LOCATION PEACHAM VT+MA ME NH
Established Series
Rev. SHG-RFL-DHZ
05/2015
PEACHAM SERIES
The Peacham series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that formed in organic material over loamy lodgment till in glaciated uplands and lowlands. They are shallow to a dense substratum and very deep to bedrock. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and moderately low or low in the dense substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1180 mm, and mean annual temperature is about 6 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, frigid, shallow Histic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Peacham mucky peat, on a 3 percent slope in a very stony pasture. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe--0 to 5 cm; black (N 2.5/) mucky peat; massive; very friable; many fine roots; neutral (pH 7.3); abrupt wavy boundary.
Oa--5 to 25 cm; black (N 2.5/) muck; massive; very friable; many fine roots; neutral (pH 6.7); abrupt smooth boundary. (O horizon is 20 to 40 cm thick.)
Bg--25 to 38 cm; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; 7 percent rock fragments; neutral (pH 6.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (11 to 50 cm thick)
Cdg1--38 to 79 cm; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) fine sandy loam; massive; firm; many coarse prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation and many medium faint gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions; 10 percent rock fragments; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear wavy boundary.
Cdg2--79 to 165 cm; dark olive gray (5Y 3/2) sandy loam; massive; firm; many medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation and many medium faint gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions; 10 percent rock fragments; neutral (pH 6.8).
TYPE LOCATION: Caledonia County, Vermont; Town of Burke; located about 1.8 km south of the Sutton River, and 430 meters east of the Sutton town line; USGS Burke Mountain, VT topographic quadrangle; latitude 44 degrees, 37 minutes, and 29 seconds N. and longitude 71 degrees 59 minutes, and 02 seconds W., NAD 1983.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the mineral solum ranges from 11 to 50 cm. Depth to bedrock is greater than 165 cm. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. The weighted average of clay in the particle-size control section is 1 to 10 percent. Rock fragments are mostly gravel and cobbles and range from 5 to 30 percent in the mineral horizons. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral throughout the soil.
The O horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to l0YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. It is mucky peat or muck.
Some pedons have an Oi horizon that consists of peat.
Some pedons have an A horizon that has hue of l0YR to 5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of l or 2. Mucky mineral texture modifiers are common.
The Bg horizon, and Eg horizon where present, is neutral or has hue of l0YR to 5GY, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 2.
The Cdg horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5Y to 5B, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 2. It is massive or has plates of geogenic origin. Consistence is firm or very firm.
Some pedons have thin sandy lenses in the Bg and Cdg horizons.
Some pedons have a thin, friable Cg horizon above the Cdg horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Burnham series is in the same family. Burnham soils have more than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Peacham soils are on nearly level to gently sloping areas in glaciated uplands and lowlands. They are typically in open and closed depressions on footslopes and toeslopes. The soils formed in organic material 20 to 40 cm thick and the underlying loamy lodgment till. The till is Wisconsin-aged and derived mainly from granite, gneiss, schist, and phyllite. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. The mean annual precipitation is 790 to 1640 mm, and the mean annual temperature is 2 to 7 degrees C. The frost-free period ranges from 70 to 135 days. Elevation ranges from about 100 to 800 meters above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Brayton,
Buckland,
Cabot,
Colonel,
Marlow,
Peru,
Pillsbury,
Tunbridge,
Vershire, and
Wonsqueak soils. Peacham soils are in a drainage sequence with the well drained Marlow soils, moderately well drained Buckland and Peru soils, somewhat poorly drained Colonel soils, and poorly drained Brayton, Cabot, and Pillsbury soils. Tunbridge and Vershire soils are on higher positions in the landscape and are well drained and moderately deep to bedrock. Wonsqueak soils formed in thicker deposits of organic material over mineral soil material.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Very poorly drained. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and moderately low or low in the dense substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested. The common trees are balsam fir, red spruce, black spruce, red maple, yellow birch, tamarack, black ash, eastern white pine, and northern white cedar. A few areas cleared of stones are used mainly for hay and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire; MLRAs 143 and 144B. These soils are extensive with about 160,000 acres of the series mapped.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Vermont, 1948.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Histic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 25 cm (Oe and Oa horizons).
Cambic horizon - the zone from 25 to 38 cm (Bg horizon).
Aquic conditions- masses of iron accumulation in the matrix and an iron depleted matrix from 25 to 38 cm (Bg horizon).
Densic materials - the zone from 38 to 165 cm (Cdg1 and Cdg2 horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data for Peacham and similar soils is available through the National Cooperative Soil Survey Soil Characterization Database: http://ncsslabdatamart.sc.egov.usda.gov/
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.