LOCATION LEICESTER CT+MA NH NY RIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, acid, mesic Aeric Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Leicester fine sandy loam - forested, extremely stony. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe--0 to 1 inch; black (10YR 2/1) moderately decomposed plant material. (0 to 4 inches thick)
A--1 to 7 inches; black (10YR 2/1) fine sandy loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 9 inches thick)
Bg1--7 to 10 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bg2--10 to 18 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; common fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bg horizons is 11 to 32 inches.)
BC--17 to 23 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine sandy loam; massive; friable; few fine roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
C1--23 to 42 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive; friable; 15 percent gravel and cobbles; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and prominent pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
C2--43 to 65 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive; friable; 15 percent gravel and cobbles; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: New Haven County, Connecticut; town of Prospect, 5,200 feet north of the Prospect-Bethany town line and 130 feet west of Route 69; USGS Mount Carmel topographic quadrangle; latitude 41 degrees 28 minutes 49 seconds N. and longitude 72 degrees 58 minutes 49 seconds W., NAD 27
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 18 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 5 to 35 percent by volume to a depth of 40 inches and up to 50 percent below 40 inches. Except where the surface is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded pebbles and typically makeup 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid in the upper 40 inches and ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid below.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. Disturbed pedons have an Ap horizon that includes chroma of 3. The A or Ap horizon is fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is very friable or friable.
Some pedons have a thin Eg horizon below the A horizon. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture, structure, and consistence are like the underlying B horizon.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. Chroma of 3 and 4 are limited to subhorizons. Chroma of 1 or 2 is in some subhorizon within a 20 inch depth. The horizon has distinct or prominent redoximorphic features. Texture is fine sandy loam, loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak granular or subangular blocky, or the horizon is massive.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. The horizon has distinct or prominent redoximorphic features. Texture is fine sandy loam, loam, or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak subangular blocky or massive.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It has redoximorphic features that typically decrease in abundance with depth. Texture is fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have pockets or thin lenses of silt loam, loamy sand, or sand. The horizon is massive or it has weak plates. Consistence commonly is very friable or friable but some pedons have lenses or layers that are firm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series currently in the same family.
The Fredon, Lamson, Lyme, Mansfield, Massena, Menlo, Neversink, Newstead, Raynham, Raypol, Red Hook, Ridgebury, Stissing, Sun, and Whitman series are similar soils in related families. Fredon, Lamson, Red Hook, and Raynham soils formed in water sorted materials and are nonacid. Lyme soils are in a frigid family. Mansfield, Menlo, and Whitman soils have a dense substratum and are very poorly drained. The Massena, Newstead, and Sun soils are nonacid. Raypol soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal. Ridgebury and Stissing soils are nonacid and have a dense substratum. Neversink soils have rock fragments dominated by sandstone, siltstone, and shale.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Leicester soils are nearly level to gently sloping and are in low-lying depressional areas and drainageways of glaciated hills. Slope commonly is less than 3 percent but the range includes 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in acid glacial till derived mostly from schist, gneiss, and granite. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 37 to 49 inches, and the growing season ranges from 115 to 185 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Ridgebury and Whitman soils and the Acton, Broadbrook, Brookfield, Canton, Charlton, Chatfield, Essex, Georgia, Gloucester, Hollis, Montauk, Narragansett, Paxton, Rainbow, Scituate, Stockbridge, Sutton, Wapping, and Woodbridge soils. The well drained Charlton and the moderately well drained Sutton soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Acton soils are sandy and moderately well drained. Broadbrook, Essex, Montauk, and Paxton soils are well drained with a dense substratum. Brookfield, Canton, Narragansett, and Stockbridge soils are well drained. Chatfield and Hollis soils have bedrock at 20 to 40 and 10 to 20 inch depths, respectively. Georgia and Wapping soils are moderately well drained. Gloucester soils are sandy and excessively drained. Rainbow, Scituate, and Woodbridge soils are moderately well drained and have a dense substratum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Surface runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the solum and moderate to rapid in the substratum. Leicester soils have a water table at or near the surface much of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. Some areas are in brushy unimproved pasture. Cleared areas are used for hay or pasture. Common trees are red maple, red oak, elm, aspen, gray birch, white pine, balsam fir, red spruce, and ironwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Low-lying areas on glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, eastern New York, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Windham County, Connecticut, 1947.
REMARKS: This revision reflects change in taxonomy to the 8th Edition of the Keys and general updating. Cation exchange activity class placement based upon a review of limited data and similar and associated soils.
The horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 1 to 7 inches (A horizon)
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 23 inches (Bg and BC horizons).
3. Aquic moisture regime as indicated by chroma of 2 in Bg horizon but with chroma too high within 30 inches (chroma 3 in BC horizon) to qualify for Typic Endoaquepts.
4. Endoadquepts subgroup based on saturation to a depth of 200 cm from the mineral soil surface.
5. Aeric great group based on matrix color and chroma of 3 or more in one subhorizon between the Ap and 75 cm. (BC horizon).
6. Particle-size class in control section from 10 to 40 inches -- coarse loamy.
7. Acid reaction class and mesic temperature regime.