depth of 40 inches. Edwards and Rondeau soils have more than 16 inches of muck over marly material. Kjar soils are moderately or strongly saline within the series control section. Martisco soils do not have a sandy particle-size class within the particle-size control section. Warners soils have a mollic epipedon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Madaus soils formed in herbaceous organic materials overlying marly material and sand deposits and are in marshy depressions on outwash plains, lake plains, lake terraces, flood plains, moraines, and till plains. Mean annual temperature ranges from 43 to 52 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 42 inches, frost-free period ranges from 120 to 180 days, and elevation ranges from 580 to 1,530 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Adrian, Antung, Edselton, Edwards, Houghton, Martisco, Mosley, and Toto soils. These very poorly drained soils are on similar landform positions as Madaus soils. Adrian and Antung soils formed in herbaceous organic material over sandy deposits. Edselton soils formed in more than 16 inches of herbaceous organic materials over marly material. Houghton soils formed in herbaceous organic material more than 51 inches thick. Edwards and Martisco soils do not have sandy textures within the particle-size control section. Mosley and Toto soils formed in herbaceous organic material over coprogenous material.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible. Permeability is moderately slow to moderately rapid in the organic material, slow in the marly material, and rapid in the sandy material. The depth to the top of an apparent high water table ranges from 1 foot above the surface to 1 foot below the surface from November to May in normal years. In the northern range of the Madaus series the depth of seasonal high water table in the undrained phase can be from 1 foot above the surface to 1 foot below the surface from September to June.
USE AND VEGETATION: Soils that have been drained are used for truck crops and beans. Undrained soils are in native vegetation consisting of marsh grasses, sedges, cattails and water tolerant trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 96, 98, and 111 in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. The soils are of small extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pulaski County, Indiana, 2001.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Histic epipedon: from the surface to 9 inches (Oap horizon)
Aquic conditions: redoximorphic features present in all horizons below the Oap horizon
Carbonatic soil material (marl): from 9 to 48 inches (C1, C2, C3)
The Madaus series was earlier considered a sandy substratum phase of the Martisco soils. The Madaus series was proposed for the Martisco soils with a sandy 2C horizon in the lower part of the particle-size control section mapped in the Elkhart County and Pulaski County, Indiana soil survey updates. Many areas mapped Edwards soils that have been drained and as a result have subsided will be correlated to the Madaus series as the subset soil surveys are updated.
The clay substratum phase located in the northern range of the series will become a new series during the update process.
NASIS Data Mapunit ID 155026 represents the typical pedon.
NASIS Data Mapunit ID 155025 represents the undrained phase.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Lab characterization data is available for the typical pedon (S94IN-039-014) from the National Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, NE. Transect data (T94IN-039-146) for the typical pedon is on file in the MLRA project office in Plymouth, Indiana. Transect shows 100 percent Madaus and similar soils.