LOCATION ELMWOOD ME+MA NH NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over clayey, mixed over illitic, superactive, frigid Aquic Dystric Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Elmwood fine sandy loam - grassland. (Colors are for moist soil)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many grass roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--9 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common roots; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 9 inches thick)
Bw2--16 to 21 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) sandy loam; massive; friable; few roots; common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
Eg--21 to 23 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) sandy loam; massive; friable; common medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
2Bw--23 to 31 inches; pale olive (5Y 6/3) silty clay loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; firm; few films of clay or silt on vertical faces of peds and very few on horizontal faces; thin films of silt and clay in root channels and pores; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
2C--31 to 65 inches; olive (5Y 4/3) silty clay loam; greenish gray (5GY 6/1) faces of peds; moderate medium and thick platy structure; firm; manganese stains on faces of peds; thin discontinuous films of fine silt on all faces; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Sagadahoc County, Maine; Town of Topsham; along Maine Route 24, about one-half mile south of the cemetery; USGS Brunswick, ME topographic quadrangle; latitude 43 degrees, 56 minutes, 22 seconds N., longitude 69 degrees, 53 minutes, 03 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the underlying fine-textured material ranges dominantly from 20 to 40 inches with a few pedons ranging to 18 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. The coarse-loamy material has 0 to 3 percent rock fragments and the clayey material lacks rock fragments. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid above the lithologic discontinuity and from moderately acid to slightly alkaline below. Thin horizons of loamy sand or loamy fine sand occur in some pedons above the lithologic discontinuity.
The Ap, or A horizon where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam or loam. It has weak or moderate fine granular structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Bw horizon has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam or loam except thin layers of loamy sand or loamy fine sand are allowed. It has weak or moderate very fine or fine granular or subangular blocky structure or it is massive. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Eg horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam or silt loam. It has weak thin to thick platy structure that may part to subangular blocky, or the horizon is massive.
The 2Bw horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is clay loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay. It has weak or moderate, very fine to medium subangular blocky structure.
The 2C horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Some pedons have thin strata of coarser material ranging from sand to silt below a depth of 40 inches. It has weak or moderate, very fine to medium subangular blocky, moderate medium to very thick platy, or prismatic structure that parts to blocky, or the horizon is massive. Thin films of silt or clay are present on faces of peds in some pedons. Some pedons have manganese stains on faces of peds in the lower part of the horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: Elmwood is currently the only series in this family. Eldridge soils are similar but have a mesic temperature regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Elmwood soils are on glaciolacustrine, marine or outwash plains and deltas. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. These soils formed in loamy outwash or lacustrine materials underlain by fine-textured lacustrine or marine deposits. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual temperature ranges from 43 to 46 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 55 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 130 to 190 days. Elevation ranges from 5 to 900 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Adams, Allagash, Biddeford, Buxton, Lamoine, Madawaska, Melrose, Scantic, Suffield, Swanton, and Whately series. Adams, Allagash and Madawaska soils do not have the fine-textured substratum and are in similar or higher positions on the landscape. Biddeford and Whately soils are very poorly drained soils in depressions. Buxton, Lamoine, Scantic and Suffield soils do not have the coarse-loamy mantle. Melrose soils are well drained and in higher positions on the landscape. Swanton soils are somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained soils in lower positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Permeability is moderately rapid in the loamy mantle and slow to very slow in the clayey substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil are used for hay and pasture with a small amount used for growing row crops and woodland. Common tree species are white pine, red oak, hemlock, sugar maple, beech, elm, gray birch and white birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and eastern New York; MLRA'S 101, 141, 142, 143, 144A, 144B and 145 (SEE REMARKS). The soil is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Connecticut Valley Survey, 1903.
REMARKS: 1. Elmwood soils were mapped and correlated as mesic soils prior to 1979. They were subsequently reclassified as having a frigid temperature regime and are now restricted to frigid areas. Its use in MLRA's 101, 144A, and 145 will be restricted. The Elmridge series is the mesic counterpart to Elmwood. 2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 9 to 31 inches (Bw1, Bw2 Bg, and 2Bw horizons).
c. Aquic conditions - redox features within 24 inches of the mineral soil surface.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Soil Interpretation Record Numbers for the Elmwood series are: Elmwood, ME004; and Elmwood Very Stony Variant, ME0053.