LOCATION BIRDSALL MA +CT NY PA VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Typic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Birdsall silt loam forested, at an elevation of about 100 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch; slightly decomposed plant material derived from deciduous leaves.
Oa--1 to 2 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) highly decomposed plant material.
A--2 to 10 inches; black (10YR 2/1) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 14 inches thick)
Bg--10 to 18 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) silt loam; massive; friable; few roots; few fine faint grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) masses of iron accumulations; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (7 to 20 inches thick)
Cg--18 to 65 inches; gray (N 5/0) silt loam; massive; firm; common varves of silt and very fine sand 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick; common medium prominent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Plymouth County, Massachusetts; Town of Halifax, about 2.25 miles southwest of Halifax Village and about 0.25 miles east of Taunton River. Lat. 41 degrees 58 minutes 25 seconds N., long. 70 degrees 54 minutes 14 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to the varved material range from 14 to 30 inches. The soil ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the A horizon, and from strongly acid to neutral in the Bg and Cg horizons. Content of gravel ranges from 0 to 3 percent.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 1 to 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam, or their mucky analogues. Some pedons have muck or peat surface layers up to 8 inches thick.
The Bg horizon is neutral or has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2, and has redoximorphic features. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam.
The Cg horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5Y to 5GY, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2. It commonly has varves of silt, silt loam, or very fine sand in any combination, with a composite texture of silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or loamy very fine sand. Layers of sandy and/or gravelly material are in some pedons. They are 1 to 3 inches thick. Some pedons have textures of silty clay loam and/or silty clay below a depth of 40 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in the same family.
Limerick, Mansfield, Raynham, Saco, and Whitman are similar soils in related families. Limerick and Saco soils have organic matter content that decreases irregularly with depth. Mansfield and Whitman soils are coarse-loamy and formed in dense glacial till. Raynham soils are poorly drained.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Birdsall soils are in low areas where the water table is at or near the surface for most of the year. These soils developed in water deposited silts and very fine sands in depressions and drainageways on till uplands and on depressions and terraces on glacial outwash plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. and annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 135 to 165 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Birdsall soil is the very poorly drained member of a drainage sequence that includes the well drained Hartland soils, the moderately well drained Belgrade soils and the poorly drained Raynham soils. They are also closely associated with the Scitico, Shaker, and Maybid soils on nearby landscapes. Scitico and Maybid soils have more than 35 percent clay in the solum and Shaker soils are loamy in the upper part of solum and have more than 35 percent clay in the lower part of the solum or substratum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Commonly saturated at or near the surface most of the year in undrained areas. Runoff is negligible to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low to high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested with some areas in unimproved brushy pasture. Red maple, elm, hemlock, aspen, tamarack, some white pine, alder, willow, sedges, cattails and rushes are the common vegetative types.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania; MLRAs 101, 140, 142, 144A, and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Allegany County, New York, 1940.
REMARKS: No Munsell notations provided for Oa horizon.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Umbric epipedon - the zone from the mineral soil surface to a depth of 10 inches (A horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 10 to 18 inches (Bg horizon).
3. Coarse-silty particle size family - the zone from 10 to 40 inches contains less than 15 percent sand that is coarser than very fine sand, including gravel, and about 5 to 10 percent clay (Bg and Cg horizons).