LOCATION ADAMANT VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, isotic, frigid Typic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Adamant very fine sandy loam on an east facing slope of 3 percent in a very rocky wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 1 inches; slightly decomposed organic material
Oa--1 to 4 inches; well decomposed organic material. (0 to 4 inches thick.)
E--4 to 9 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine and common medium roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bs1--9 to 14 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) very fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine and few medium roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 15 inches thick)
Bs2--14 to 22 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very fine sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
C--22 to 28 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) very fine sandy loam; massive; friable; few fine roots; 2 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 25 inches thick)
R--28 inches; hard, schist bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Washington County, Vermont; Town of Waterbury, 2640 feet west of Vermont Route 100 and 1320 feet south of Waterbury Lake; latitude 44 degrees 22 minutes 40 seconds N, longitude 72 degrees 44 minutes 4 seconds W., NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 15 to 30 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments are pebbles or channers and range from 0 to 5 percent. Reaction ranges from very strongly to moderately acid throoughout the soils. Some pedons have A or Ap horizons that range to extremeley acid. Texture is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. Some pedons have thin subhorizons of fine sandy loam in the substratum.
Some pedons have an A or Ap horizon that has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. The A horizon is 0 to 5 inches thick and the Ap horizon is 5 to 10 inches thick.
Some pedons have an Oe horizon.
The E horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2.
Some pedons have a Bhs or Bh horizon that is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 3.
The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 4 or 6. Combined thickness of the B horizon is 8 to 20 inches.
Some pedons have a BC horizon that has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is up to 5 inches thick.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4.
Bedrock is slightly weathered schist.
COMPETING SERIES: The Salmon soils are in the same family. Salmon soils are very deep to bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Adamant soils are on gently sloping to very steep eroded, glacial lake plains. Slope ranges from 3 to 60 percent. The soils formed in loamy glaciolacustrine deposits of Wisconsin age derived mainly from schist and phyllite. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 50 inches, and the mean annual temperature ranges from 40 to 44 degrees F. The frost-free season ranges from 90 to 135 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are and the Adams, Nicholville, Salmon, and Scantic soils. The excessively drained Adams soils are sandy. The well drained Salmon soils are in similar positions on the landscape and are very deep to bedrock. The moderately well drained Nicholville soils are in lower positions on the landscape and are very deep to bedrock. The poorly drained Scantic soils are in depressions and are very deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. Common trees are yellow birch, sugar maple, eastern white pine, white spruce, red spruce, and eastern hemlock. A few areas have been cleared and are used for pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Vermont; MLRAs 143 and 144B. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washington County, Vermont, 1996.
REMARKS: 1. The classification was updated to Coarse-silty, isotic, frigid Typic Haplorthods with a 1998 revision.
2. Adamant soils were previously mapped and correlated as Salmon Variant (moderately deep variant) in Lamoille County, Vermont.
3. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Albic horizon - the zone from 4 to 9 inches (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 9 to 14 inches (Bs1 horizon).
c. Lithic contact - bedrock at 28 inches from the soil surface.