LOCATION BOXFORD MA+CT NHEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystric Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Boxford silt loam - on a 2 percent slope, in a hayfield. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 1 percent gravel; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
BA--9 to 12 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; many pores and root channels filled with dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) surface materials; 1 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bw1--12 to 17 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; many fine very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) oxide stains on faces of peds; 1 percent gravel; common medium faint grayish brown (10YR 5/2) redoximorphic depletions and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) redoximorphic concentrations; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 9 inches thick)
Bw2--17 to 20 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common fine roots; many patchy brown (10YR 4/3) coatings and many fine very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) oxide stains on faces of peds; 1 percent gravel; common medium faint grayish brown (10YR 5/2) redoximorphic depletions; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bw3--20 to 34 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) silty clay loam; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium coarse and very coarse blocky; firm; few fine roots; many continuous grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and dark gray (10YR 4/1) coatings and common patchy black (5YR 2/1) oxide stains on faces of peds and in root channels; 1 percent gravel; common fine distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) redoximorphic depletions and strong brown (10YR 5/6) redoximorphic concentrations; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
Bw4--34 to 44 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) silty clay loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm; few fine roots; continuous grayish brown (10YR 5/2) coatings on prism faces and discontinuous dark brown (10YR 3/3) coatings on faces of peds; common patchy black (5YR 2/1) oxide stains on faces of peds and in root channels; 1 percent gravel; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
C--44 to 65 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) silty clay loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium platy; firm; continuous grayish brown (10YR 5/2) coatings on prism faces; many medium black (5YR 2/1) oxide stains; 1 percent gravel; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Essex County, Massachusetts; Town of Ipswich, 900 feet north of the intersection of Essex Road and Northgate Road and 150 feet east of Northgate Road. Latitude 42 degrees 39 minutes 26 seconds N, longitude 70 degrees 48 minutes 34 seconds W.; USGS 7 1/2 minute Ipswich quadrangle; NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 50 inches. Gravel content throughout the soil is less than 5 percent by volume. The soil ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid in the upper part of the solum, unless limed, and from strongly acid through neutral in the lower part of the solum and in the C horizon. In undisturbed areas, many pedons have an upper sequum, 6 to 12 inches thick, consisting of thin 0e, Oa, E and Bh horizons. Some pedons have an E' and B' horizon.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Dry value is 6 or more. It is silt loam or silty clay loam and has moderate very fine to medium granular structure.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y. The upper part has value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium granular, or weak or moderate, very fine to medium subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or firm. The lower part of the B horizon has value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is silty clay loam or silty clay. It has weak or moderate, medium to very coarse prisms parting to weak or moderate, medium to very coarse subangular blocky or angular blocky structure. Most pedons have patchy to continuous coatings on prism faces with hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 0 through 2. Continuous coatings are below depths of 20 inches. Coatings range from thin to thick and are mostly fine silt. Most pedons have few to many oxide stains on ped faces in the lower parts of the B horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Structure is weak thin to thick platy with plates arranged in very coarse prisms, weak thin to thick platy, or the horizon is massive.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other known series in the same family.
The
Brancroft,
Buxton,
Minoa,
Munson, and
Suffield series are in related families. The Brancroft and Minoa soils have less than 35 percent clay. Buxton soils are frigid.
The Munson soils have a coarse-silty over clayey particle-size control section. Suffield soils do not have redoximorphic depletions with chroma of 2 or less within 24 inches of the surface and have a coarse-silty over clayey particle size particle size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Boxford soils formed in silty and clayey marine sediments. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. The climate is humid temperate. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 57 degrees F.; mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches and the mean growing season ranges from 130 to 195 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The well drained Suffield, poorly drained Scitico, and the very poorly drained Maybid soils are in the drainage sequence with Boxford soils. Other soils nearby on the landscape are the silty Belgrade, Hartland, and Raynham soils, and the loamy over sandy Agawam soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained to somewhat poorly drained. Permeability is slow in the upper part of the B horizon and slow to very slow in the lower part of the B and in the C horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: About half the soils are cleared and used for growing forage crops for livestock. Small areas are used for silage corn and vegetables. The remaining portion is forested with dominantly white pine and a mixture of northern hardwoods. Some areas are used for urban structures.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 144A and 145 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and MLRA 149B in southeastern Massachusetts. Extent is about 15,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hampshire County, Massachusetts, 1980.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 9 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 9 inches to a depth of about 44 inches (Bw horizon).
3. Fine particle size - weighted average of more than 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Typical pedon sampled for characterization, S78 MA-9-4.