LOCATION LIMERICK CT MA NH NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Limerick silt loam, on a nearly level slope in hay land at an elevation of about 10 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; common very fine and fine and few medium roots; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
BCg1--8 to 20 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) silt loam; massive; friable; few very fine and fine roots; common medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
BCg2--20 to 36 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) silt loam; massive; common medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
BCg3--36 to 54 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silt loam; massive; common medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the BCg horizons ranges from 6 to more than 60 inches.)
Cg--54 to 65 inches; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) silt loam; massive; few, fine prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Hartford County, Connecticut; town of Wethersfield, 1200 feet east on Second Lane Road from Interstate 91 underpass, 50 feet south of Second Lane Road, on the Hartford South USGS topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 41 minutes 52 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 38 minutes 24 seconds W., NAD 27, on the floodplain of the Connecticut River:
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the mineral solum ranges from 17 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral. The weighted average of fine and coarser sands, in the particle-size control section, is less than 15 percent.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is commonly silt loam but includes very fine sandy loam. Structure is typically weak or moderate, fine or medium granular. Some A horizons have weak or moderate medium subangular blocky structure. Consistence is friable or very friable. Redoximorphic features, where present, are few to many, fine to coarse and faint to prominent.
Some pedons have one or more Ab horizons with hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is silt loam. The horizons are massive and friable.
Some pedons have a Bg horizon, 6 to 8 inches thick, with hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 or 6 and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is commonly silt loam but includes very fine sandy loam. Structure is weak granular or subangular blocky, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is friable. Redoximorphic features are few to many, fine to coarse and distinct or prominent.
The BCg horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is commonly silt loam but includes very fine sandy loam. Strata of loamy very fine sand, very fine sand or fine sand .2 to .5 inches thick are present in some horizons. The horizon is massive and friable or very friable. Redoximorphic features range from few to many, fine to coarse and faint to prominent.
The Cg horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5Y to 5GY or is neutral, value of 4 and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is commonly silt loam but includes very fine sandy loam. Some pedons have thin strata (less than .2 inches) that vary in color, texture, or reaction. Redoximorphic features, where present, are few to many and fine or medium prominent. The horizon is massive and friable.
Some pedons have a 2Cg horizon below a depth of 40 inches. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loamy fine sand to sand.
COMPETING SERIES: Wakeville is currently the only other series in this family. It is somewhat poorly drained, having a Bw horizon in the upper subsoil. The Rippowam and Rumney series are in related families. They have a weighted average of fine and coarser sand in the particle-size control section of more than 15 percent. Rumney soils have a cooler mean annual soil temperature.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Limerick soils are on the flood plains of major rivers and their larger tributaries. In some places they are on the flood plains of small streams. They may be on broad flat areas or in shallow depressions. The soils formed in recent alluvial deposits that are dominantly silt and very fine sand. Mean annual temperature ranges from about 45 to 52 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 50 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 105 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Limerick soils are the poorly drained member of the drainage sequence that includes the well drained Hadley, the moderately well drained Winooski, and the very poorly drained Saco soils. Common associated soils on nearby terraces are the Agawam, Enfield, Hinckley, Merrimac, and Windsor series.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high. Most areas are flooded for periods of several days each year, usually in late winter or early spring.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for long term hay and pasture. A few areas have been drained, and cultivated crops are grown. Common trees in wooded areas are red maple and eastern white pine. Additional woody species are alders, willows, black ash, green ash, swamp birch, river birch, silky willow and pussy willow. Common herbaceous species include cinnamon fern, nettle and skunk cabbage.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont; MLRAs 142, 144A, and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Aroostook County, Maine, 1943.
REMARKS: 1. With this revision the classification is changed from coarse-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Typic Fluvaquents to coarse-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts. This reflects Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Eighth and Ninth Editions which allow soils with Aquic conditions having an irregular decrease in organic carbon with depth to meet Cambic horizon criteria. 2. This revision and establishment of series range is based on analysis of correlated pedons the descriptions of which being sufficient to determine placement within series concept and taxonomic class. 3. The type location is changed from Colchester, Vermont to Wethersfield, Connecticut as the Wethersfield pedon is more representative of the series concept and range and is central to its geographical extent. 4. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 8 to 54 inches (BCg horizons).
c. Aquept feature - Within 20 inches of the soil surface the matrix has chroma of 2 or less with redox concentrations.
d. Fluvaquentic feature: The organic-carbon content is presumed to decrease irregularly with depth between 10 and 50 inches.
e. Nonacid reaction class - the pH is presumed to be 5.0 or more in 0.01m CaCl2 in at least some part of the control section.
f. The material composing the Cg layer is presumed to change color upon exposure to air thereby not meeting the criteria for a Cambic horizon.