LOCATION MUSSEY MI+IN WIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Argiaquolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Mussey loam - on a nearly level slope of 1 percent in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)
B21tg--9 to 12 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) loam, few fine distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; weak fine subangular blocky structure; firm; many fine roots; few thin very dark gray (10YR 3/1) clay films; 2 percent pebbles; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
B22tg--12 to 18 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) clay loam, common medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; many fine roots; few thin clay films; 5 percent pebbles; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
IIC--18 to 60 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) gravelly sand; many medium faint brown (10YR 5/3) and light gray (10YR 6/1) mottles; single grained; loose; 40 percent pebbles; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Lapeer County, Michigan; about 2 miles east and 2 miles north of Dryden; 720 feet west and 320 feet south of the northeast corner of sec. 6, T. 6 N., R. 12 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTEISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 12 to 20 inches. The solum ranges from slightly acid to mildly alkaline. Coarse fragments less than 3 inches in size range from 0 to 25 percent in the solum and 0 to 40 percent in the IIC horizon. Those greater than 3 inches range from 0 to 5 percent throughout the pedon. The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 47 to 52 degrees F.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loam, sandy loam or gravelly analogues of these textures.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y or 5Y. It is loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam or gravelly analogues of these textures.
The IIC horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 1 or 2. It is gravelly sand, sand or stratified sand and gravel.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Pittwood and Sebewa series in the same family. Pittwood and Sebewa soils have thicker sola.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Mussey soils are on outwash plains and valley trains. They formed in loamy outwash underlain by sand and gravel at depths of less than 20 inches. Slope gradients range from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 34 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Mussey soils are in a drainage sequence with the well drained Casco and the somewhat poorly drained Fabius soils. Gilford, Sebewa and Wasepi soils are associated on some outwash plains. All of these have thicker sola. In addition, Gilford and Wasepi soils are coarse-loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly and very poorly drained. Runoff is very slow to ponded. Permeability is moderate in the A and B horizons and rapid in the IIC horizon.
USE AND VEGETATION: About 90 percent of this soil is cultivated or in pasture. The remainder is in woodland. Corn, small grains, soybeans, and legume-grass hay are the principal crops. Native vegetation was mixed hardwoods, predominantly elm, ash, hickory, pin oak, and aspen.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Michigan, southeastern Wisconsin and northern Indiana. The series is of small extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Indianapolis, Indiana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lapeer County, Michigan, 1966.