LOCATION CANAAN NH+ME NY
Established Series
Rev. HRM-SALP
11/2021
CANAAN SERIES
The Canaan series series consists of shallow, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in loamy glacial till underlain by hard bedrock. They are on hills and mountain sides. These soils have moderately rapid to rapid permeability. Slopes range from 0 to 70 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches and mean annual temperature is about 44 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, frigid Lithic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Canaan very gravelly fine sandy loam - forested, rocky. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch; loose litter of leaves and twigs mostly beech, white birch and hemlock.
Oe--1 to 3 inches; partially decomposed litter.
E--3 to 6 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 45 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
Bs1--6 to 12 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) very gravelly fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 40 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Bs2--12 to 20 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) extremely gravelly fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; 65 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 6 to 18 inches.)
R--20 inches; granite bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Carroll County, New Hampshire; Town of Conway, Hurricane Mountain Road, 75 feet east and 60 feet north of vista site on west slope of Hurricane Mountain; about 0.7 mile west of height of land. USGS North Conway 15 minutes Quadrangle; 44 degrees 04 minutes 31 seconds N and 71 degrees 05 minutes 14 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock range from 10 to 20 inches. Rock fragments range from 20 to 40 percent in the surface or subsurface and from 30 to 65 percent in the subsoil. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid throughout the soil.
The O horizon is neutral or has hue 2.5YR through 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 0 through 2.
Some pedons have an A horizon up to 4 inches thick that has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma or 1 or 2. It is fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Some pedons have a Bh or Bhs horizon that has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3.
The Bs horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 4 through 6.
The B horizon is fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The R layer is commonly granite or gneiss.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Killington and
Thorndike series are members of the same family. Killington soils do not have channery rock fragments and are derived from gneiss and schist. Thorndike soils have higher silt content and rock fragments that are dominantly slate, shale and phyllite channers. The
Glover,
Hollis,
Lyman, and
Westminster series are in related families. All of these soils have less than 35 percent rock fragments; in addition, the Hollis soils have annual soil temperature of more than 47 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Canaan soils are on rocky hills and on mountains with elevations up to about 2,500 feet. Slope gradients typically are 15 to 50 percent, but range from 0 to 70 percent. The soils developed in a thin mantle of glacial till and in places frost fractured rock fragments derives principally from igneous rocks with less amounts of mica schist and gneiss. Outcrops of bedrock are common to many. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches, mean annual air temperature ranges from 40
to 45 degrees F., and frost-free season from 80 to 120 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the somewhat excessively drained
Hermon,
Lyman, and
Redstone soils and the well drained
Becket,
Berkshire,
Marlow, and
Monadnock soils. All of these soils occupy similar landscape positions. The Becket, Berkshire, Hermon, Marlow, and Monadnock soils are very deep. The Lyman soils have less rock fragments in the solum and the Redstone soils formed in fragmental materials.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Surface runoff is medium to rapid depending on slope and amount of bedrock exposure. Permeability of the solum is moderately rapid to rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. Forest vegetation is mainly red spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, eastern hemlock, paper birch, sugar maple, and American beech.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New Hampshire, Maine and eastern New York principally in the White Mountains and the Adirondacks. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grafton County, New Hampshire, 1936.
REMARKS: 1. The classification is updated from Loamy-skeletal, mixed, frigid Lithic Haplorthods to Loamy-skeletal, isotic, frigid Lithic Haplorthods. Competing series section revised accordingly.
2. Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
a. Albic horizon - the zone from 3 to 6 inches (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 6 to 20 inches (Bs horizon).
c. Lithic contact at 20 inches (R).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.