LOCATION BUCKLAND VT+MA NY

Established Series
Rev. TRV-SHG-RFL
12/2014

BUCKLAND SERIES

The Buckland series consists of moderately well drained soils on hills in glaciated uplands. These soils formed in loamy lodgment till derived from metamorphic rocks. They are moderately deep to a dense substratum and very deep to bedrock. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and moderately low or moderately high in the dense substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 1185 mm, and the mean annual temperature is about 7 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, semiactive, frigid Aquic Humudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Buckland loam, on a 4 percent northwest facing slope, in a hayfield. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

Ap--0 to 20 cm; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) dry; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots; 3 percent rock fragments; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (13 to 25 cm thick)

Bw1--20 to 36 cm; dark olive brown (2.5Y 3/3) fine sandy loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) dry; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; 2 percent rock fragments; neutral; abrupt broken boundary.

Bw2--36 to 53 cm; olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; few fine prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 1 percent rock fragments; neutral; clear broken boundary.

Bw3--53 to 64 cm; olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) fine sandy loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; few fine faint grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) iron depletions in the matrix; 1 percent rock fragments; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 15 to 58 cm.)

Cd--64 to 165 cm; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) loam; weak thick platy structure in the upper part, massive below; firm; few medium faint dark brown (10YR 3/3), few fine distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR4/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; few fine distinct very dark gray (2.5Y3/0) iron depletions in the matrix; 5 percent rock fragments; neutral.

TYPE LOCATION: Windsor County, Vermont, Town of Barnard; located 45 meters west of North Road and 2.75 kilometers south of the Royalton town line; USGS South Royalton, VT topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees 45 minutes 25 seconds N., and longitude 72 degrees 36 minutes 48 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 51 to 91 cm. Depth to bedrock is greater than 165 cm. Rock fragments range from 0 to 25 percent. Fragments are mainly phyllite, schist, and metamorphosed limestone. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to neutral. Texture is loam, silt loam, very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam or their gravelly or channery analogues.

Some pedons have Oi, Oe, and/or Oa horizons overlying the A horizon. Combined thickness of the O horizons is 0 to 10 cm thick.

The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 to 3. It is weak or moderate, very fine to medium granular. Consistence is very friable or friable. Undisturbed pedons have an A horizon that has properties similar to the Ap horizon.

The upper part of the Bw horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. The lower part of the Bw horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 4, with iron depletions in the matrix. Matrix chroma of 2 in the Bw horizon is inherited from the parent material and is not indicative of wetness. Structure is weak or moderate, very fine to medium granular or subangular blocky. Consistence is friable.

Some pedons have a BC horizon that has colors and textures similar to that of the lower part of the Bw horizon. It is up to 20 cm thick.

The Cd horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, values of 3 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 4. Structure is weak or moderate, thin to thick platy or is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family. The Bomoseen, Eelweir, Fullam, Georgia, Kalurah, and Minoa series are in related families. Bomoseen, Georgia, and Minoa soils have a mesic temperature regime. Eelweir soils formed in glaciofluvial sediments. Fullam soils have an ochric epipedon. Kalurah soils formed in calcareous, friable till.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Buckland soils are nearly level to steep soils on hills in glaciated uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. The soils formed in dark colored lodgment till derived mainly from phyllite and schist. Small amounts of limestone have contributed to the character of the till in places. The mean annual precipitation is 910 to 1640 mm, and the mean annual temperature is 2 to 7 degrees C. The frost free period is from 70 to 135 days. Elevations range from 100 to 700 meters above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cabot, Peacham, Dummerston, Shelburne, Glover, and Vershire soils. The well drained Dummerston, Shelburne, and Vershire soils and the somewhat excessively drained Glover soils are on rises. The poorly drained Cabot soils and the very poorly drained Peacham soils are in open and closed depressions.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. Runoff is medium on gentle slopes and rapid on steeper slopes. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and moderately low or moderately high in the substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested. The dominant species of trees are sugar maple, beech, yellow birch, white ash, white pine, and hemlock. White and red spruce, northern white cedar, and balsam fir also are common in the northern range of the series. Areas presently farmed are used for hayland and pasture. A small acreage of corn is grown for silage.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 143 and 144B in Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York. The soils of this series are of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Massachusetts, 1929.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

1. Mollic epipedon - the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 36 cm (Ap and Bw1 horizons).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 36 to 64 cm (Bw2, and Bw3 horizons).
3. Aquic features - redox depletions with a chroma of 2 or less within 60 cm of the mineral soil surface(Bw3 horizon).
4. Densic materials - the zone from 64 to 165 cm (Cd horizon).

ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization samples from pedons 85P0972 and 85P0974 from Windsor County, Vermont by the Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, NE.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.