LOCATION WHITMAN MA+CT NH NJ NY RIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, acid, mesic, shallow Typic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Whitman loam - on a 0 percent slope in an idle area at an elevation of about 702 feet. (Colors are for moist soils.)
Ap--0 to 10 inches; black (10YR 2/1) loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable; 10 percent rock fragments; common medium distinct red (2.5YR 4/8) masses of iron accumulation lining pores; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
Bg--10 to 18 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) fine sandy loam; massive; friable; 10 percent rock fragments, few medium distinct pale olive (5Y 6/4) and light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 25 inches thick)
Cd1--18 to 31 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) fine sandy loam; moderate medium plates; firm; 10 percent rock fragments; many medium distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 40 inches thick)
Cd2--31 to 48 inches; olive (5Y 4/3) fine sandy loam; massive; firm; 10 percent rock fragments; few medium prominent dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 40 inches thick)
Cd3--48 to 65 inches; olive (5Y 5/3) fine sandy loam; massive; firm; 10 percent rock fragments; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Worcester County, Massachusetts; Town of Leominster, 1 mile west intersection of Pleasant and Wachusett Streets, and 500 feet north of Wachusett Street. USGS Sterling quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees 30 minutes 4 seconds N.; longitude 71 degrees 47 minutes 42 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a densic contact commonly is 12 to 20 inches. The A horizon has 5 to 25 percent gravel, 0 to 15 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 stones and 0 to 5 percent cobbles. The soil reaction, unless limed, ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid however, some horizon within a depth of 40 inches is moderately acid or slightly acid.
Some pedons have organic horizons overlying the A horizon. They are fibric hemic or sapric material, and are up to 5 inches thick.
The A horizon is neutral or has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. It sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak granular or subangular blocky or the horizon is massive. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Bg horizon is neutral or has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 2. Redox concentrations range from few to many where matrix chroma is 2 and none to many where chroma is 1. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. It has fifteen percent or more fine sand or coarser with clay content less than 18 percent. Structure is weak granular or subangular blocky or the horizon is massive. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Cd layer is neutral or has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 2. The chroma is 3 in some places. Redoximorphic features range from few to many. Texture is loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Consistence commonly is firm to extremely firm and the layer may be brittle in some part. The structure is geogenically derived, commonly appearing in the form of weak or moderate thin plates in the upper part or is massive throughout.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no series currently in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Whitman soils are nearly level and gently sloping soils in depressions and in drainage ways of glacial uplands. Slopes are typically 0 to 2 percent but range up to 8 percent where wetness is due to seepage water. The soils formed in loamy, glacial till derived mainly from granite, gneiss and schist. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 56 inches and mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. The frost free period is 100 to 195 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Charlton, Chatfield, Hollis, Leicester, Paxton, Ridgebury, Sutton and Woodbridge soils. The well drained Paxton, moderately well drained Woodbridge, and somewhat poorly and poorly drained Ridgebury soils are in a drainage sequence with Whitman soils. Charlton, Leicester, and Sutton soils have friable substrata. Chatfield and Hollis soils have bedrock within depths of 40 and 20 inches respectively.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid above the dense till and slow or very slow within it. Saturated hydraulic conductivity ranges from moderately high or high in the solum to very low to moderately high in the densic material. Runoff potential is negligible to high. A perched water table, or excess seepage water, is at or near the surface for about 9 months of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all areas are forested. Only a few areas are cleared and drained and used for pasture. Alder, gray birch, red maple, hemlock, elm, spruce, balsam fir, sedges, rushes, cattails, and other water-tolerant plants are the principal vegetation.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. (MLRAs 142, 144A, 145, and 149B) The series is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1911.
REMARKS: Location revised to 500 feet north of Wachusetts Street after review of soil map showed no Whitman map unit 50 feet north of road. Some pedons have previously been correlated as Whitman that are moderately deep to a densic contact.
Diagnostic horizons and features in this pedon include:
1, Umbric epipedon - the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 10 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 10 to 18 inches (Bg horizon).
3. Aquic conditions - as evidenced by chroma of 1 in the Bg horizon.
4. Densic contact - root limiting layer begins at 18 inches.
5. Shallow depth class depth to a densic contact is less than 20 inches (Cd1 is at 18 inches.).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Reference samples from pedons S0CT013001, S77MA005002, S77MA005004, S77MA005005 from Connecticut and Massachusetts, NSSL, Lincoln, NE, 1977 and 2000.