LOCATION DIXFIELD                ME+VT

Inactive Series
Rev. KJL-GTH-WDH
06/2015

DIXFIELD SERIES


The Dixfield series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils on drumlins and till ridges. These soils formed in dense till. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and moderately low or moderately high in the dense substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 4 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation is about 97 centimeters at the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Aquic Haplorthods

TYPICAL PEDON: Dixfield fine sandy loam, on an 8 percent north-facing slope in a very stony wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Oa -- 0 to 3 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) sapric material; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine and common medium roots; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 10 centimeters thick.)

E -- 3 to 10 centimeters; gray (5YR 6/1) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine and common medium roots; 5 percent gravel; extremely acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 10 centimeters thick.)

Bhs -- 10 to 18 centimeters; very dusky red (2.5YR 2/2) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine and common medium roots; 5 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 13 centimeters thick.)

Bs1 -- 18 to 30 centimeters; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common very fine and fine and few medium roots; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bs2 -- 30 to 51 centimeters; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; few very fine, fine and medium roots; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 7 to 48 centimeters thick.)

BC -- 51 to 64 centimeters; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots; common fine and medium distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions, and common fine and medium faint brown (7.5YR 4/4) and few fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; 10 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 38 centimeters thick.)

Cd -- 64 to 165 centimeters; olive (5Y 5/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; very firm; few fine faint light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions, and common medium distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) and few fine and medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; 10 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; strong very coarse prisms parting to moderate thin and medium plates; very strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Maine; Coplin Plantation; 0.5 mile on logging road which is the first left past Nash Stream on gravel road going south from Maine Route 16, 4.5 miles west of Stratton Village, 200 feet north of logging road; USGS Black Nubble, ME topographic quadrangle; Latitude 45 degrees, 04 minutes, 55 seconds N. and Longitude 70 degrees, 28 minutes, 44 seconds W., NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the mineral solum ranges from 51 to 91 centimeters. Depth to bedrock is more than 153 centimeters. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, and loam in the fine-earth fraction, but some pedons have very fine sandy loam or silt loam in the E horizon. The weighted average of clay in the particle-size control section is less than 10 percent. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid in the solum and from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the substratum. Rock fragments are predominantly gravel, channers, and cobbles with a few stones, and typically range from 5 to 30 percent throughout the mineral soil; in some pedons rock fragment content is less than 5 percent in A, E and/or Bhs horizons. Stones and boulders cover from 0 to 15 percent of the surface. Redoximorphic features in the BC and CB horizons (where present) are 40 centimeters or deeper from the mineral soil surface.

The Oa horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. Some pedons have an Oi and/or Oe horizons.

The A or Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR, with value and chroma of 2 to 4. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, with value and chroma of 2 to 3. The Bh horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value and chroma of 2 to 3. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The BC horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Consistence is friable or firm. Some pedons have a CB horizon with characteristics similar to the BC horizon.

The Cd horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Arrangement of soil particles into aggregates in the Cd horizon is considered to be geogenic and inherited from the parent material. Consistence is firm or very firm. Loose or friable segregated sand lenses with a horizontal orientation that are layered within a loamy matrix constitute 0 to 20 percent of the fabric of the till.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chesuncook, Crary, Dixmont, Howland, Peru, Ragmuff, Skerry, Sunapee, and Worden series. Chesuncook soils have a weighted average of more than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Crary soils have a thin aeolian or water deposited mantle. Dixmont and Sunapee soils lack dense till. Howland soils soils have more than 50 percent silt in the particle-size control section. Peru soils have been mapped to cover both moderately well and somewhat poorly drained conditions. Ragmuff soils have bedrock at depths of 50 to 100 cm. Skerry soils have between 20 to 80 percent segregated sand lenses in the substratum. Worden soils are somewhat poorly drained and have a Bh horizon greater than 10 centimeters thick.

The Colonel, Mundal, and Telos series are in related families. Colonel soils have redoximorphic features between depths of 18 to 40 centimeters from the mineral soil surface. Mundal soils have a spodic horizon greater than 45 centimeters thick or a Bh horizon greater than 10 centimeters thick. Telos soils have a weighted average of more than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Dixfield soils are on drumlins and till ridges. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent, but commonly is less than 20 percent. The soils formed in dense till of Wisconsin Age derived mainly from mica schist, granite, phyllite, and gneiss. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual temperature ranges from 3 to 7 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 86 to 122 centimeters. The frost-free season ranges from 90 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 2 to 762 meters above mean sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berkshire, Colonel, Lyman, Marlow, Monadnock, and Tunbridge soils. The Berkshire, Marlow, Monadnock, and Tunbridge soils are in higher topographic positions on the landscape and are better drained. Colonel soils are somewhat poorly drained and are in lower positions on the landscape. Lyman soils are shallow to bedrock and are on higher knolls on the landscape.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the solum and moderately low or moderately high in the dense substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forest. Common tree species include sugar maple, red maple, white ash, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, paper birch, yellow birch, red spruce, white spruce, and balsam fir. Areas cleared of stones are used mainly for hay and pasture. A few areas are used for cultivated crops.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine and Vermont. MLRA 143 and 144B The series is of large extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Oxford County, Maine, 1987.

REMARKS: 1. Dixfield soils were recorrelated to Peru soils as part of the national Soil Data Join Recorrelation initiative. The distinction between the two series was vague, and both were used to describe similar areas of soil on the landscape. Revisions to the Peru Range in Characteristics incorporated values from the Dixfield Official Series Description. As a result of this revision to Peru, the Dixfield series status was changed to inactive.

2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

a. Albic horizon - the zone from 3 to 10 centimeters (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 10 to 51 centimeters (Bhs, Bs1, and Bs2 horizons).
c. Cd horizon - very firm, dense till at a depth of 64 centimeters.
d. Aquic conditions - redoximorphic features at 51 centimeters below the soil surface.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Source of data used in establishing taxonomic class and range in characteristics is Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin 155, 1994.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.