LOCATION AURELIE ME NY

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

AURELIE SERIES

The Aurelie series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils on lower slopes of ridges and on till plains. These soils formed in dense till. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual temperature is 3.1 degrees C and mean annual precipitation is 905 mm at the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid, shallow Aeric Endoaquepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Aurelie channery clay loam on a 2 percent northeast facing slope in a forested area. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Oe -- 0 to 8 centimeters; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moderately decomposed plant material; weak medium granular structure; very friable, strongly acid, clear wavy boundary.

Oa -- 8 to 18 centimeters; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) channery highly decomposed plant material; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; 2 percent fine strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) redox concentrations; 10 percent channers and 5 percent gravels; slightly acid; many very fine to coarse very coarse roots throughout; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 19 cm thick.)

Bg -- 18 to 33 centimeters; gray (10YR 5/1) channery clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; 10 percent fine brown (7.5YR 4/4) redox concentrations; 15 percent channers, 5 percent flagstones, and 5 percent gravels; neutral; few very fine to medium roots throughout.; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 40 cm thick.)

BC -- 33 to 46 centimeters; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) gravelly loam; weak medium platy structure; friable; 5 percent fine grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2), moist, redox depletions and 5 percent medium distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4), moist, redox concentrations; 15 percent gravels, 10 percent channers, 5 percent flagstones; neutral; few very fine to fine roots throughout; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 25 cm thick.)

Cd -- 46 to 99 centimeters; olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) gravelly loam; massive; firm; 20 percent fine dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6), moist, redox concentrations and 20 percent medium grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2), moist, redox depletions; 15 percent gravels, 10 percent channers, 5 percent flagstones; neutral; gradual smooth boundary.

Cdg -- 99 to 165 centimeters; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) gravelly loam; massive; firm; 10 percent fine dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6), moist, redox concentrations and 20 percent medium light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2), moist, redox depletions; 15 percent gravels, 10 percent channers, 5 percent flagstones; slightly alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Aroostoock County, Maine; Township 19, Range 11; 21 miles from the town of Dickey Maine, through the Little Black Gate on the Falls Brook logging road. USGS Hafey Pond, ME topographic quadrangle; Latitude 47 degrees, 19 minutes, 8.1 seconds N. and Longitude 69 degrees, 7 minutes, 37.4 seconds W., NAD 1983.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 25 to 55 centimeters. Depth to bedrock is more than 165 centimeters. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 50 percent in the O and A horizons, and in the Eg horizon where present, and from 5 to 30 percent in the B and Cd horizons. Rock fragments are mainly channers, gravel, and cobbles. Stones cover 0 to 15 percent of the surface. Clay content is 18 to 27 percent throughout the particle size control section and substratum.

The O horizons where present, have hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. They are very friable or friable. They are extremely acid to slightly acid.

The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. It is very friable or friable, and extremely acid to moderately acid.

The Eg horizon where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2. It is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. It is very friable to firm, and extremely acid to strongly acid.

The B horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is loam, silt loam, or clay loam, but includes fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate very fine to medium granular, subangular blocky, or weak or moderate, thin or medium platy which parts in some pedons to weak or moderate, very fine subangular blocky structure. It is very friable, friable, or firm, and very strongly acid to neutral.

The BC horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has moderate or strong, coarse or very coarse prismatic, weak or moderate medium or thick platy, or weak or moderate, fine or medium subangular blocky structure. It is friable to very firm, and strongly acid to neutral.

The Cd layer has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is dominantly loam or silt loam but includes clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. Any soil structural units in the Cd horizon are considered to be geogenic and are generally platy or prismatic. The Cd layer is firm or very firm. Reaction is strongly acid to slightly alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Brayton series. Brayton soils have less than 10 percent clay throughout the particle size control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Aurelie soils are on lower slopes of ridges and on till plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in till derived mainly from slates, metasandstones, phyllites and shales. The mean annual temperature ranges from 3 to 7 degrees C and mean annual precipitation ranges from 86 to 116 centimeters. The frost free season ranges from 80 to 105 days. Elevation ranges from 36 to 762 meters above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Daigle, Elliottsville, Monson, Perham, Thorndike, and Winnecook soils. The Daigle and Perham soils are better drained, receiving less runoff or having steeper slopes. The Elliottsville, Monson, Thorndike, and Winnecook soils are better drained, shallower to bedrock, and are on higher positions on the landscape.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Poorly drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderate high or high in the solum and low to moderately high in the underlying material. A fluctuating water table is at or near the mineral soil surface for 7 to 9 months of the year.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. Forest vegetation is mainly balsam fir, northern white cedar, red spruce, paper birch, red maple, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, yellow birch, black spruce, and black ash.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern and eastern Maine and eastern New York. MLRA's 143, 144B, and 146. Estimated extent is moderate.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Columbia County, New York, 1985.

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

a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 18 centimeters (Oa1 and Oa2 horizons).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 18 to 46 centimeters (Bg and BC horizons).
c. Densic contact - at 46 centimeters (Cd layer).
d. Aquic conditions - redoximorphic features at 8 cerntimeters.

ADDITIONAL DATA: This pedon is characterized by the National Soil Survey Laboratory in Lincoln Nebraska, reference pedon 09N0145. Climate data is from US official station #171472 station Clayton Lake, Maine.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.