LOCATION CANTON MA+CT NH RIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Canton fine sandy loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes, extremely bouldery in a forested area at an elevation of about 87 meters. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--O to 1 inch; black (10YR 2/1) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
E--1 to 2 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; extremely acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 2 inches thick)
Bw1--2 to 12 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) fine sandy loam; massive; very friable; many fine and medium roots; many fine pores; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2--12 to 22 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive; very friable; many fine and medium roots; many fine pores; 15 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 13 to 33 inches.)
2C1--22 to 31 inches; light olive gray (5Y 6/2) gravelly loamy sand; single grain; very friable; common medium roots; many medium pores; 25 percent rock fragments; pebbles have thin patchy silt caps; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
2C2--31 to 65 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) very gravelly loamy sand; single grain; friable; few fine roots; 35 percent rock fragments; thick continuous silt caps on pebbles; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Norfolk County, Massachusetts; Town of Sharon; 0.3 miles south of junction of East Foxborough Road and Mohawk Street, in a borrow pit on the east side of East Foxborough Road. USGS Brockton quadrangle; latitude 42 degrees 05 minutes 46 seconds N., and longitude 71 degrees 11 minutes 19 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness commonly ranges from 18 to 36 inches but the range includes 14 inches. It corresponds closely to the depth to the sandy till. Rock fragment content consists of 5 to 20 percent gravel and 0 to 5 percent cobbles in the solum. Gravel content is 10 to 30 percent, cobbles 5 to 10 percent, and stones 0 to 10 percent in the substratum. Stones and boulders are 0 to 15 percent of the surface and subsoil. Rock fragments are dominantly granite, gneiss, and quartzite. The soil ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is fine sandy loam, loam, or very fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bw1 horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. The Bw2 horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is dominantly fine sandy loam but includes loam and very fine sandy loam. Structure of the Bw is weak granular or subangular blocky or the horizon is massive.
The 2C horizon typically has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 2 or 3, but includes a hue of 10YR with chroma of 4 to 6. The texture of the fine-earth fraction is loamy fine sand or coarser. Structure is single grain or massive and consistence is friable, very friable or loose. Thin lenses or small pockets of firm or very firm finer textured material are common below 36 to 40 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other soils currently in the same family.
The Agawam, Barnstable, Branford, Haven, and Narragansett series are in closely related families. The Agawam, Branford, and Haven soils have stratified sand or sand and gravel in the series control section. In addition, the Branford soils have hues redder than 7.5YR throughout the B horizon. Barnstable soils formed in till over outwash and have less than 30 percent fine sand in the lower part of the Bw horizon. Narragansett soils have more than 55 percent silt and very fine sand in the solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Canton soils are on glaciated upland plains, hills, and ridges. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. The soils developed in a fine sandy loam mantle over acid sandy glacial till of Wisconsin age derived mainly from granite and gneiss and some fine-grained sandstone. The climate is humid temperate. The mean annual air temperature is 46 to 51 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 42 to 46 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Newfields series is the moderately well drained member of the same toposequence. The Agawam, Haven, Merrimac and Warwick soils are on nearby glacial outwash kames and plains. The Barnstable, Brookfield, Charlton, Cheshire, Dutchess, Gloucester, Hollis, Montauk, Narragansett, and Paxton soils are on nearby glaciated uplands. Brookfield, Charlton, Cheshire, Dutchess, Gloucester, Hollis, Montauk, and Paxton soils lack a contrasting particle size in the control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is negligible to medium. Internal drainage is medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high in the solum and high or very high in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested or idle. Some areas have been cleared of surface stones and are used for crops and pasture. Native vegetation is forest composed of white pine, red, white and black oaks, hickory, red maple, sugar maple, gray birch, yellow birch, beech, hemlock, and white ash.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, eastern New York, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Herkimer County, New York, 1969.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 2 inches (A and E horizons).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 2 to 22 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
3. Contrasting particle size - the coarse-loamy material contains less than 50 percent fine or coarser sand, and the transition zone between the two parts of the particle-size control section is less than 12.5 cm (5 in.) thick. (Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy skeletal).
4. Lithologic discontinuity abrupt change in sand distribution at 22 inches (2C1 horizon)
5. Cation exchange activity class based upon available data for 4 pedons.