LOCATION BIDDEFORD ME+NH NJ

Established Series
Rev. KJL-WDH-NRB
02/2015

BIDDEFORD SERIES

The Biddeford series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils formed in glaciolacustrine or glaciomarine deposits on coastal lowlands and in river valleys. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or moderately high in the organic surface layer, moderately low or moderately high in the A or Eg horizon, and moderately low or low in the subsoil and substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 6 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation is about 1,040 mm at the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, illitic, nonacid, frigid Histic Humaquepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Biddeford muck in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Oa--0 to 35 cm; very dark brown (7.5YR 2.5/2) and black (7.5YR 2.5/1) muck (sapric material); weak coarse granular structure; very friable; common very fine and fine and few medium and coarse roots; strongly acid (pH 5.5 using pH meter in 1:1 water) ; abrupt smooth boundary. (20 to 40 cm thick)

A--35 to 47 cm; very dark gray (5Y 3/1) silt loam; weak thick platy structure; friable; slightly sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common fine faint gray (5Y 6/1) iron depletions; moderately acid (pH 5.9); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 15 cm thick)

Bg1--47 to 66 cm; light bluish gray (10B 7/1) silty clay loam; weak coarse prismatic structure; friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine and fine roots; common medium prominent grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) masses of oxidized iron between peds; moderately acid (pH 5.9); gradual smooth boundary.

Bg2--66 to 82 cm; bluish gray (10B 6/1) silty clay loam; weak coarse prismatic structure; firm, very sticky and very plastic; few very fine and fine roots; common fine prominent light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) masses of oxidized iron throughout; slightly acid (pH 6.4); gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bg horizon is 15 to 61 cm.)

Cg1--82 to 124 cm; light bluish gray (5PB 7/1) silty clay; massive; firm, very sticky and very plastic; common medium prominent pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) masses of oxidized iron throughout; slightly acid (pH 6.2); gradual smooth boundary.

Cg2--124 to 165 cm; gray (5Y 6/1) silty clay; massive; firm, very sticky and very plastic; common coarse prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and common medium prominent pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) masses of oxidized iron throughout; slightly acid (pH 6.4) .

TYPE LOCATION: Penobscot County, Maine; Town of Alton; 65 feet south of the Alton Tannery Road and 615 feet east of where Pug Brook crosses the Alton Tannery Road; USGS South LaGrange topographic quadrangle; lat. 45 degrees 1 minute 34 seconds N. and long. 68 degrees 46 minutes 37 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 58 to 142 cm. Depth to bedrock is more than 150 cm. Rock fragment content throughout the soil ranges from 0 to 3 percent by volume. Stones cover from 0 to 3 percent of the surface. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid in the surface organic horizon, from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the subsurface horizon, from strongly acid to slightly acid in the subsoil and from slightly acid to slightly alkaline in the substratum.

The O horizon is neutral in hue or has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 0 to 2. It is muck or mucky peat.

The A horizon has a hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 2 to 4 and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture in the fine-earth fraction is commonly silt loam or silty clay loam but includes silty clay in some places.

Some pedons have an Eg horizon that is neutral in hue or has hue of 5Y, 5BG, or 5GY, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture in the fine-earth fraction is commonly silt loam or silty clay loam but includes silty clay in some places.

The Bg and BCg horizons (where present) are neutral in hue or have hue of 5Y or 5GY, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture in the fine-earth fraction is silty clay loam, silty clay or clay.

The Cg horizon is neutral in hue or has hue of 5Y, 5BG, 5GY, 5G, or 5B, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture in the fine-earth fraction is silty clay loam, silty clay or clay.

COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in the same family. The Fonda, Livingston, and Maybid series are in related families. These soils are mesic. Fonda and Livingston soils have mollic epipedons and Livingston soils have over 60 percent clay in the control section. Maybid soils have umbric epipedons.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Biddeford soils are on coastal lowlands and in river valleys. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. The soils formed in fine textured glaciolacustrine or glaciomarine deposits. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual temperature ranges from 5 to 7 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 860 to 1,320 mm. The frost-free season ranges from 90 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 2 to 275 m above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Buxton, Elmwood, Lamoine, Scantic, Swanton, and Whately soils on nearby landscapes. The Buxton, Lamoine and Scantic soils are members of a drainage sequence with Biddeford soils on the same landscape but in higher positions. The Elmwood, Swanton, and Whately soils have a coarse-loamy over clayey particle-size class. Elmwood and Swanton soils are in higher positions on the landscape and Whately soils are in similar positions.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Very poorly drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or moderately high in the organic surface layer, commonly moderately high in the A or Eg horizon but the range includes moderately low, and moderately low or low in the subsoil and substratum. The soil is intermittently ponded.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly woodland. Common tree species include northern white cedar, red spruce, black spruce, balsam fir and red maple. Willows, alders, cattails, reed canary grass, and sedges are common in non-wooded areas.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Dominantly in Maine but the extent includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire, eastern New York, and Vermont (MLRAs 143 and 144B). The series is of large extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: York County, Maine, 1941.

REMARKS: Biddeford soils were originally classified as mesic. Classification was changed to frigid in 1978. The new series type location was proposed in 2014 (Site/pedon ID 2012ME019015) because the previous pedon (in York County, Maine) was classified as mesic. Biddeford soils correlated in mesic areas in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont have been or will be recorrelated to a mesic series in future MLRA projects. Petrographic data shows the major clay fraction is illitic. Reaction for all horizon, including organic measured in field using pH meter in 1:1 water. Measured results factored for use in determining classification.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Histic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 35 cm (Oa horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 47 to 82 cm (Bg horizon).
3. Reduced matrix - the zone from 47 to 165 cm (Bg and Cg horizons).
4. Nonacid feature - the pH is 5.0 or more in 0.01M calcium chloride in at least some part of the control section the zone from 66 to 100 cm (Bg2 and Cg1 horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: ADDITIONAL DATA: Historic Soil Interpretation Record numbers for the Biddeford series are Biddeford, ME0045; Biddeford, stony, ME0085.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.