The team had the opportunity to describe 5 practice pits today, four of which were just a short drive from our hotel at the KSU Agronomy Farm North on the outskirts of Manhattan. At this site, the contest organizers had prepared a nice set of 4 pits along a catena (a Paleustoll on a summit, two Argiustolls on a backslope/footslope, and a Haplustoll on a stream terrace):
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| KSU Agronomy Farm North Catena |
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| Sondra Larson completing an individual description sheet |
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| Platy structure in an Ap horizon |
Our day along this catena was split by a visit to another pit ~ 20 minutes away - an Ustipsamment with lamellae formed in reworked outwash (dune sand). We shared this pit with ISU - both team immediately started looking for lamellae thanks to their experience at Regionals in Grand Rapids this past fall.
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| Region V Reunited: Iowa State (foreground - in pit) and Minnesota (background left) share an Ustipsamment pit. Thanks to Amber Anderson-Mba (ISU) for timing this one! |
We then headed back to the KSU Agronomy Farm North to complete our descriptions along the catena before linking up with the rest of the teams to go on a bus tour of the Bison enclosure at Konza prairie LTER:
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| Bison and wallow (foreground), Konza Prairie LTER |
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| 2016 Minnesota National Soil Judging Team (from left): Top Row - Nick Vetsch, Bri Egge, Sondra Larson, Stefan Swenson, Andrea Williams, Allison Harvey. Bottom Row - Rusty Zimmerman (Captain) Teng Vang, Mekuria Zemede, Luke Ratgen, Amanda Wolff |
