LOCATION CHESHIRE CT MA NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Cheshire fine sandy loam - cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap-- 0 to 8 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) fine sandy loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots; 5 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 8 to 16 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; 10 percent gravel; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 16 to 26 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine roots; 10 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 12 to 35 inches.)
C-- 26 to 65 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) gravelly sandy loam; massive; very friable with firm lenses; 20 percent gravel and cobbles; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: New Haven County, Connecticut; town of Wallingford, 50 feet east of Northford Road and 500 feet north of the junction of Northford and Anderson Roads. USGS Wallingford topographic quadrangle, Latitude 41 degrees, 24 minutes, 57 seconds N., Longitude 72 degrees, 46 minutes, 23 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 20 through 38 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 5 to 35 percent by volume throughout the soil. Except where the surface is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded gravel and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, reaction ranges from is very strongly acid through moderately acid.
The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Dry value is 6 or more. Undisturbed pedons have a thin A horizon with value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 through 3. The Ap or A horizon is sandy loam to silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is friable or very friable.
The Bw horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is sandy loam to silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. The Bw horizon has weak granular or subangular blocky structure, or it is massive. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a BC horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 10R to 5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Pockets or thin lenses of loamy sand are in some pedons. The horizon is massive or it has weak platy structure. Consistence is commonly very friable or friable, but the range includes firm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other soils in the same family.
The Ashe, Brookfield, Buladean, Cardigan, Chadakoin, Charlton, Chatfield, Chestnut, Ditney, Dutchess, Edneyville, Fedscreek, Hazel, Lordstown, Marrowbone, Maymead, Newport, Riverhead, Soco, St. Albans, Stecoah, Steinsburg, Stinger, Tipshaw, Valois, and Yalesville soils are in closely related families. Ashe, Cardigan, Chatfield, Ditney, Hazel, Lordstown, Marrowbone, Steinsburg, and Yalesville soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to bedrock. Brookfield soils have many mica flakes, are dominated by micaceous schist rock fragments, and have 7.5YR or yellower hue in the C horizon. Charlton, Dutchess, Fedscreek, Maymead, St. Albans, and Valois soils have hue of 7.5YR or yellower in the B and C horizons. Chestnut soils formed in residuum and have weathered bedrock at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Edneyville soils formed in residuum and have a C horizon of saprolite. Riverhead soils have a stratified sand and gravel substratum within a 20 to 40 inch depth. Satsop soils receive 60 to 80 inches of precipitation annually.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cheshire soils are nearly level through very steep and are on till plains and upland hills. Slope ranges from 0 through 60 percent. The soils formed in acid glacial till derived mostly from reddish sandstone, shale, and conglomerate with some basalt. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 through 52 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 through 50 inches, and the growing season ranges from 130 through 185 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berlin, Branford, Broadbrook, Ellington, Hartford, Holyoke, Ludlow, Manchester, Menlo, Penwood, Wapping, Watchaug, Wethersfield, Wilbraham, and Yalesville soils. The moderately well drained Watchaug soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Berlin soils are on lacustrine terraces. Branford, Ellington, Hartford, Manchester, and Penwood soils are on nearby outwash terraces and are underlain by stratified sand and gravel. Broadbrook, Ludlow, and Wethersfield soils have a dense substratum. Holyoke soils have bedrock within a 10 to 20 inch depth. Menlo and Wilbraham soils are very poorly drained and poorly drained, respectively. Wapping soils are moderately well drained and have 7.5YR or yellower hue in the B horizon.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is medium to rapid. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for cultivated crops, hay, or pasture. Some areas are used for vegetables, nursery stock, and other specialty crops. Scattered areas are used for community development. Stony areas are mostly wooded. Common trees are northern red, white, and black oak, hickory, ash, sugar maple, red maple, gray birch, eastern white pine, and eastern hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and in southeastern New York. MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hamden County, Massachusetts, 1928.
REMARKS: This revision reflects change in soil taxonomy to the 8th edition of the Keys and general updating. Cation exchange activity class placement based upon limited lab data and a review of similar and associated soils.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 8 to 26 inches (Bw horizons).