LOCATION SUTTON CT+MA NH NY RIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Sutton fine sandy loam, extremely stony - forested, with a one inch layer of undecomposed litter on surface at an elevation of about 820 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe--0 to 1 inches; black (10YR 2/1) moderately decomposed forest plant material. (0 to 3 inches thick)
A--1 to 6 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) fine sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; 5 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)
Bw1--6 to 12 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--12 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few medium roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; common fine and medium prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions and yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw3--24 to 28 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; common medium prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions and reddish brown (5YR 4/4) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bw horizons is 14 to 36 inches.)
C1--28 to 36 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak thick platy structure; firm; 15 percent gravel and cobbles; common medium distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions and common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron concentrations; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick)
C2--36 to 65 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) gravelly sandy loam; massive; friable; 25 percent gravel and cobbles; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: New Haven County, Connecticut; town of Prospect, 400 feet southeast along Merriman Lane from the intersection with Summit Road, and 70 feet north of Merriman Lane, in a wooded area. USGS Southington quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 30 minutes 31 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 58 minutes 45 seconds W., NAD 27, in a wooded area.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 20 to 38 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 gravel and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Disturbed pedons have an Ap horizon with value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 to 4. The A or Ap horizon is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon below the A horizon. It has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture, structure, and consistence are like the A horizon.
The upper part of the Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR and value and chroma of 4 to 6. The lower part of the Bw horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y and value and chroma of 4 to 6. It has iron depletions and masses of iron accumulation above a depth of 24 inches. Fine-earth texture of the Bw horizon is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam with less than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. Structure is weak platy, granular, or subangular blocky, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a thin BC horizon with value and chroma like the lower part of the Bw horizon. The BC horizon has texture, structure, and consistence similar to the Bw horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It typically has redoximorphic features in the upper part. Texture is commonly fine sandy loam or sandy loam, but ranges to very fine 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 is commonly very friable or friable but the range includes firm in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: The Rainbow and Wilbraham are series currently in the same family.
Chautauqua, Ludlow, Montesa, Pittstown, Pompton, Wapping, Watchaug, and Woodbridge are soils in similar families.
Montesa soils are from outside LRRs L, R, and S.
Rainbow soils have a dense substratum. Wilbraham soils have low chroma iron depletions throughout the B horizon and have a dense substratum.
Chautauqua and Wapping soils have more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand in the B horizon. Ludlow soils have 5YR or 2.5YR hue in the B horizon and a dense substratum. Montesa soils formed in alluvium and receive 70 to 110 inches of precipitation annually. Pittstown and Woodbridge soils have a dense substratum. Pompton soils have a stratified sandy and gravelly substratum within a depth of 40 inches. Watchaug soils have hue of 2.5YR or 5YR throughout the B and C horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sutton soils are nearly level to strongly sloping soils typically on lower slopes or in slightly depressed areas on glaciated hills. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in acid till derived mainly from schist, gneiss, and granite. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. mean annual precipitation ranges from 37 to 49 inches. The growing season ranges from 115 to 185 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Acton, Charlton, Rainbow, Wapping, and Woodbridge soils and the Broadbrook, Brookfield, Canton, Chatfield, Essex, Gloucester, Hollis, Leicester, Montauk, Narragansett, Paxton, Ridgebury, Scituate, and Whitman soils on nearby landscapes. The well drained Charlton and the poorly drained Leicester soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Broadbrook, Essex, Montauk, and Paxton soils are well drained and have a dense substratum. Brookfield, Canton, Gloucester, and Narragansett soils are well drained and do not have redoximorphic features. Chatfield and Hollis soils have bedrock within a depth of 10 to 20 and 20 to 40 inches respectively. Ridgebury and Whitman soils are poorly drained and very poorly drained, respectively and have a dense substratum. Scituate soils are moderately well drained and have a dense substratum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Surface runoff is slow to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity ranges from moderately high or high throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for cultivated crops, hay, or pasture. Scattered areas are used for community development. Some areas are wooded. Common trees are red oak, white oak, black oak, hickory, ash, red maple, gray birch, hemlock, and white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Late Wisconsin age glaciated areas in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont; MLRAs 142, 144A, and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Worcester County, Massachusetts, 1922.
REMARKS: Cation exchange activity class placement was based upon a review of similar soils.
Sutton was previously correlated in published soil surveys in Maine. Maine does not currently map soils in the mesic soil temperature regime.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 1 to 6 inches (A horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 6 to 28 inches (Bw horizon).
3. Aquic feature - low chroma redoximorphic features are within a depth of 24 inches (Bw2 horizon).
4. Particle-size class - averages coarse-loamy in the control section from 10 to 40 inches.