LOCATION ALLAGASH ME+MA NY VT

Established Series
Rev. PAH-KJL-WDH
01/2017

ALLAGASH SERIES

The Allagash series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in glaciofluvial deposits on outwash plains and stream terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and high or very high in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 3 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation is about 914 mm at the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, isotic, frigid Typic Haplorthods

TYPICAL PEDON: Allagash fine sandy loam in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Oe -- 0 to 3 cm; hemic material. (0 to 8 cm thick.)

E -- 3 to 5 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam; weak thin platy structure; friable; many roots; 2 percent fine gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick.)

Bhs -- 5 to 8 cm; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many roots; 5 percent fine gravel; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (0 to 8 cm thick.)

Bs1 -- 8 to 20 cm; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; common roots; 5 percent fine gravel; few very dusky red (2.5YR 2/2) concretions 1/3rd cm in diameter; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bs2 -- 20 to 35 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common roots; 5 percent fine gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 10 to 46 cm thick.)

BC -- 35 to 71 cm; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; few roots; 5 percent fine gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 66 cm thick.)

2C -- 71 to 165 cm; olive gray (5Y 5/2) and olive (5Y 5/3) fine sand; single grain; loose; 5 percent fine gravel; moderately acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Aroostook County, Maine; St. John Plantation; one mile west of Fort Kent and St. John town line and 500 feet north of Maine Route 161 adjacent to terrace face. USGS Wheelock, ME topographic quadrangle; Latitude 47 degrees, 14 minutes, 10 seconds N. and Longitude 68 degrees, 43 minutes, 16 seconds W., NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 38 to 91 cm. Depth to bedrock is more than 152 cm. The mineral solum is fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam or silt loam. The substratum is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand except some pedons have gravelly or very gravelly strata below depths of 100 cm. Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent by volume above a depth of 100 cm, including thin strata of fine gravel in some pedons. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid throughout the mineral material unless limed.

Cultivated areas have an Ap horizon 13 to 25 cm thick with hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The O horizons, where present, have a hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 or 2.5, and chroma of 1 or 2.

The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR with value and chroma of 2 or 3. Some pedons have a Bh horizon with hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 2 to 6. The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Consistence is very friable or friable. Concretions are not present in some pedons.

The BC horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Consistence is very friable or friable.

Some pedons have a C horizon with color, texture, and consistence like the BC horizon.

The 2C horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Consistence is loose or very friable.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Highmarket (T) series. Highmarket (T) soils are mainly derived from sandstone, siltstone, and shale.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Allagash soils are on outwash plains and stream terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. Steep slopes are on terrace margin escarpments and sides of gullies in dissected outwash plains. The soils formed in materials derived mainly from granite, slate, schist, gneiss, phyllite and quartzite. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 84 to 1219 mm, and mean annual temperature ranges from 3 to 7 degrees C. The frost-free season ranges from 80 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 6 to 610 m above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Adams, Colton, Fryeburg, Machias, Madawaska, Masardis, Ondawa, Salmon, and Stetson soils. Adams, Colton, Masardis, Salmon, and Stetson soils are on adjacent outwash terraces and plains and glacial lake plains. Fryeburg and Ondawa soils are on nearby floodplains. Adams and Colton soils have a thinner loamy mantle and Masardis and Stetson soils have more gravel in the substratum. Machias and Madawaska soils are moderately well drained and are in lower positions on the landscape. Salmon soils are not underlain by sands and gravels.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and high or very high in the substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for growing potatoes, corn silage, clover, and grasses. Some areas have reverted to forest or were left in forest. Major tree species include red spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, red pine, American beech, red maple, and paper birch.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 143, 144B, and 146 in Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York. The series is of moderate extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Aroostook County, Maine 1960.

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

1. Albic horizon - the zone from 3 to 5 cm (E horizon).
2. Spodic horizon - the zone from 5 to 20 cm (Bhs and Bs1 horizons).
3. Strongly contrasting particle-size class - the transition at 71 cm between the loamy material and the sandy material in the control section (25 to 100 cm) is less than 13 cm. The loamy material has less than 50 percent fine or coarser sand.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Source of data used in establishing taxonomic class and range in haracteristics is Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin 46, 1971.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.