LOCATION RIDGEBURY MA +CT NH NJ NY RIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, acid, mesic, shallow Aeric Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Ridgebury sandy loam - on a 3 to 8 percent slope in an extremely stony wooded area at an elevation of about 1095 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 5 inches (0 to 12 cm.); black (N 2/0) fine sandy loam; weak medium and coarse granular structure; friable; many very fine, fine and medium tree roots; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to l0 inches thick)
Bw--5 to 9 inches (12 to 22 cm.); brown (10YR 4/3) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine tree roots; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 9 inches thick)
Bg--9 to 18 inches (22 to 46 cm.); dark gray (10YR 4/1) gravelly sandy loam; massive; friable; 10 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; common fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and common medium distinct reddish brown (5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 17 inches thick)
Cd--18 to 65 inches (46 to 165 cm.); gray (5Y 5/1) gravelly sandy loam; massive; firm; l0 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; common fine prominent reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Hampshire County, Massachusetts; Town of Pelham; 1,600 feet east of Route 202 at a point 3,950 feet south of its junction with Amherst Road; USGS Shutesbury quadrangle; latitude 42 degrees 22 minutes 53 seconds N. and longitude 72 degrees 23 minutes 45 second W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the dense till commonly is 14 to 19 inches. The A horizon has 5 to 25 percent gravel, 0 to 10 percent cobbles, and 0 to 25 percent stones by volume. The B and C horizons have 5 to 25 percent gravel, 0 to 5 percent cobbles and 0 to 5 percent stones. Rock fragments within the soil range from 5 to 35 percent by volume and are subangular fragments. The unlimed soil ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid but some horizon within a depth of 40 inches is moderately acid.
The O horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2, 2.5, or 3 and chroma of 0 to 2.
The A or Ap horizon is neutral or has hue of l0YR to 5Y, value of 2, 2.5, or 3 and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon with hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is the same as the A horizon.
The B horizon is neutral or has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 3. The chroma is 4 in some places. Chroma of 3 or 4 is restricted to subhorizons. Redoximorphic features are few to many and are distinct or prominent. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy or loam in the fine earth fraction with fifteen percent or more fine sand or coarser and clay content less than 18 percent. The B horizon has subangular blocky structure, weak to moderate very thin to medium platy structure or is massive. It is very friable or friable.
The Cd layer has hue of l0YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of l to 4. It commonly has distinct or prominent redoximorphic features which generally become less abundant with depth but the range includes faint. Texture is coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is firm or very firm and brittle. It is massive or has plates. Any physical aggregation is considered to not be pedogenic.
Some pedons have a C horizon below the Cd that is firm but not brittle.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no series currently in the same family.
The Painesville, Punsit, and Sun series are in a closely related family. Painesville soils lack a densic contact. Punsit soils have more than 60 percent silt plus very fine sand in the particle size control section. Sun soils formed in till derived from limestone and sandstone.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The nearly level to gently sloping Ridgebury soils are in slightly concave areas and shallow drainageways of till uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in loamy till derived mainly from granite, gneiss and schist. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 50 inches. Mean growing season ranges from l00 to l95 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Charlton, Chatfield, Hollis, Leicester, Paxton and Sutton, Whitman and Woodbridge soils. Ridgebury is a member of a drainage sequence that includes the well drained Paxton, moderately well drained Woodbridge, and very poorly drained Whitman soils. Charlton and Sutton soils are better drained and have friable substrata. Chatfield and Hollis soils have bedrock within depths of 40 and 20 inches respectively. Leicester soils do not have a densic contact.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Commonly poorly drained but the range includes the wetter part of somewhat poorly drained. Runoff is negligible to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity ranges from moderately low to high in the solum and very low to moderately low in the substratum. A perched, fluctuating water table above the dense till saturates the solum to or near the surface for 7 to 9 months of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largely forested to gray birch, yellow birch, red maple, hemlock, elm, spruce and balsam fir. Cleared areas are used mainly for hay and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated landforms in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. (MLRAs 142, 144A, 145, and 149B) The series is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Vermont, l948.
REMARKS: An analysis of Ridgebury soils in 2002 for 38 surveys showed that this series most commonly has a densic contact at 16 to 24 inches including 8 surveys with the depth to a densic contact at 20 inches. The average depth to a densic contact was 20 inches - the data showed an almost even split between depth class occurrences. A review of characterization data for Ridgebury soils shows a very slight dominance in the acid reaction class. Any physical aggregation in the Cd is considered to not be pedogenic. The type location is currently within the officially designated mesic zone in Massachusetts.
Diagnostic horizons and features in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 5 inches (A horizon).
2. Aeric feature 100 percent of the zone from 5 to 9 inches has hue of 10YR and both color value moist of 4 and chroma moist of 3 (Bw1 horizon).
3. Cambic horizon - the zone from 5 to 18 inches (Bw and Bg horizons).
3. Densic contact root limiting material begins at 18 inches (Cd).
4. Endosaturation the zone from 9 to 18 inches is saturated above the densic contact (Bw2 horizon). A seasonal high water table is perched above the densic materials.
5. Reaction - the pH in the zone from 10 to 18 inches (control section for reaction) is presumed less than 5.0 in 0.01 M CaCl2 (1:2) (see remarks).
6. Series control section - the zone from 0 to 28 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Reference samples from pedons S00CT013002, S58MA015006,
S57MA023004, S77MA005003, S95NH013005, S96NH013002 from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, samples by NSSL, Lincoln, NE, various years.