LOCATION DEERFIELD MA+CT NH NY RI VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Aquic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Deerfield loamy sand in a cultivated field at an elevation of about 114 meters. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loamy sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; very weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
Bw1--9 to 15 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loamy sand; very weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2--15 to 19 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy sand; very weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 5 to 27 inches thick)
BC--19 to 27 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; common fine and medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) and reddish brown (5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation, and common fine and medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
C--27 to 65 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) sand grading with depth to dark gray (5Y 4/1) fine sand; single grain; loose; common fine and medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) and reddish brown (5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation, and common fine and medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Massachusetts; Town of Montague, 800 feet west of a point on West Mineral Road that is 4,000 feet from the intersection of West Mineral Road and Millers Falls Road, in a cultivated field. Lat. 42 degrees 35 minutes 35 seconds N. and long. 72 degrees 30 minutes 50 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 15 to 40 inches. Gravel, generally fine pebbles, ranges from 0 to 15 percent in the solum and 0 to 20 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid unless limed. Iron depletions with chroma of two or less are between depths of 15 and 40 inches from the mineral soil surface.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand. Undisturbed pedons commonly have an 0 horizon, and a thin sequence of A, E, and Bs, Bhs or Bh horizons, or an AB horizon. The Ap or A horizon has weak or moderate very fine to medium granular structure.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture of the upper part of the Bw horizon, within a depth of 10 inches from the soil surface, has the same range as the A horizon. Below 10 inches texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, sand or coarse sand. Structure is weak, very fine to medium granular or subangular blocky, or is single grain.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture range is the same as the lower part of the Bw horizon. Structure is weak, very fine to medium granular, or is single grain.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, sand or coarse sand. It is commonly single grain but may be very weak or weak granular.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Algansee,
Altmar,
Brems,
Brockatonorton,
Elnora,
Fortress,
Morocco,
Ottokee,
Partridge,
Tedrow and Zaborowsky series.
The
Algansee,
Brems,
Brockatonorton,
Meckling,
Morocco,
Ottokee,
Partridge,
Tedrow, and Zaborowsky soils are from outside of region R. Algansee soils have an irregular decrease of organic matter with depth.
Altmar soils have rock fragments dominated by sandstone.
Birchwood soils formed in sandy sediments over glacial till. Brems and Ottokee soils have sola more than 40 inches thick, and
Ottokee soils have lamellae.
Elnora soils contain more fine sand in the lower
part of the series control section.
Fortress soils formed in anthropotransported soil material from eolian sand, outwash, or dredging activities. Meckling soils are calcareous throughout. Morocco soils have redox features within a depth of 15 inches. Partridge soils have bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Tedrow and
Zaborosky soils have carbonates.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Deerfield soils are level to strongly sloping soils on terraces, deltas, and outwash plains. Slope gradients are commonly 0 to 3 percent, but range to 15 percent. The soils formed in thick deposits of sand derived mainly from granite, gneiss and quartzite, but in places containing materials from schist and sandstone. The sand is poorly graded; medium sand is generally dominant and typically contains little or no gravel. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation typically ranges from 38 to 55 inches but the range includes as low as 26 inches in some places east of Adirondack Mountains in the Champlain Valley of New York. The mean growing season ranges from 120 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Deerfield soils are in a drainage sequence that includes the excessively drained Carver and Windsor soils, the somewhat poorly drained Pipestone and Wareham soils, and the very poorly drained Scarboro soils. The well drained Agawam, somewhat excessively drained Merrimac, and the excessively drained Hinckley and Penwood soils are on nearby glacial outwash landforms and have sandy and gravelly substrata. The excessively drained Plymouth, somewhat excessively drained Gloucester, well drained Canton, Charlton, Cheshire, Essex and Paxton, and moderately well drained Woodbridge soils are on nearby glacial till uplands.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Runoff is negligible to low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly cleared and used for truck crops, tobacco, potatoes, hay, pasture and silage corn. Forested areas have pitch pine, white pine, gray birch, red maple, oaks, and sugar maple. Some areas are in urban uses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. (MLRA's 101, 142, 144A, 144B, 145, and 149B) The soils of this series are moderately extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Massachusetts, 1964.
REMARKS: The use of very weak structure in the A horizon is no longer an approved choice for grade of structure and has been removed from this description. Some pedons may exist where this grade of structure has been described.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Aquic feature - the zone from 19 to 40 inches has redox depletions with chroma of 2 or less. (BC and C horizons).