LOCATION WOODBRIDGE CT +MA NH NY RIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Woodbridge fine sandy loam - grass field, at an elevation of about 580 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sandy loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine and medium roots; few very dark brown (10YR 2/2) earthworm casts; 5 percent gravel; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--7 to 18 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few very dark brown (10YR 2/2) earthworm casts; 10 percent gravel; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--18 to 26 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few very dark brown (10YR 2/2) earthworm casts; 10 percent gravel; few medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw3--26 to 30 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; 10 percent gravel; common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 12 to 37 inches.)
Cd1--30 to 43 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak thick platy structure; very firm, brittle; 20 percent gravel; many medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (3 to 29 inches thick)
Cd2--43 to 65 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak thick platy structure; very firm, brittle; few fine prominent very dark brown (10YR 2/2) coatings on plates; 25 percent gravel; common fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Tolland County, Connecticut; town of Mansfield, 0.75 mile south of the intersection of Connecticut Routes 275 and 195, and 0.25 mile east on the University of Connecticut Agronomy Farm, 800 feet north of the greenhouses near the corner of a brushy field. USGS Spring Hill topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 47 minutes 53 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 13 minutes 48 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 18 to 40 inches. Depth to densic materials commonly is 20 to 40 inches but the range currently includes 18 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments commonly range from 5 to 35 percent by volume but in some places the range in the surface layers is 2 to 35 percent. 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 Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Dry value is 6 or more. Undisturbed pedons have a thin A horizon with value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. The Ap or A horizon is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy 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 to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. The lower part of the Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Iron depletions are within a 24 inch depth. The Bw horizon is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam with less than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. It has weak granular or subangular blocky structure, or it 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, but is typically yellower by one hue. The BC horizon has texture, structure, and consistence similar to the Bw horizon.
Some pedons have an E or E' horizon up to 3 inches thick below the B horizon. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, chroma of 2 or 3, and has redoximorphic features. Typically, it is coarser-textured than the overlying horizon.
The Cd horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It commonly has redoximorphic features. Texture is loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or coarse sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. The structure is not pedogenetically derived, and appears in the form of weak medium to very thick plates, or it is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chautauqua, Pittstown, Pompton, Rainbow, Sutton, Wapping, and Wilbraham series. Watchaug is in a similar family. Chautauqua, Pompton, Sutton, Wapping, and Watchaug soils do not have a dense substratum. Pittstown and Rainbow soils have more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand in the solum. Wilbraham soils are wetter and have iron depletions throughout the B horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Woodbridge soils are nearly level to moderately steep and are on till plains, hills and drumlins. Slope commonly is less than 8 percent, but the range includes 0 to 25 percent. The soils formed in acid till derived mostly from schist, gneiss, and granite. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 37 to 49 inches, and the growing season ranges from 115 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Rainbow and Sutton soils and the Bernardston, Broadbrook, Canton, Charlton, Chatfield, Georgia, Hollis, Leicester, Montauk, Paxton, Ridgebury, Scituate, Wapping, and Whitman soils on nearby landscapes. The well drained Paxton, somewhat poorly and poorly drained Ridgebury, and the very poorly drained Whitman soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Bernardston and Broadbrook soils are well drained and are finer textured. Canton and Charlton soils are well drained and do not have a dense substratum. Chatfield and Hollis soils have bedrock within depths of 20 to 40 and 10 to 20 inches respectively. Georgia soils are calcareous within 80 inches. Leicester soils are poorly drained and do not have a dense substratum. Montauk soils are well drained and are coarser textured. Scituate soils have a loamy sand substratum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Surface runoff is negligible to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity ranges from moderately low or moderately high in the surface layer and subsoil and low or moderately low in the dense substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for cultivated crops, hay, or pasture. Scattered areas are used for community development. Some areas are wooded. Common trees are red, white, and black oak, hickory, white ash, sugar maple, red maple, hemlock, and white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, eastern New York, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A, 145, and 149B. The series is of large extent. Woodbridge soils were previously used in Maine. Soil temperature studies in Maine have resulted in the use of the frigid soil temperature regime for soils in areas formerly identified as mesic.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Essex County, Massachusetts, 1925.
REMARKS: Cation exchange activity class placement determined from a review of limited lab data and similar or associated soils.
Historically, Woodbridge soils have been previously classified as Aquic Dystrochrepts and before that as Typic Fragiochrepts.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 30 inches (Bw horizons).
3. Aquic feature - low chroma iron depletions within a 24 inch depth (Bw2 horizon).
4. Densic materials - the zone from 30 to 65 inches (Cd1 and Cd2 horizons).