LOCATION TIMAKWA CT+ MA NJ NY RI VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, euic, mesic Terric Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Timakwa muck - 0 percent slope in a swamp at an elevation of about 485 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oa1--0 to 10 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck, 20 percent fibers, 5 percent rubbed; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear wavy boundary.
Oa2--10 to 21 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck; 15 percent fibers, 2 percent rubbed; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 5 percent woody fragments; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear wavy boundary.
Oa3--21 to 24 inches; black (7.5YR 2.5/1) broken face and rubbed muck; 5 percent fibers, 0 percent rubbed; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; strongly acid (pH5.4); clear wavy boundary.
Oa4--24 to 37 inches; black (5YR 2.5/1) broken face and rubbed muck; 40 percent fibers, 10 percent rubbed; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 10 percent woody fragments; strongly acid (pH5.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizons is 16 to 51 inches.)
2Cg1--37 to 47 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) very gravelly loamy coarse sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; 40 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear wavy boundary.
2Cg2--47 to 60 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) gravelly loamy very fine sand; massive; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 20 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.8).
TYPE LOCATION: Windham County, Connecticut; 125 feet northwest of New Road at a point 750 feet northeast of the intersection of Town Farm Road and New Road in a swamp. USGS Thompson topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 59 minutes 57 seconds N., longitude 71 degrees 48 minutes 30 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The organic material extends to a depth of 16 to 51 inches. The reaction of the organic material commonly is ultra acid to moderately acid in 0.01 M calcium chloride but the range includes slightly acid or neutral in some places. The pH value is 4.5 or more (in 0.01 M calcium chloride) in one or more layers of organic soil materials within the control section. The reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral in the substratum. Woody fragments occur in some part of the organic soil materials in most pedons consisting of twigs, branches, logs or stumps and average from 2 to 10 percent by volume in the control section. Fragments range in size from 3/4 inch to a foot in diameter.
The surface tier has hue of 10YR to 5YR, or is neutral; value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 6. It is dominantly muck (sapric material); however, some pedons have surface layers of peat or muck peat (fibric or hemic materials). The structure of the surface tier is massive, or is weak or medium, coarse to fine granular or subangular blocky.
The subsurface and bottom tiers have hue of 10YR to 5YR, or are neutral; value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 4. They are typically muck (sapric material). Thin hemic layers less than 3 inches thick occur in some places on the boundary between MLRAs 144A and 101. The tiers are commonly massive, but some pedons have weak coarse blocky or thick platy structure.
The 2C horizon has a hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, or is neutral, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 8. It is coarse sand, sand, loamy coarse sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand or gravelly analogues of these textures. Some pedons may have thin lenses of loamy very fine sand within the control section; however the weighted average in the control section is coarser than loamy very fine sand. Rock fragments range in size from gravel to stones and from 0 to 40 percent by volume.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Adrian and Fishtrap series. Fishtrap soils are from outside LRRs R and S. The Adrian soils are derived primarily from herbaceous plants and lack woody fragments in the organic materials. Adrian soils have mean annual precipitation less than 43 inches. The Fishtrap soils have mean summer temperatures less than 65 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Timakwa soils are in depressions in lake plains, outwash plains, moraines, till plains and flood plains. These soils formed primarily in woody organic materials with some herbaceous materials. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual temperature is 46 to 50 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is 43 to 50 inches. The frost-free period is 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Catden, Freetown, Leicester, Natchaug, Ridgebury, Scarboro, and Whitman soils on nearby landscapes. Natchaug soils have a loamy substratum at depths of 16 to 51 inches. Freetown and Catden soils are formed in organic deposits more than 51 inches deep. Poorly drained Ridgebury and Leicester or very poorly drained Whitman soils occur at the margins of Timakwa areas as they grade into the upland. Very poorly drained Scarboro soils are sandy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Depth to the seasonal high water table ranges from 1 foot above the surface to 1 foot below the surface from October to June. Surface runoff is negligible or very low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low to high in the organic layers and high or very high in the sandy material. Some areas are subject to rare, very brief flooding from November to May.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for wildlife, or are in woodland or clear-cut woodland. Some of these soils are used for pasture. Common vegetation is red maple, skunk cabbage, and sphagnum moss.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Connecticut, Massachusetts, northern New Jersey, eastern New York, and southern Vermont; MLRAs 101, 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Connecticut Statewide Update Survey, 2003. The name is derived from an American Indian word.
REMARKS: These soils were previously mapped in Connecticut as the Adrian series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Sapric material - the zone from the surface to 37 inches (Oa1, Oa2, Oa3, and Oa4 horizons).
2. Terric feature - mineral soil material at a depth of 37 inches (2Cg horizons)
3. Control section - 0 to 51 inches (Oa1, Oa2, Oa3 and part of the 2Cg horizons).
4. Euic reaction class - pH of 4.5 or more in 0.01 M calcium chloride in one or more organic layers within the control section (Oa1, Oa2, Oa3, and Oa4 horizons).