LOCATION BARTLETT VTInactive Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, frigid Lithic Dystrochrepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Bartlett silt loam on an east-facing slope of 10 percent in a very rocky wooded area. (Colors are for moist soils.)
Oa--0 to 2 inches; black (10YR 2/1) highly decomposed forest litter. (0 to 4 inches thick)
A--2 to 4 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common medium and many fine roots; 5 percent channers; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.
(2 to 4 inches thick)
Bw--4 to 17 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common medium and many fine roots; 10 percent channers; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
R--17 inches; hard, interbedded phyllite and limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Washington County, Vermont; Town of East Montpelier, 5280 feet south of East Montpelier Center and 1320 feet east of Blass Road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock range from 10 to 20 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid. The lower part of the solum is slightly acid in some pedons. Rock fragments are mostly channers and range from 5 to 30 percent throughout the solum.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 1 through 4. It is silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Bedrock is hard, interbedded phyllite and limestone.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Barto,
Insula, and
Hawksnest soils are in the same family. The Barto and Insula soils developed in glacial till derived mainly from granitic rocks and are underlain by granite.
The Hawksnest soils developed in glacial till derived mainly from sandstone.
The Elliotsville, Galoo, Glover, Macomber, Monson, Taconic, and Vershire soils and the tentative Trow soils are in related families. The Elliotsville, Glover, Monson, and Vershire soils have a spodic horizon. The Elliotsville and Vershire soils are moderately deep to bedrock. The Galoo soils are very shallow to bedrock. The Macomber and Taconic soils have a loamy-skeletal particle-size control section. The Macomber and Trow soils are moderately deep to bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Bartlett soils are gently sloping to very steep soils on the tops and sideslopes of hills, ridges, and mountains. Slopes range from 3 to 60 percent. The soils formed in loamy glacial till of Wisconsin age derived mainly from phyllite and limestone. 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 the very deep, somewhat poorly and poorly drained Brayton; very deep, well drained Dummerston; very deep, moderately well drained Fullam; very deep, very poorly drained Peacham; and moderately deep, well drained Trow soils. The Brayton and Peacham soils are on toeslopes and in depressions and drainageways. The Dummerston soils are on shoulders and back slopes. The Fullam soils are on footslopes. The Trow soils are on summits and shoulders.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. Common trees are quaking aspen, American beech, sugar maple, yellow birch, balsam fir, red spruce, eastern hemlock, and eastern white pine. A few areas are cleared and used for pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Vermont. The series is of moderate extent.
SERIES PROPOSED: Washington County, Vermont, 1985. The name is from a hill in the town of Plainfield.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 4 inches (A horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 4 to 17 inches (Bw horizon).
c. Dystrochrepts feature - the base saturation (by ammonium acetate) is less than 60 percent in all subhorizons between the depths of 10 to 20 inches below the soil surface.
d. Lithic feature - bedrock at 17 inches from the soil surface.