LOCATION BIDDEFORD ME+MA NH NJ NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, illitic, nonacid, frigid Histic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Biddeford mucky peat in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe--0 12 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) mucky peat (hemic material); weak very fine granular structure; friable; common roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
Eg--12 to 16 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; few roots; few fine prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation mainly around fine roots; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)
Bgl--16 to 22 inches olive gray (5Y 4/2) silty clay; moderate medium to coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium angular blocky; firm, sticky and plastic; common roots, mainly along faces of prisms; few fine and very fire pores; thin continuous olive gray (5Y 5/2) coats on 40 percent of faces of peds and in all pores; gray (5Y 6/1) coats on faces of prisms 1 to 2 millimeters thick; many fine and medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation and many fine and medium distinct grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) iron depletions; neutral; clear wavy boundary.
Bg2--22 to 35 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silty clay; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to weak medium angular blocky; firm, sticky and plastic; few fine pores; thin, continuous gray (5Y 5/1) coats on faces of prisms; thin light gray (5Y 7/1) coatings in pores; common fine prominent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; neutral; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bg horizon is 6 to 24 inches.)
BCg--35 to 45 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) silty clay; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and very fine angular blocky; firm, sticky and plastic; few very fine pores; thick gray (5Y 5/1) coatings in few pores; very fine dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) streaks along the contact zone between peds; very thin continuous coats on a few peds; many fine prominent dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) and olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) masses of iron accumulation, and many fine faint gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions; slightly alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick)
Cg--45 to, 65 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) silty clay loam; weak medium platy structure; firm, sticky and plastic; very thin black (N 2/0) coats on 20 percent of faces of peds; few pores; many fine and medium prominent dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) and olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) masses of iron accumulations, and many fine and medium prominent gray (N 6/0) iron depletions; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Cumberland County, Maine; Town of Scarborough; 0.5 mile north of Oak Hill and 2.5 mile north of Scarborough High School, 57 feet west of Maine Route 114; USGS Prouts Neck topographic quadrangle; lat. 43 degrees 35 minutes 48 seconds N. and long. 70 degrees 20 minutes 12 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 23 to 56 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragment content throughout the soil is less than 1 percent by volume. Stones cover from 0 to 3 percent of the surface. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the surface horizon, from strongly acid to neutral in the subsurface horizon, from strongly acid to slightly alkaline in the subsoil and from slightly acid to slightly alkaline in the substratum.
The O horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 0 to 2. It is mucky peat or muck.
The Eg horizon is neutral or has hue of 5Y, 5BG, or 5GY, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 0 to 2. Prominent or distinct redoximorphic features generally comprise 1 to 10 percent of the matrix. Texture is silt loam, clay loam, silty clay loam or silty clay. It has weak, thin to thick platy, weak or moderate, fine or medium blocky, weak or moderate fine granular structure, or the horizon is massive. In some pedons primary structure is moderate or strong, coarse or very coarse prismatic. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Bg and BCg horizons are neutral or have hue of 5Y or 5GY, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 0 to 2. Redox concentrations range from few to many and are distinct or prominent, but comprise less than 40 percent of the matrix. These horizons are silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. They have weak or moderate very fine to very coarse prismatic or blocky structure, or are massive. Thin to moderately thick coats may cover faces of peds and may line pores in these horizons.
The Cg horizon is neutral or has hue of 5Y, 5BG, 5GY, 5G, or 5B, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 0 to 2. Redoximorphic features are distinct or prominent. It is silty clay loam, silty clay or clay. It has weak medium platy structure parting to blocky, or it is massive.
COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in the same family. The Fonda, Livingston, and Maybid series are in related families. These soils are mesic. Fonda and Livingston soils have mollic epipedons and Livingston soils have over 60 percent clay in the control section. Maybid soils have ochric epipedons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Biddeford soils are on coastal lowland and river valleys. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. The soils formed in medium, moderately fine and fine textured glaciolacustrine or glaciomarine deposits. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual temperature ranges from 43 to 46 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 48 inches. The frost-free
season ranges from 90 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 5 to 900 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Buxton, Elmwood, Lamoine, Scantic, Swanton, and Whately soils. The Buxton, Lamoine and Scantic soils are members of a drainage sequence with Biddeford soils on the same landscape but in higher positions. The Elmwood, Swanton, and Whately soils have a coarse-loamy over clayey particle-size class. Elmwood and Swanton soils are in higher positions on the landscape and Whately soils are in similar positions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Internal drainage is very slow. Permeability is moderately slow to moderately rapid in the organic surface, moderate or moderately slow in the Eg horizon and slow or very slow below. The soil is intermittently ponded or has very slow runoff.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly idle brushland and woodland. Common tree species include red maple, elm, tamarack, willow, alder, black spruce, and eastern white pine. Cattails and sedges are common in non-wooded areas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey,* Vermont, Massachusetts, and eastern New York. (MLRA 143 and 144B). The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: York County, Maine, 1941.
REMARKS: 1. Petrographic data shows the major clay fraction is illitic. 2. *Biddeford soils were originally classified as mesic. Classification was changed to frigid in 1978. They were correlated in New Jersey prior to this change.
3. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Histic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 12 inches (Oe horizon).
b. Albic Horizon - the zone from 12 to 16 inches (Eg horizon).
c. Cambic horizon - the zone from 16 to 35 inches (Bg horizon).
d. Nonacid feature - the pH is 5.0 or more in 0.01M calcium chloride in at least some part of the control section (10 to 40 inches).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Soil Interpretation Record numbers for the Biddeford series are: Biddeford, ME0045; Biddeford, stony, ME0085.