LOCATION DAIGLE MEEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Daigle silt loam on a 7 percent northwest-facing concave slope in a very stony cut-over wooded area, at an elevation of about 274 meters. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oa-- 0 to 8 centimeters; black (7.5YR 2/1) highly decomposed organic material; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine to coarse roots throughout; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 9 centimeters thick.)
E-- 8 to 15 centimeters; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam; weak very thin platy structure; very friable; common very fine to medium roots throughout; 8 percent channers; extremely acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 12 centimeters thick.)
Bs1-- 15 to 22 centimeters; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common very fine and fine roots throughout; 5 percent channers; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bs2-- 22 to 30 centimeters; brown (7.5YR 4/4) loam; moderate fine parting to medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common very fine and fine roots throughout; 5 percent channers; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bs3-- 30 to 40 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loam, moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots throughout; 5 percent channers and 2 percent flagstones; common fine prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) areas of iron depletion and common fine faint brown (7.5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (The combined thickness of the BS horizon is 12 to 45 centimeters.)
BC-- 40 to 55 centimeters; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) loam; strong medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots throughout; 8 percent channers and 3 percent flagstones; common medium and coarse faint light olive gray (5Y 6/2) areas of iron depletion and common fine and medium distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 18 centimeters thick.)
Cd-- 55 to 165 centimeters; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/3) channery loam; firm; 5 percent very fine vesicular pores; 10 percent channers and 5 percent flagstones; common medium and coarse distinct olive gray (5Y 4/2) and common fine and medium faint light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion; strong medium subangular blocks; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Piscataquis County, Maine; T7 R10 WELS; 1.4 kilometers south-west from the East Branch Bridge and about .32 kilometers north of the Baxter State Park Boundary; USGS Frost Pond topographic quadrangle; Lat. 46 degrees, 13 minutes, 12 seconds N., Long. 68 degrees, 58 minutes, 17 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 25 through 58 centimeters. Depth to the dense till ranges from 25 to 51 centimeters from the top of the mineral soil surface. Depth to bedrock is greater than 152 centimeters. Rock fragments range from 5 to 35 percent by volume. The rock fragments are commonly dominated by channers and gravel followed in order of prevalence by flagstones, cobbles, and stones. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through moderately acid in the solum and very strongly acid through slightly alkaline in the substratum. Clay content ranges from 18 through 27 percent in the particle size control section.
The O horizon, where present has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 4. It is fibric, sapric and/or hemic material.
The Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 6 or 7, and chroma of 1 or 2.
The Bh or Bhs horizons, where present, have hue of 5YR through 10YR, with value and chroma of 3 or less. The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 8. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Cd layer has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is silty clay loam, silt loam, loam or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. Arrangement of soil particles into aggregates is considered to be inherited from the parent material(geogenic). Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family.
The Conant and Perham are soils in related families. Conant soils lack the dense lodgement till substratum. Perham soils are moderately deep to dense till and are moderately well drained.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Daigle soils are on till plains and ridges. The soils formed in dense till derived mainly from slate, shale, metasediments, and some phyllite. Slope is dominantly 2 through 8 percent but ranges from 0 through 25 percent. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual average precipitation ranges from 905 through 1002 millimeters, and mean average annual temperature is 3.1 Celsius. The frost-free season ranges from 80 through 105 days. Elevation ranges from 37 through 579 meters above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Aurelie, Elliottsville, Ragmuff, Monson, and Perham soils. Aurelie soils are poorly drained and on lower slopes. Elliottsville, Ragmuff, and Monson soils are shallower to bedrock and occupy the highest positions in the landscape. Perham soils are better drained and occupy higher positions in the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral solum and low or moderately low in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forest. Common tree species include red spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, northern white cedar and to a lesser extent sugar maple, red maple, paper birch, yellow birch, and quaking aspen. Cleared areas are mostly in hay and pasture. Some areas are used for potatoes and oats where they occur adjacent to better drained soils.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern and eastern Maine; MLRAs 143 and 146. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Aroostook County, Maine; 1960.
REMARKS: This revision reflects reclassification from Loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods to Loamy, mixed, active, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods to conform with Keys to Soil Taxonomy 11th Edition. See below for reference pedon information.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 15 centimeters (Oa and E horizons).
b. Albic horizon - the zone from 8 to 15 centimeters (E horizon).
c. Spodic horizon - the zone from 15 to 30 centimeters (Bs1 and Bs2 horizons).
d. Aquic feature - redoximorphic features within 76 centimeters of the mineral soil surface.
e. Densic contact - at 55 centimeters (47 centimeters from the mineral soil surface).
f. Densic materials - 55 to 165 centimeters (Cd horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: This pedon was sampled in 2007, USDA - NRCS National Soil Survey Laboratory pedon number 09NO161. Other source of data used in establishing taxonomic class and range in characteristics are Maine Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin Number 75; NRCS characterization data; and composite data from the Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems compiled by Dr. Paul R. Hepler, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Maine at Orono, Orono, Maine.