LOCATION BOONTON NJ+NY

Established Series
Rev. WDB-SG-SMF
12/2012

BOONTON SERIES

The Boonton series consists of deep or very deep moderately well and well drained soils formed in till on uplands. They are moderately deep to a fragipan. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low to high in the mineral soil above the fragipan, low or very low in the fragipan, and low to high below the fragipan. Mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C and mean annual precipitation is about 1090 millimeters.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Fragiudalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Boonton silt loam idle pasture, at an elevation of about 155 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap -- 0 to 20 centimeters; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and common medium and coarse roots; many fine and medium tubular pores; common uncoated sand grains; 5 percent subangular stones, cobbles, and gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (15 to 25 centimeters thick.)

BA -- 20 to 38 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine and common medium and coarse roots; common fine tubular pores; many coated sand grains; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 23 centimeters thick.)

Bt1 -- 38 to 58 centimeters; brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium and coarse roots; common fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on horizontal and vertical faces of peds; few distinct clay films lining pores; 15 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bt2 -- 58 to 76 centimeters; brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak coarse and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium and coarse roots; few fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on horizontal and vertical faces of peds; 20 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 30 to 56 centimeters.)

Btx -- 76 to 127 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) gravelly sandy loam; strong very thick platy structure; very firm, brittle; few roots between peds; few fine vesicular pores; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; 20 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles and stones; few fine distinct black (N 2/0) and few fine distinct brown (7.5YR 5/2) areas of iron depletion; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (25 to 76 centimeters thick.)

Cd -- 127 to 165 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) gravelly sandy loam; weak medium and thick platy structure in upper part and massive in lower part; very firm, brittle; 25 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles; slightly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Passaic County, New Jersey; Totowa Borough, 0.2 mile northeast of Totowa Road on Brookmans Lane, 585 feet east of Brookmans Lane in idle pasture. USGS Paterson quadrangle; Latitude 40 degrees, 54 minutes, 44 seconds N, Longitude 74 degrees, 12 minutes, 11 seconds W, NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 91 to more than 153 centimeteres. Depth to bedrock is more than 122 centimeters. The top of the fragipan is at a depth of 50 to 91 centimeters. In most pedons, the upper part of the fragipan is part of the argillic horizon. Few or common redoximorphic features are in some pedons, but depletions with chroma of 2 or less are absent within 40 centimeters of the mineral soil surface.Rock fragments of mostly rounded gravel occur throughout the soil, and range from 0 to 35 percent in individual horizons. Stones and cobbles range from 0 to 10 percent in the solum and from 0 to 20 percent in the substratum. Reaction is strongly acid to extremely acid in the upper part of the solum. It ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid in the lower part of the solum, and from moderately acid to neutral in the C horizon.

Some pedons have O horizons with hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. In lieu texture is slightly decomposed to highly decomposed plant material.

The Ap or A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture of the Ap or A horizon is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Some pedons have thin unplowed A horizons up to 5 centimeters thick with color and texture the same as the Ap.

The BA or BE horizon commonly has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR but the range includes 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction.

The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. Pedons with the redder hues have a higher proportion of red sandstone or shale. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is commonly moderate to weak, coarse to fine subangular blocky. Some pedons have platy structure in places.

The Btx or Bx horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate very coarse prismatic to moderate or strong, thin to very thick platy. It is very firm or firm, and brittle.

Some pedons may have a BC horizon.

The Cd or C horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is commonly loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loamy fine sand in the fine earth fraction but the range includes loamy sand in some places. It has weak medium to thick platy layers or is massive, and consistence ranges from very firm to very friable. In some pedons the C layer is loose friable till.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series currently in the same family.

The Readington, Rockaway, Turbotville, and Wooster series are in related families. Rockaway soils have rock fragments dominated by granitic gneiss and have less than 35 percent base saturation in the lower part of the solum and C horizon. Readington, Turbotville, and Wooster soils are fine-loamy.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Boonton soils are on gently sloping to very steep uplands. Slope is usually smooth and regular and gradient ranges from 0 to 50 percent. The soils formed in glacial till composed mostly of red to brown shale, sandstone, basalt, and some granitic gneiss. The climate is humid temperate. Mean annual temperature ranges from 10 to 14 degrees C and precipitation ranges from 1020 to 1140 millimeters. Frost free season is 130 to 150 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Holyoke and Haledon are the most extensive associated soils and are developed from similar materials. Holyoke soils are shallow to basalt bedrock and usually are on higher and steeper positions in the landscape. Haledon soils have low chroma depletions in the top 10 inches of the argillic horizon and are in lower positions in the landscape, in drainageways, or at the base of steeper slopes. Other associated soils are Riverhead and Dunellen which formed in stratified, water sorted material.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well and well drained. Runoff is slow to rapid. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low to high in the mineral soil above the fragipan, low or very low in the fragipan, and low to high below the fragipan. There is a perched water table at a depth of 46 to 91 centimeters from November to May of most years.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most Boonton soils are in areas that have become highly urbanized. Undeveloped sites are wooded or idle fields. Wooded areas have oaks, red maple, white ash, hickory, gray birch, and dogwood trees.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Till uplands in Northeastern New Jersey and southeastern New York. MLRA 144A and 149B. The series is of moderate extent (62,000 acres).

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Morris County, New Jersey 1971.

REMARKS: Alfisols classification is inferred from decreasing acidity and the high proportion of ultra basic grains and fragments in the lower part of the solum and C horizon. CE activity class is inferred from similar soils. Geographic coordinates were determined from the narrative description for the type location.

Diagnostic horizons and feature recognized in this pedon include:

1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 38 centimeters (Ap and BA horizons).
2. Argillic horizon - the zone from 38 to 127 centimeters (Bt1, Bt2, and Btx horizon).
3. Fragipan - the zone from 76 to 127 centimeters (Btx horizon).
4. Densic materials - the zone from 127 to 165 centimeters (Cd horizon).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.