LOCATION WONSQUEAK          ME+CT MA NY VT

WONSQUEAK SERIES

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, euic, frigid Terric Haplosaprists

TYPICAL PEDON: Wonsqueak muck, in a wooded bog. (Colors are for saturated soil.)

Oa1-- 0 to 8 inches; very dark gray (5YR 3/1) broken face and rubbed, muck (sapric material); about 30 percent fiber, 5 percent rubbed; massive; slightly sticky; dominantly herbaceous fibers; about 5 percent mineral material; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sodium pyrophosphate test; moderately acid in 0.01 M calcium chloride; clear smooth boundary.

Oa2-- 8 to 32 inches; black (5YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed, muck (sapric material); about 20 percent fiber, 5 percent rubbed; massive; slightly sticky; dominantly herbaceous fibers; 5 percent mineral material; brown (10YR 4/3) sodium pyrophosphate test; slightly acid in 0.01 M calcium chloride; abrupt smooth boundary.

Cg-- 32 to 65 inches; gray (N 5/0) silt loam; massive; slightly sticky and slightly plastic; less than 5 percent gravel; neutral.

TYPE LOCATION: Hancock County, Maine; Town of Tremont, 2,000 feet northwest of Baldwin Corners; USGS Bass Harbor, ME topographic quadrangle; lat. 44 degrees 14 minutes 55 seconds N. and long. 68 degrees 22 minutes 17 seconds W., NAD 27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the organic soil material and the depth to the mineral substratum ranges from 16 to 51 inches. The content of woody fragments in the organic material ranges from 0 to 20 percent. The content of mineral material in the organic layers ranges from 0 to 20 percent. The fibers are typically of herbaceous origin but the fibers in some layers are of woody origin. In some pedons, fibers from sphagnum moss are dominant in the surface tier and make up thin layers in the subsurface and bottom tier. The reaction of the organic material in 0.01 M calcium chloride ranges from 4.0 to 6.5, but is 4.5 or more in at least some part of the control section.

The surface tier is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. The surface tier is typically sapric material but in some pedons may be hemic or fibric materials with or without sapric materials. It is massive or has weak, fine or medium, granular or subangular blocky structure. Consistence is nonsticky or slightly sticky. The surface tier ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid in 0.01 M calcium chloride.

The subsurface and bottom tiers are neutral or have hue of 2.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 2. They are typically sapric material but some pedons have thin layers of fibric material with a total thickness of less than 5 inches or thin layers of hemic material with a total thickness of less than 10 inches. The subsurface and bottom tiers are massive or have platy, granular or subangular blocky structure. Consistence is nonsticky or slightly sticky. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid in 0.01 M calcium chloride.

The C horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 5GY, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 4. It is dominantly silt loam but ranges from sandy loam to silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. The upper part has mucky mineral material in some pedons. Consistence is non-sticky, slightly sticky, or moderately sticky and nonplastic to plastic. The content of rock fragments ranges from 0 to 20 percent and is mostly gravel. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Berner, Bullwinkle, Cathro, Dingle (T), and Nidaros series. All of these soils are from outside of Region R. Berner soils has a sandy layer above the loamy sediment. Bullwinkle and Cathro soils have lower annual precipitation than the Wonsqueak series. Also, the Bullwinkle series, developed mainly from woody materials and has free carbonates in the underlying mineral material. Dingle (T) soils have free carbonates in the mineral soil and lower precipitation. Nidaros soils has an A horizon below the organic material and has sandy or gravelly mineral substrata.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wonsqueak soils are in bogs, primarily in shallow depressions on ground moraine, between shallow till ridges and on flood plains. They are also on the shallow perimeter of deeper organic bogs. A few are in shallow depressions on outwash plains and deltas. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Wonsqueak soils formed in 16 to 51 inches of organic material derived mainly from herbaceous materials with lesser amounts of materials from woody plants and sphagnum mosses. The underlying mineral substratum is loamy material from glacial sediments of late Wisconsin age. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 55 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 90 to 160 days. Elevations range from 5 to 3000 feet above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Colton, Dixfield, Hermon, Lyman, Monson, Schoodic, Sheepscot and Tunbridge soils. Colton and Sheepscot are mineral soils on outwash plains that surround Wonsqueak soils. Dixfield and Hermon are glacial till soils that are on ridges surrounding Wonsqueak soils. Lyman, Monson, Schoodic, and Tunbridge soils are on till ridges that have bedrock at depths less than 40 inches surrounding the Wonsqueak soils.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Very poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible, high, or very high. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the organic materials and underlying mineral material.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils are in woodland, or shrubby bogs. A few are in open bogs. Woodland vegetation includes northern white cedar, red maple, tamarack, black spruce, alder, balsam poplar, quaking aspen, and balsam fir. Understory vegetation includes sphagnum moss, leather leaf, labrador tea, and various grasses and sedges.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont; MLRAs 140, 143 and 144B. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Oxford County, Maine, 1987.

REMARKS: 1. Wonsqueak soils were formerly mapped at the suborder level as Saprists and Hemists.

2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Organic materials feature - the zone from 0 to 32 inches (Oa1 and Oa2 layers).
b. Terric feature - has a mineral layer 12 or more inches thick that has its upper boundary in the control section below the surface tier (Cg horizon).
c. Euic reaction class - pH of 4.5 or more in 0.01 M calcium chloride in some part of the organic material in the control section (Oa1 and Oa2 layers).

ADDITIONAL DATA: Soil Interpretation record numbers for the Wonsqueak series are: Wonsqueak, ME0138; and Wonsqueak, ponded, ME0121.