LOCATION WINNECOOK          ME+NH
Established Series
GTH-KJL-WDH
02/2000

WINNECOOK SERIES


The Winnecook series consists of moderately deep to bedrock, well drained soils formed in glacial till derived primarily from phyllite, slate, or shale. They are on upland till plains and hills. Permeability is moderate. Mean annual temperature is 45 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 44 inches at the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, frigid Typic Haplorthods

TYPICAL PEDON: Winnecook silt loam, on a 12 percent convex slope in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 10 percent phyllite fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)

Bs1--9 to 16 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine roots; 35 percent phyllite fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bs2--16 to 23 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) very channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; few fine roots; 40 percent phyllite fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bs3--23 to 28 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; few fine roots; 40 percent phyllite fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 10 to 25 inches.)

C--28 to 34 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) very channery silt loam; weak medium platy structure; friable; 50 percent phyllite fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 13 inches thick)

R--34 inches; fractured phyllite.

TYPE LOCATION: Waldo County, Maine; town of Troy; 1.2 miles north of US Route 202 and Maine Route 9 on Barker Road, 300 yards west of Barker Road.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches and thickness of the solum ranges from 18 to 35 inches. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam or loam. Rock fragments range from 10 to 70 percent and the weighted average throughout the control section is more than 35 percent by volume. The rock fragments are phyllite, slate, or shale. Stones and boulders cover 0 to 15 percent of the surface. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid, unless limed.

The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Most undisturbed pedons have thin 0 horizons that overlie the E horizon, but a few have a 1 to 2 inch thick A horizon over the E horizon. The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium granular. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The Bh horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. The Bhs horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, with value and chroma of 2 or 3. The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. Structure is weak to strong, fine or medium granular, or is weak or moderate, fine or medium subangular blocky.

Some pedons have a BC horizon with color much like the C. Structure is weak fine or medium granular or weak thin to thick platy. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Structure is weak to strong, thin to thick platy. Consistence is very friable, friable, or firm.

The bedrock is generally phyllite, slate, or shale that is fractured in the upper part.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Blandburg(T), Danforth, Larrupin, Littlejohn, and Pitcher series in the same family. Blandburg(T) soils are deep and developed in materials derived from sandstone and conglomerate. Danforth soils are very deep to bedrock. Larrupin, Littlejohn and Pitcher soils have a mantle of volcanic ash. The competing series list is subject to change when Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Sixth Edition, 1994, are fully implemented.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Winnecook soils are on upland till plains and hills. Slopes range from 2 to 45 percent. They developed in a moderately deep mantle of glacial till derived principally from phyllite, slate, or shale. Depth to bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 44 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 46 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 100 to 150 days. Elevations range from 200 to 2500 feet above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bangor, Burnham, Dixmont, Monarda, Plaisted and Thorndike soils. These soils, except for Thorndike soils, are all deeper than 40 inches to bedrock, are in lower landscape positions, and have less than 35 percent by volume of rock fragments. Thorndike soils are less than 10 inches to bedrock, and are in similar or higher landscape positions.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is slow to rapid depending on slope. Permeability is moderate.

USE AND VEGETATION: Much of this soil is in forest. Forest vegetation is mainly red spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, sugar maple, paper birch, yellow birch, eastern white pine, and some northern white cedar. Cleared areas are used for cultivated crops, hay, and pasture. Some areas are in urban uses.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine and New Hampshire. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Waldo County, Maine, 1979.

REMARKS: 1. Winnecook soils were mapped as Bangor, moderately deep in Penobscot County, Maine soil survey. Thorndike soils also included some moderately deep soils (Winnecook) in Penobscot and Aroostook Counties, Maine soil surveys. 2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 9 to 16 inches (Bs1 horizon).

ADDITIONAL DATA: The Soil Interpretation Record Numbers for the Winnecook series are: Winnecook, ME0073; and Winnecook, stony, ME0113.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.