LOCATION MONTAUK NY+CT MA NHEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, subactive, mesic Oxyaquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Montauk sandy loam on a 5 percent slope in a forested area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 2 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and common coarse roots; less than 1 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
Bw1--2 to 17 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular; very friable; few fine and coarse roots; many fine and medium pores; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2--17 to 27 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure becoming weak medium platy in lower two inches; friable; few fine and coarse roots; many fine and medium pores; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 12 to 34 inches)
2Cd1--27 to 40 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) sandy loam; weak thick platy structure; firm, brittle; few fine roots; many fine pores; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (7 to 30 inches thick)
3Cd2-- 40 to 72 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) loamy sand with areas of light brown (7.5YR 6/4); massive clods part to single grain; firm, brittle; many fine pores; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Suffolk County, New York, Town of East Hampton; on dirt road, 0.5 mile east of Long Lane, 0.3 mile north of Stephan Hand's Path. USGS East Hampton, NY topographic quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees, 58 minutes, 54 seconds N. and longitude 72 degrees, 13 minutes, 19 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to the firm till substratum typically ranges from 20 to 38 inches but the range currently includes 18 to 38. Rock fragments range from 3 to 35 percent in the solum and 5 to 50 percent in the C horizon. The soil ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid toout.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate, fine and medium granular. Consistence is friable or very friable. Some pedons have an E horizon just below the A horizon with pale brown, light brown, or brown colors.
The upper part of the B horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 8. The lower part has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Structure is subangular blocky parting to granular except it is massive in the lower part in some pedons. Consistence is friable or very friable. Some pedons have an E horizon immediately above the Cd.
The Cd horizon has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction ranges from coarse sand to fine sandy loam, and at least one subhorizon of the Cd is loamy fine sand or coarser. The horizon has plate-like divisions or is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm, and is brittle. Some pedons have firm dark reddish brown bands up to 1/2 inch thick that are spaced 5 to 8 inches apart. Silt coatings on the upper side of stones and pebbles are common in many pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in the same family.
The Amostown, Bernardston, Broadbrook, Horseneck (T), Maggodee, Nantucket, Paxton, Pollux, Scituate, and Wethersfield series are similar soils in related families. Maggodee soils are from outside LRR R. Amostown and Pollux soils are underlain by stratified very fine sand or silt within a depth of 40 inches. Bernardston soils have more than 50 percent silt plus very fine sand throughout. Broadbrook and Paxton soils lack a loamy fine sand or coarser layer in the substratum. In addition, Broadbrook soils have a lithological discontinuity and a solum with more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. Horseneck (T), Maggodee, and Scituate soils have redoximorphic features in the subsoil. soils are moderately well drained. Nantucket soils lack a loamy fine sand or coarser layer in the substratum and have a stickness class of slightly sticky or moderately sticky in the substratum. Wethersfield soils have 5YR or redder hue in the subsoil and substratum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Montauk soils are on glaciated uplands and moraines. Slopes range form 0 to 35 percent. The landscape in some areas has many closed depressions, some of which are filled by perennial ponds or wet spots. The soils formed in thick moderately coarse or medium textured glacial till mantles underlain by firm sandy till. Some areas have very stony or extremely stony surfaces. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 56 inches; mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 52 degrees F., and the mean annual frost-free period ranges from 120 to 200 days. Elevation ranges from 10 to 400 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the well drained Charlton, Chatfield, Riverhead, Canton and Haven soils which lack Cd horizons; the excessively drained, sandy Carver and Plymouth soils; the moderately well drained Sutton, and Woodbridge soils; the poorly drained Leicester and Ridgebury soils; the very poorly drained Whitman soils; and the shallow Hollis soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is low to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and low to moderately high in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many of the nearly level and gently sloping areas are cleared and used for production of potatoes and vegetable crops, hay, silage corn and pasture. Steeper and uneven areas are largely forested. Woodland contains red oak, white oak, and occasionally yellow poplar, white pine, red pine, sugar maple, beech and birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and possibly New Jersey. MLRA's 149B, 144A, and 145. The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Suffolk County, New York, 1970.
REMARKS: Montauk soils were originally classified as Typic Fragiochrepts and later to Dystrochrepts because of fundamental changes in describing dense, firm layers found in this soil.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1) Ochric epipedon from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon)
2) Cambic horizon - from 2 to 27 inches (Bw1 & Bw2 horizons)
3) Oxyaquic subgroup - based on a perched a water table above the dense substratum (Cd horizons). Field investigation has shown saturation within 40 inches 1 month or more per year in 6 or more years out of 10 years.
Soil Interpretation Record No.: NY0012, NY0244, NY0421