SOIL SCIENCE 100

Minnesota Alfisol
Minnesota Alfisol	This soil profile has a thin A horizon overlying a series of Bt horizons. The most obvious Bt is the redder zone near the 2 foot mark. This soil forms in a cold moist climate in a tension zone between prairie and forest vegetation. It is a young soil, formed on Wisconsinian age glacial till. The ice deposited the parent material for this soil no more than 12,000 years ago and soil formation began well after the parent material was deposited because the ice had to retreat and expose the parent material for weathering to begin. During the time the site has been ice-free, organic matter has accumulated, clay has formed and been translocated downward and some of the nutrient elements such as Ca, Mg, Na and K have begun to be leached from the profile.

Minnesota Alfisol

This soil profile has a thin A horizon overlying a series of Bt horizons. The most obvious Bt is the redder zone near the 2 foot mark. This soil forms in a cold moist climate in a tension zone between prairie and forest vegetation. It is a young soil, formed on Wisconsinian age glacial till. The ice deposited the parent material for this soil no more than 12,000 years ago and soil formation began well after the parent material was deposited because the ice had to retreat and expose the parent material for weathering to begin. During the time the site has been ice-free, organic matter has accumulated, clay has formed and been translocated downward and some of the nutrient elements such as Ca, Mg, Na and K have begun to be leached from the profile.

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