LOCATION MERRIMAC MA+CT NH NY RI VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Merrimac fine sandy loam cultivated, at an elevation of about 122 meters. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 10 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sandy loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 10 percent fine gravel; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 14 inches thick)
Bwl--10 to 15 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; 10 percent fine gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2--15 to 22 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; 15 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw3--22 to 26 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly loamy sand; very weak fine granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; 25 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 6 to 34 inches thick.)
2C--26 to 65 inches; 80 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and 20 percent dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very gravelly sand; single grain; loose; stratified; few fine roots in upper 4 inches; 40 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Massachusetts; Town of Leverett, 2.75 miles south-southeast of Montague Village, 0.13 miles southeast of Cranberry Pond, just west of Route 63. USGS Williamsburg quadrangle, Latitude 42 degrees, 29 minutes, 51 seconds N. and longitude 72 degrees 31 minutes 14 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 18 to 30 inches. Rock fragments are mainly granite or gneiss, but up to 25 percent are flat, fine-grained slate, shale, or phyllite fragments. The upper part of the solum commonly has 5 to 20 percent gravel but includes cobbles in some pedons and the lower part 5 to 30 percent. The substratum contains 25 to 55 percent gravel and 5 to 15 percent cobbles. Total volume of rock fragments in the particle-size control section is less than 35 percent. Clay content is less than 18 percent. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid unless limed.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Undisturbed areas have an A horizon with value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 or 2 that is 1 to 4 inch thick. Some pedons have a thin, light colored E horizon below the A. The Ap, A and E horizons are fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or very fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR in the upper part and 7.5YR to 2.5Y in the lower part. Value ranges from 3 to 6 and chroma from 3 to 8. Texture of the upper part of the Bw horizon is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or very fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has granular or subangular blocky structure or the horizon is massive. The lower part of the B horizon is sandy loam, coarse sandy loam, loamy coarse sand, or loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction. Sandy loam textures do not extend below a depth of 27 inches, but a minimum thickness of 5 inches of sandy loam overlies any lower B or 2C horizon that is loamy fine sand or coarser. The B subhorizon that lies above the 2C horizon in many pedons is single grain. Some pedons have a BC horizon that is similar to the lower part of the Bw.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y and ranges widely in value and chroma. It consists of stratified coarse sand, sand, gravel, and cobbles and has a weighted texture of gravelly or very gravelly sand or coarse sand. Some pedons have thin lenses of loamy fine sand or fine sand.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Hartford and Knickerbocker series. Hartford soils have hues of 5YR or redder in the Bw horizon. Knickerbocker soils have fewer rock fragments than Merrimac soils.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Merrimac soils are level to very steep soils on glacial outwash plains and valley trains, and associated kames, eskers, stream terraces and water deposited parts of moraines. The steeper slopes are on the margin escarpments of terraces and plains, and on eskers and kames. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. The soils formed in water sorted gravelly and sandy material derived mainly from granitic, gneissic and some schistose rocks. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 55 inches; mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F., mean growing season ranges from 120 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Agawam, Hinckley, Sudbury, Scarboro, Walpole and Windsor soils on nearby landscapes. The well drained Agawam soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal. The excessively drained Hinckley soils are sandy-skeletal. The very poorly drained Scarboro soils are in depressions. The moderately drained Sudbury soils are on adjacent, slightly lower landforms. The somewhat poorly drained poorly and drained Walpole soils are in drainageways and on low landforms. The excessively drained Windsor soils are have loamy fine sand to sand textures in the Bw horizon and lack rock fragments.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Runoff is negligible to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cultivated and used for growing hay, pasture, silage, corn, or truck crops. Some areas are used to grow tobacco in the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Some areas are forested with mostly white pine, gray birch, hemlock, red maple, and red, black, white, and scarlet oaks.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Rhode Island (MLRAs 142, 144A, and 145). The series is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Merrimack County, New Hampshire, 1906.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 10 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 10 to 26 inches (Bw horizon).