LOCATION CARVER MA+NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mesic, uncoated Typic Quartzipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Carver coarse sand - scrub forest
(Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--2 to 0 inches; litter of pitch pine needles and scrub oak leaves. (0 to 2 inches thick)
Oe--0 to 1 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) decomposed organic matter. (1 to 2 inches thick)
A--1 to 5 inches; black (10YR 2/1) coarse sand; weak medium granular structure; very friable; common fine and very fine roots; 1 percent fine gravel; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
E--5 to 8 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) coarse sand; single grain; loose; common fine and very fine roots; 1 percent fine gravel; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 13 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) coarse sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine and coarse roots; 1 percent fine gravel; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 16 inches thick)
Bw2--13 to 26 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) grades with depth to (10YR 5/6) coarse sand; single grain; loose; common fine and coarse roots; 10 percent fine gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 28 inches thick)
BC--26 to 30 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) coarse sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; 10 percent fine gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 22 inches thick)
C--30 to 65 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) coarse sand; single grain; loose; 5 percent fine gravel; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Plymouth County, Massachusetts; Town of Wareham, 1/4 mile northeast of village of Tihonet along Tihonet Road and 100 feet east of the road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 18 to 40 inches. Rock fragments are generally less than 10 percent by volume but individual horizons range from 0 to 20 percent. Rock fragments are commonly fine gravel but range to stone size. Surface stones and boulders are generally absent but range up to 3 percent of the surface of some pedons. The soil ranges from extremely acid through moderately acid except where it is limed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 0 through 2. It is structureless or has weak medium granular structure and is very friable or loose. Texture ranges from loamy sand through coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction.
The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 through 7, and chroma of 0 through 3. Texture, structure and consistence have the same range as the A horizon.
The Bw and BC horizons have hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 4 through 8. To a depth of 10 inches the Bw horizon texture is loamy sand through coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. Below 10 inches the texture is loamy coarse sand or coarse sand in the fine- earth fraction. The upper part of the Bw horizon is single grain or has weak, very fine or fine granular structure and consistence is very friable or loose. The lower part is single grain and loose.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 through 8, and chroma of 2 through 6. It is mostly coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction but contains individual thin strata of fine sand or fine gravel.
COMPETING SERIES: The Boone, Hooksan, and Tarr Series are in the same family. Boone soils have a paralithic contact within 20 to 40 inches. Hooksan soils do not have a B horizon. Tarr soils have loamy fine sand subsoils.
The Caesar, Deerfield, Eastchop, Evesboro, Hartford, Hinckley, Lincroft, Merrimac, Oakville, Penwood, Plymouth, Schaffenaker Suncook, Windsor, and Vanderlip series are in related families. Caeser soils have mixed mineralogy . Deerfield soils have mottles with chroma of 2 or less within 40 inches of the soil surface. The Eastchop, Evesboro, Plymouth, Schaffenaker, and Vanderlip soils have more than 2 percent moisture equivalent (coated family). Hartford and Merrimac soils have cambic horizons. Hinckley soils have a sandy-skeletal particle-size control section. Lincroft soils are 5YR or redder hue throughout. Oakville, Penwood, and Windsor soils are loamy fine sand to sand in the particle-size control section and have mixed mineralogy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Carver soils are level to steep soils on pitted and dissected outwash plains and moraines. Slopes are dominantly 0 to 15 percent but range to 45 percent. The soils formed in thick layers of coarse and very coarse sand that contain less than 20 percent rock fragments, most of which are fine gravel. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches. Average frost-free period ranges from 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The competing Deerfield, Eastchop, Plymouth and Windsor soils often are on adjacent landscapes. The organic Freetown and Swansea soils and the very poorly drained Scarboro soils are in the kettleholes of the pitted outwash plains and the Gloucester and Montauk soils are intermingled on moraines. The Merrimac and Haven soils, which contain more silt, and the loamy Riverhead soils are on plains adjacent to the moraines. Carver is the excessively drained member of a drainage sequence which includes the moderately well drained Deerfield, somewhat poorly drained Saugatuck and Pipestone soils, and the very poorly drained Berryland soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained. Runoff is very slow. Permeability is very rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested to scrub oak, pitch pine and white pine. A small part is cleared and cropped.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. The soil is extensive, estimated 110,000 acres.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1911.
REMARKS: 1. This soil was previously classified as siliceous, mesic Typic Udisamments. Lab data indicates by far the majority of Carver soils have more than 90 percent minerals resistant to weathering. The classification is thus changed to reflect this condition.
2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 8 inches (A and E horizons).
b. Sandy feature - the zone from 10 to 40 inches averages about 85 percent sand.