LOCATION CROGHAN NY MA ME NH VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, isotic, frigid Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Typical pedon of Croghan fine sand on a 2 percent northwest facing slope, in a wooded area.
Oi-- 0 to 1 inch; slightly decomposed plant material. (0 to 6 inches thick.)
A-- 1 to 3 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine, and common medium and coarse roots; 2 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick.)
E-- 3 to 5 inches; gray (7.5YR 5/1) fine sand; single grain; loose; many very fine and common fine, medium and coarse roots; 2 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick.)
Bhs-- 5 to 8 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) fine sand; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine, fine, medium and few coarse roots; 20 percent ortstein nodules; 2 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick.)
Bs1-- 8 to 14 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sand; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine, fine, medium and few coarse roots; 20 percent ortstein nodules; 2 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bs2-- 14 to 23 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sand; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few very fine, fine, medium and coarse roots; 5 percent ortstein nodules; 2 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (The combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 5 to 38 inches thick.)
BC-- 23 to 29 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sand; single grain and weak medium subangular blocky structure; loose and very friable; few very fine, fine, medium and coarse roots; 10 percent rock fragments; common coarse distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and common medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) areas of iron depletion; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 30 inches thick.)
C1-- 29 to 42 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) sand; single grain; loose; 5 percent rock fragments; common fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation and common medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) areas of iron depletion; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
C2-- 42 to 45 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) loamy fine sand with thin strata of fine sandy loam; massive; very friable; common medium prominent reddish brown (5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
C3-- 45 to 72 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) sand; single grain; loose; 6 percent rock fragments; common fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Essex County, New York; Town of Wilmington; about .54 miles east on Perkins Road from the intersection with Hardy-Kilburn Road, then 900 feet south on trail, then 60 feet west in a stand of white pine; USGS Lake Placid, NY 15 minute topographic quadrangle, Latitude 44 degrees, 22 minutes, 15 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 47 minutes, 22 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mineral solum thickness ranges from 20 to 50 inches. Textures are predominantly sandy but include fine sandy loam within a depth of 10 inches from the mineral soil surface which can include all or part of the A horizon, the E horizon, if present, and the upper part of the B horizon. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Redoximorphic features occur within 30 inches of the mineral soil surface. Rock fragments range from 0 to 5 percent by volume in the surface and subsurface, and from 0 to 15 percent in the subsoil and substratum.
The O horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR or is neutral, with value of 2 to 3 and chroma of 0 to 3. It is slightly to highly decomposed plant material. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4 and chroma of 1 or 2. Ap horizons include value of 5 and chroma of 3, and are up to 13 inches thick. Texture is fine sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand or sand. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid. Some pedons have an A/E horizon.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is fine sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand or sand. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid.
The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, with value and chroma of 3 or less. Texture is fine sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand or sand. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
Some pedons have a Bh horizon that has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3 and chroma of 1 to 4. It is up to 3 inches thick. Texture and reaction ranges are the same as the Bhs.
The Bs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2.5 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is fine sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand or sand. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 8, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand or sand. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 6. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, sand, or coarse sand. Thin strata of very fine sandy loam or fine sandy loam are present in some pedons below a depth of 40 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
COMPETING SERIES: The Skowhegan series is the only other series in the same family. Skowhegan soils have a thinner solum than Croghan soils and contain appreciable amounts of dark colored minerals.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Croghan soils are on terraces and sand plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. They formed in deltaic or glacial outwash sand that was deposited in or next to proglacial lake basins. The sediments are dominated by quartz, but feldspars and other weatherable minerals constitute at least 10 percent, and generally 20 percent or more of the volume. The mean annual air temperature ranges from 38 to 45 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 50 inches. The frost-free period ranges from 90 to about 160 days. Elevation ranges from 150 to 3000 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Adams, Becket, Hermon, Naumburg, Wallace, and Worth series. The somewhat excessively drained Adams soils and the poorly and somewhat poorly drained Naumburg soils are in a drainage sequence with Croghan soils. Wallace soils are associated where ortstein layers are prominent. Becket, Hermon, and Worth soils formed in till and are on nearby uplands.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to low. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in throughout the mineral soil.
USE AND VEGETATION: Dominantly forested or idle, but some areas are cropped. Cropped areas are mainly used for hay or for blueberry production, but in some locations oats, or corn for silage is grown. Eastern white pine, hemlock, balsam, red pine, sugar maple, and yellow birch are in woodlots. Brushy aspen and birch are on idle land.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North central Massachusetts, northern New York, and Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont; MLRAs 101, 141, 142, 143, 144B. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, New York, 1955.
REMARKS: 1. The type location was moved from Clinton County, NY to Essex County, NY in 2000 to better reflect the classification and drainage class.
2. The use of the frigid Croghan Series in MLRA's 101, 144A, and 145 will likely end as MLRA updates are completed.
3. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 3 inches (Oi and A horizons).
b. Albic horizon - the zone from 3 to 5 inches (E horizon)
c. Spodic horizon - the zone from 5 to 14 inches (Bhs and Bs1 horizons).
d. Aquic conditions - as evidenced by redoximorphic features within 30 in of the mineral surface (BC and C1 horizons).
e. Non-spodic pedogenic horizon - the zone from 14 to 23 inches (Bs2 horizon).
Soil Interpretation Record: NY0031