James G. Bockheim Soils of the Laurentian Great Lakes, and Canada USA Soils of the Laurentian Great Lakes, USA and Canada James G. Bockheim Soils of the Laurentian Great Lakes, USA and Canada 123 James G.Bockheim Department ofSoil Science University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison,WI, USA ISBN978-3-030-52424-1 ISBN978-3-030-52425-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52425-8 ©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2021 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialis concerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnot imply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsand regulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthisbookarebelieved tobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty, expressedorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeen made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. @NOAA-GLERL ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland This book is dedicated to the professional soil mappers and data managers of the US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. This organization began in 1899 as the Division of Soils, became of Bureau of Soils in 1901, the Soil Conservation Service in 1935, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service in 1994. The report that follows draws heavily on information gathered from 82 counties surrounding the Great Lakes that were mapped by NRCS personnel, as well as other data. Preface Despite the availability of considerable data, there has not been a comprehensive treatment of the soils of the Great Lakes. This book is intended to introduce individuals with some understanding of science to the soils of the Great Lakes, including their history, soil-forming factors, soil taxonomic structure, soil geography, pedodiversity, and importance of soils for protectionof theGreat LakesCoastal Zone.Aglossary isprovided. Hopefully, thebookwill create an interest in soils that rivals that of birders, lighthouse seekers, waterfall enthusiasts, kayakers, and geo-cachers in the Great Lakes region. Madison, WI, USA James G. Bockheim vii Acknowledgments The following individuals graciously contributed digital images: Larissa Hindman, Soil Sci- entist, NRCS, Duluth, MN; Dwight Jerome, Resource Soil Scientist, NRCS, Marquette, MI; Gerald Smith, Soil Scientist, NRCS, Paul Smiths, NY; Matt Bromley, Soil Scientist, NRCS, Grand Rapids, MI; Mike Walczynski, Resource Soil Scientist, NRCS, Duluth, MN. ix ’ Author s Note TheLaurentianGreatLakesareanimportantpartoftheUSandCanada.Hometo33million people, including 90% of all Canadians, the Great Lakes account for 20% of the world and 90%oftheUSsurfacefreshwater.KeyindustriesintheGreatLakesregionincludeshipping, steel and automobile production, energy generation, fishing, pulp and paper making, agri- culture,andrecreation.Todate,therehasbeennocomprehensiveinventoryofthesoilsofthe region, which is undergoing dramatic climate change and environmental degradation. This book was prepared from US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conser- vation Service databases, including the Web Soil Survey, Soil Series Extent Explorer, soil classification and characterization databases, and county soil surveys, supplemented by shoreline viewer software, a comprehensive review of the scientific literature, the author’s research, consultation with colleagues, and trips around the Great Lakes. Methodology Identification of Soil Series Soilserieswithin5kmofthecoastlineoftheUSportionoftheGreatLakeswereidentifiedby following the coastline with Soil Extent Explorer (Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2018a)setatthebroadestviewingscaleof1:50,000.FortheCanadianGLCZ,thecoastlinesof 24countiesordistricts(Table 1.4)werefollowedmanuallyandsoilserieswereidentified.The scales of these maps were generally 1:63,360 but occasionally were 1:126,720. Soil Classification Spreadsheets listing soil series for US and Canada were prepared. For the US Great Lakes coastline, the NRCS Soil Series Classification Database (SC) was used to create a report for thelistofseriesintheUSwiththedownloadoption(NRCS,2018b).FortheCanadianGLCZ, soilserieswereexaminedintheAgricultureandAgri-FoodCanada,SoilsofOntariodatabase (http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/soils/on/soils.html). Soil classification data were entered onto the spreadsheet manually. Official Soil Series Descriptions For the US GLCZ, Official Soil Series Descriptions (NRCS, 2018c) of 664 soil series were examined, and the following data were added manually to the spreadsheet: parent materials, landform, vegetation, type and thickness of diagnostic horizons, whether or not there were competing soil series, and geographically associated soils. For the Canadian GLCZ, soil descriptionsof144soilserieswereexamined,andthefollowingdatawereaddedmanuallyto the spreadsheet: parent materials, landform, and texture. Soil Characterization FortheUSGLCZ,primarysoilcharacterizationwasobtainedforrepresentativepedonsofkey soil series from the NRCS Soil Characterization Database (NRCS, 2018c). Only basic data were included in Tables 5.1 to 5.5, including percent clay, silt, sand, organic C, base xi xii Author’sNote saturation, Fe or Fe , Al or Al , and cation-exchange capacity at pH 7 and pH in water. d o d o Preference was given to pedons in the GLCZ and with complete data. Pedodiversity Pedodiversity of the US GLCZ was determined from mean density of soil series (number of soilseries,dividedbyarea)(Bockheim,2018).Endemicsoilsaredefinedastheonlysoilina family(Bockheim,2005).Raresoilsarethosewithanarealessthan10,000ha(Ditzler,2003). Endangered soils are defined here as those that are endemic and rare. Soil-Forming Processes Dominantsoil-formingprocesseswereidentifiedbasedontaxonomiccategory(Bockheimand Gennadiyev, 2000). Primary processes were identified at the order (e.g., Spodosol = pod- solization) and suborder (e.g., Aquept = gleization) levels; and secondary processes were assigned from the great-group (e.g., Argiudoll = argilluviation) and subgroup (Spodic = podsolization) levels. Soil Evolution SoilserieswereassignedtoproglaciallakesintheGreatLakesbasinbycomparingsoilextent maps with maps of prominent shorelines (Fig. 2.15). Ages were assigned using the post-glaciallakechronologygiveninTable 2.1.Theevolutionofsoilsderivedfromstabilized sanddunes,beachridges,andsandylaketerraceswasdeterminedfromanintegrationofseven published soil chronosequences-chronofunctions conducted along the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shores. Soil Photographs County soil survey reports were an excellent source for color images of key soil series. Additionally, I used personal photographs and those from colleagues. Additional Information Other materials that were consulted in preparing this report included research publication identified electronically from the Web of Science, county soil survey reports, the Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm), the US Geological Survey national topographic map (https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/launch/), the Great Lakes Shoreviewer (http://superiorwatersheds.org/shorelineviewer2011/), and the Quaternary Geo- logic Atlas of the USA (US Geological Survey, 2012). Contents 1 Introduction to the Soils of the Great Lakes Coastal Zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 Concept of Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 History of Soils Investigations in the Great Lakes Region. . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.3 Great Lakes Coastal Zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2 Soil-Forming Factors of the Great Lakes Coastal Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.3 Vegetation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.4 Relief and Elevation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2.5 Bedrock Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.6 Surficial Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.7 Land Use and Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3 Soil Taxonomic Systems Used in the Great Lakes Coastal Zone . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.1 Soil Horizons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.2 Approaches to Soil Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.3 Soil Taxonomy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.3.1 Hierarchical Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.3.2 Diagnostic Horizons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.3.3 Constructing a Soil Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 3.4 The Canadian System of Soil Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.5 Linking the US and Canadian Soil Taxonomic Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 4 Soil Taxonomic Structure and Factors Affecting Soil Distribution in the Great Lakes Coastal Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 4.1 Soil Taxonomic Structure in the US Great Lakes Coastal Zone. . . . . . . . 43 4.2 Soil Taxonomic Structure in the Canadian Great Lakes Coastal Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 4.3 Factors Affecting Soil Distribution in the Great Lakes Coastal Zone . . . . 46 4.3.1 Climate and Soil Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 4.3.2 Vegetation and Soil Distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 4.3.3 Landforms, Parent Material and Soil Distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . 46 4.3.4 The Time Factor and Soil Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 4.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 xiii