LOCATION ENCHANTED ME

Established Series
Rev. LRF-KJL-WDH
03/2011

ENCHANTED SERIES

The Enchanted series consists of moderately deep or deep, well drained soils on mountain side slopes and ridge tops. These soils formed in till. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to very high in the organic surface layer, moderately high or high in the mineral solum, and high or very high in the substratum. Slope ranges from 15 to 80 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 1 degree C, and mean annual precipitation is about 127 centimeters at the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic Typic Humicryods

TYPICAL PEDON: Enchanted channery very fine sandy loam, on a southeasterly slope of 50 percent in a forested area. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Oe -- 0 to 5 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) hemic material; massive; friable; many very fine roots; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary.

Oa -- 5 to 15 centimeters; very dusky red (2.5YR 2/2) sapric material; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine and common medium and coarse roots; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the O horizon is 10 to 20 centimeters.)

E -- 15 to 23 centimeters; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) channery very fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common very fine and fine and few medium and coarse roots; 20 percent channers and 10 percent flagstones; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 13 centimeters thick.)

Bhs -- 23 to 25 centimeters; very dusky red (2.5YR 2/2) channery very fine sandy loam; moderate very fine and fine granular structure; very friable; common very fine, fine and medium and few coarse roots; weakly smeary; 15 percent channers and 5 percent flagstones; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.

Bs1 -- 25 to 36 centimeters; dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) channery fine sandy loam; moderate very fine granular structure; very friable; common very fine, fine and medium and few coarse roots; weakly smeary; 15 percent channers and 5 percent flagstones; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bh horizon is 2 to 33 centimeters.)

Bs2 -- 36 to 53 centimeters; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) channery fine sandy loam; weak very fine granular structure; very friable; common very fine and fine and few medium and coarse roots; 15 percent channers and 10 percent flagstones; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bs3 -- 53 to 79 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very gravelly fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common very fine and few fine, medium and coarse roots; 25 percent angular gravel and 10 percent angular cobbles; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 13 to 5 centimeters.)

BC -- 79 to 107 centimeters; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) very cobbly sandy loam; massive; friable; few fine roots; 25 percent angular gravel and 15 percent angular cobbles; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 30 centimeters thick.)

C -- 107 to 132 centimeters; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) extremely cobbly loamy sand; single grain; loose; 20 percent angular gravel, 30 percent angular cobbles and 15 percent stones; very strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary.

R -- 132 inches; metasandstone bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Somerset County, Maine; Johnson Mountain Township (T2 R6); about 880 meters in elevation on a southeast aspect of Coburn Mountain; about 2.3 miles west of US Route 201 to the foot of Coburn Mountain, 0.7 mile westerly on the northern most ski trail and on the north side of the trail in a cut bank; USGS Johnson Mtn, ME topographic quadrangle; Latitude 45 degrees, 28 minutes, 15 seconds N. and Longitude 70 degrees, 07 minutes, 00 seconds W.,
NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 51 to 114 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 51 to 152 centimeters. Rock fragments range from 20 to 80 percent in individual horizons, with the weighted average of the control section being greater than 35 percent by volume. Stones and boulders cover 0 to 15 percent of the surface. The soil ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid.

The O horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. They are very friable or friable.

The E horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR with value and chroma of 2 or 3. The Bh horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR with value and chroma of 2 to 3. They are silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The Bs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 4 or 6. It is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The BC horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is sandy loam or loamy sand and below 102 centimeters from the mineral soil surface it ranges to coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. It is single grain or massive and ranges from loose to firm.

The bedrock is mostly metasandstone, phyllite, granite, schist, or gneiss.

COMPETING SERIES: The Thader series is in the same family. Thader soils are perudic and occur outside Land Resource Region R.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Enchanted soils are on the sides and tops of mountain ridges. Slope ranges from 15 to 80 percent. The soils formed in till. Depth to bedrock is 51 to 152 centimeters. The mean annual temperature ranges from 0 to 3 degrees C. and mean annual precipitation ranges from 102 to 152 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 30 to 90 days. Elevations range from 700 to 1600 meters above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are principally the Ricker soils and to a lesser extent, Mahoosuc, Saddleback, Sisk and Surplus soils. The Ricker soils are thin organic soils over bedrock on convex positions. Mahoosuc soils are deep and very deep soils comprized of thin organic materials overlying fragmental colluvium or till and are on similar positions in the landscape. Saddleback soils are on convex positions and are shallow to bedrock. Sisk soils are very deep, well drained soils on smooth side slopes generally less sloping than Enchanted soils. Surplus soils are very deep, wetter soils on lower side slopes generally less sloping than Enchanted soils.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to very high in the organic surface layer, moderately high or high in the mineral solum, and high or very high in the substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Forested. Common trees species include balsam fir, mountain paper birch, red spruce, American mountain ash, yellow birch, striped maple, and mountain maple.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mountains of Maine. MLRA 143. The series is of small extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Piscataquis County, Maine, Southern Part, 1994.

REMARKS: 1. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

a. Albic horizon - the zone from 15 to 23 centimeters (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 23 to 53 centimeters (Bhs, Bs1, and Bs2 horizons).
c. Humic Feature - have 6 percent or more organic carbon throughout a layer 10 centimeters or more thick within the spodic horizon.
d. Cambic horizon - the zone from 53 to 107 centimeters (Bs3 and BC horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: Unpublished NRCS lab data from Franklin and Oxford Counties in Maine confirms the placement of this series in the Humic great group.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.