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Fargo soil series

A representative profile of Fargo silty clay. The high content of clay and the shrink-swell potential of this soil cause cracking during dry periods. The cracking results in tonguing of the darker material from the surface layer into the subsoil. The tongues in this profile extend from a depth of 40 to 60 centimeters. (Soil Survey of Polk County, Minnesota; by Charles T. Saari and Rodney B. Heschke, Natural Resources Conservation Service)

 

The Fargo series consists of very deep, poorly drained and very poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in calcareous, clayey lacustrine sediments. These soils are on glacial lake plains, floodplains, and gently sloping side slopes of streams within glacial lake plains. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 5 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation is about 575 millimeters.

 

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, frigid Typic Epiaquerts

 

Clay content of the particle size control section - typically 40 to 60 percent; however in some pedons material with less clay in the lower part of the control section results in an average between 35 and 40 percent.

Sand content of the particle size control section -- less the 15 percent fine sand and coarser

Rock fragments -- 0 percent

Thickness of the mollic epipedon -- 15 to 55 centimeters

Depth to carbonates -- 41 to 58 centimeters

Saline phases are recognized

 

USE AND VEGETATION: The soils are nearly all cropped to corn, small grains, soybeans and sugar beets. Native vegetation is western wheatgrass, Kentucky bluegrass and a variety of forbs.

 

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:

Physiographic Division-Interior Plains

Physiographic Province-Central Lowland

Physiographic section-Western Lake section

MLRA--Red River Valley of the North (56);

Central Black Glaciated Plains (55B)

Northern Black Glaciated Plains (55A)

also used in a small extent of glaciolacustrine areas in west-central Montana.

LRR-Northern Great Plains Spring Wheat Region (F)

Extent--large

 

For additional information about the survey area, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/minnesota/MN11...

 

For a detailed soil description, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/F/FARGO.html

 

For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#fargo

 

 

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Uploaded on March 29, 2011
Taken in January 2000