Soil Data Explorer - MERTON

Official Series Description

Lab Data Summary

Aggregate lab data for the MERTON soil series. This aggregation is based on all pedons with a current taxon name of MERTON, and applied along 1-cm thick depth slices. Solid lines are the slice-wise median, bounded on either side by the interval defined by the slice-wise 5th and 95th percentiles. The median is the value that splits the data in half. Five percent of the data are less than the 5th percentile, and five percent of the data are greater than the 95th percentile. Values along the right hand side y-axis describe the proportion of pedon data that contribute to aggregate values at this depth. For example, a value of "90%" at 25cm means that 90% of the pedons correlated to MERTON were used in the calculation. Source: KSSL snapshot (updated 2020-03-13). Methods used to assemble the KSSL snapshot used by SoilWeb / SDE

Pedons used in the lab summary:

MLRA	Lab ID	Pedon ID	Taxonname	CI	NSSL / NASIS Reports	Link To SoilWeb GMap
104	93P0140	S1992MN131010	Merton	7	Primary | Supplementary | Taxonomy | Pedon | Water Retention | Correlation | Andic Soil Properties	44.3099937,-93.1732635

Water Balance

Monthly water balance estimated using a leaky-bucket style model for the MERTON soil series. Monthly precipitation (PPT) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) have been estimated from the 50th percentile of gridded values (PRISM 1981-2010) overlapping with the extent of SSURGO map units containing each series as a major component. Monthly PET values were estimated using the method of Thornthwaite (1948). These (and other) climatic parameters are calculated with each SSURGO refresh and provided by the fetchOSD function of the soilDB package. Representative water storage values (“AWC” in the figures) were derived from SSURGO by taking the 50th percentile of profile-total water storage (sum[awc_r * horizon thickness]) for each soil series. Note that this representation of “water storage” is based on the average ability of most plants to extract soil water between 15 bar (“permanent wilting point”) and 1/3 bar (“field capacity”) matric potential. Soil moisture state can be roughly interpreted as “dry” when storage is depleted, “moist” when storage is between 0mm and AWC, and “wet” when there is a surplus. Clearly there are a lot of assumptions baked into this kind of monthly water balance. This is still a work in progress.

Sibling Summary

Siblings are those soil series that occur together in map units, in this case with the MERTON series. Sketches are arranged according to their subgroup-level taxonomic structure. Source: SSURGO snapshot (updated 2024-02-21), parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-02) and snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the MERTON series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the MERTON series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Small Shannon entropy values suggest relatively consistent geomorphic association, while larger values suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D mountains figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D terrace figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Competing Series

Soil series competing with MERTON share the same family level classification in Soil Taxonomy. Source: parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-02) and snapshot of the SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the MERTON series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the MERTON series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Shannon entropy values close to 0 represent soil series with relatively consistent geomorphic association, while values close to 1 suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D mountains figure.

Soil series sharing subgroup-level classification with MERTON, arranged according to family differentiae. Hovering over a series name will print full classification and a small sketch from the OSD. Source: snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Block Diagrams

No block diagrams are available.

Map Units

Map units containing MERTON as a major component. Limited to 250 records.

Map Unit Name	Symbol	Map Unit Area (ac)	Map Unit Key	National Map Unit Symbol	Soil Survey Area	Publication Date	Map Scale
Merton loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes	755	2438	2511841	2q98z	ia195	2012	1:12000
Merton silt loam, 1 to 6 percent slopes	377B	3173	396843	f9yd	mn037	1980	1:15840
Merton silt loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes	L171A	1459	1384959	1hh53	mn039	2005	1:12000
Merton silt loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes	377	6354	397852	fbzy	mn047	1977	1:15840
Merton silt loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes	L171A	184	1711639	1vg35	mn049	2007	1:12000
Merton silt loam	377	2778	400456	ffpy	mn099	1986	1:15840
Merton silt loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes	377	6357	429651	gf2q	mn131	1996	1:12000
Merton silt loam, 0 to 2 percent slopes	MrA	2403	428279	gcng	mn147	1967	1:20000
Merton silt loam, 2 to 4 percent slopes	MrB	514	428280	gcnh	mn147	1967	1:20000

Map of Series Extent

Approximate geographic distribution of the MERTON soil series. To learn more about how this distribution was mapped, or to compare this soil series extent to others, use the Series Extent Explorer (SEE) application. Source: generalization of SSURGO geometry (updated 2023-10-04).