Soils of North Dakota

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Soils of North Dakota

• Dave Franzen
• Professor, North Dakota State University, Fargo-
• Extension Soil Specialist

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Green soils are Mollisols
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Lakebed
Till
Residuum
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YOUNG
Lakebed
Till
Residuum
OLD
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All of our soils East River are derived from
great continental glaciers.
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Cool/moist
Cool/dryer
Hot/dry
Warm/moist
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Influence of landscape
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Slide from Hopkins, 2011
The organic carbon (OC) is 3.07, 2.16, and 1.67
to 26 in. That lowest horizon is gt 3 SOM
Bulk density valuesAp 0-6 in. 1.17 g/cm3 AB
6-13 1.31 B 13-26 1.41
CEC 45.3 cmol ()/kg older term
(meq/100g) Ca2 21.8 cmol ()/kg Mg215.1 cmol
()/kg
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Red River Valley scene with Fargo soils in a corn
field, early June, 2010.
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Bare soil temperature at 4 inches from
November 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010,
Fargo, ND.
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Image from D. Hopkins
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Till Plain scene with spring wheat near Valley
City, 2010
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Typical Barnessoil profile
Mean wetting depth
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Wheat field harvest, August, 2010, NW North
Dakota, Bismarck Tribune photo
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Williams Soils- Side slope position on many
western North Dakota soils 2.2 million acres of
ND is Williams loams
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Salts or sodium affect many millions of acres of
North Dakota farm and pasture land
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Swale groundwater elevations in mid-June
1991-2000
Drought to pluvial in southeastern North Dakota
(Hopkins)
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Photo courtesy of Dr. David Hopkins, NDSU
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Devils Lake 1984 USGS image
Devils Lake 2010 USGS image
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Farmland near Forman, ND flooding due to water
table rising, 2011. Photo courtesy of Kelly
Cooper, Forman SCD
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Crops in North Dakota have done better than
their summer counterparts mostly because of the
lack of 100 degree temps, but also due to the
legacy of high water tables from previous years
and the capillary water pull of most of our
soils to supply crops during an extended dry
period.