Back to Home Page-> |
LOCATION CHESUNCOOK ME+VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Chesuncook silt loam, on a 9 percent northeast-facing slope in a very stony forested area. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oa--0 to 1 inch; black (5YR 2/1) sapric material; weak fine granular structure; many very fine and few medium and coarse roots; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
E--1 to 4 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) silt loam; weak very fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and few fine, medium and coarse roots; 10 percent gravel and channers, 2 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones; extremely acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
Bhs--4 to 5 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) silt loam; moderate very fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine, and few medium and coarse roots; 10 percent gravel and channers, 3 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones; very strongly acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
Bs1--5 to 11 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate very fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine, and few medium and coarse roots; 10 percent gravel and channers, 3 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bs2--11 to 18 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common very fine and fine, and few medium roots; 15 percent gravel and channers, 3 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 4 to 18 inches.)
BC--18 to 21 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) gravelly loam; weak medium platy structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots; common medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation and few medium distinct grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) iron depletions; 20 percent gravel and channers, 3 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Cd--21 to 65 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) gravelly loam; strong very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak very thick platy; very firm; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) faces of prisms which are separated by a thin layer of strong brown (7.5YR 5/6); common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation and common coarse distinct light olive gray (5Y 6/2) iron depletions; 25 percent gravel and channers, 3 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Piscataquis County, Maine; Township of Shirley; 2.1 miles northwest of West Shirley Bog outlet; USGS Bald Mtn Pond topographic quadrangle; lat. 45 degrees 22 minutes 27 seconds N. and long. 69 degrees 43 minutes 16 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 15 to 28 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. The weighted average of clay in the particle-size control section is 10 to 18 percent. Texture of the fine-earth fraction in the solum is silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam or fine sandy loam, and it is silt loam or loam in the Cd horizon. Rock fragment content ranges from 5 to 20 percent in the A, E and B horizons, from 10 to 35 percent in the BC horizon, and from 10 to 35 percent in the Cd horizon. Rock fragments are mainly gravel, with stones and cobbles ranging from 0 to 20 percent throughout the mineral soil. Stones and boulders cover from 0 to 15 percent of the surface. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid in the solum and from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the substratum. Redoximorphic features are between depths of 16 to 28 inches from the mineral soil surface.
The Oa horizon has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 2 to 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate, very fine or fine granular structure.
Some areas have an Ap or A horizon with hue of 10YR and with value and chroma of 3 or 4. It has weak or moderate very fine or fine granular structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 6 or 7 and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate, very fine or fine granular or thin platy structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Bh horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 6. The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, with value and chroma of 2 or 3. The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 to 8. The B horizons have weak or moderate, very fine to medium granular or subangular blocky structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The BC horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. It has weak or moderate fine or medium granular, very fine to medium subangular blocky or weak thin to thick platy structure. Consistence is friable or firm.
The E' horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 2. It has weak to strong, thin to thick platy structure. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Cd horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 6. The Cd horizon has weak thick or very thick platy, moderate or strong, very coarse prismatic structure, or the horizon is massive. Some pedons with prismatic structure part to weak or moderate, thin to very thick platy or to moderate or strong, medium or coarse angular blocky. All structure in the Cd horizon is considered inherited from the parent material. Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Colonel, Crary, Dixfield, Dixmont, Mundal, Peru, Skerry, Sunapee, Telos and Worden series. Colonel, Dixfield, Mundal, Peru and Skerry soils have less than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Crary soils have a thin aeolian or water deposited mantle. Dixmont and Sunapee soils lack dense glacial till. Telos soils have redoximorphic features at a depth of 7 inches to less than 16 inches below the mineral soil surface. Worden soils have less than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section and have a Bh horizon more than 4 inches thick.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Chesuncook soils are on upland till plains, hills, ridges and mountains. Slope ranges from 3 to 45 percent. The soils formed in dense glacial till derived mainly from slates and other dark colored sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 44 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 46 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 80 to 130 days. Elevation ranges from 300 to 2500 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Burnham, Elliottsville, Monarda, Monson, and Telos soils. Burnham, Monarda and Telos are wetter soils that formed in similar material but are in lower positions on the landscape or are less sloping. Elliottsville soils are moderately deep to bedrock and are in higher positions on the landscape. Monson soils are shallow to bedrock and are on higher knolls on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Permeability is moderate in the solum and slow or very slow in the dense substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forest. Common tree species include red maple, sugar maple, American beech, paper birch, yellow birch, red and white spruce, and balsam fir.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine and Vermont. The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County Area and Part of Somerset County, Maine Soil Survey, 1992.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Albic horizon - the zone from 1 to 4 inches (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 4 to 11 inches (Bhs and Bs1 horizons).
c. Cd horizon - very firm, dense basal till at a depth of 21 inches. d. Aquic Conditions - redoximorphic features at 17 inches below the mineral soil surface.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Source of data used in establishing taxonomic class and range in characteristics is Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin 155, 1994; NRCS Characterization Data; and composite data from the Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems compiled by Dr. Paul R. Hepler, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Soil Interpretation Record Numbers for the Chesuncook Series are: Chesuncook, ME0071; Chesuncook, stony, ME0067; Chesuncook Variant (well drained) ME0127; Chesuncook Variant (well drained), stony, ME0128.