LOCATION ESSEX MA
Established Series
Rev. DGG-SJH
01/2013
ESSEX SERIES
The Essex series consists of well drained soils formed in sandy subglacial till on uplands. They are very deep to bedrock and moderately deep to a densic contact. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in the subsoil and moderately high in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is 48 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is about 43 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, mesic Oxyaquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Essex fine sandy loam on a 20 percent slope in a stony wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oe--0 to 2 inches; moderately decomposed plant material
A--2 to 5 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles, 3 percent stones; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bw1--5 to 17 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) cobbly sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine roots; 10 percent gravel, 7 percent cobbles, 3 percent stones; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2--17 to 28 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) cobbly loamy sand; massive; very friable; common fine and few coarse roots; 10 percent gravel, 8 percent cobbles; 2 percent stones; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw3--28 to 31 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) cobbly loamy sand; massive; very friable; common fine and few coarse roots; 15 percent gravel; 8 percent cobbles, 2 percent stones; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 6 to 40 inches.)
Cd--31 to 65 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) gravelly loamy sand; massive; firm; 25 percent gravel; 2 percent cobbles; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Hampden County, Massachusetts, Town of Monson, 30 feet Northwest of Cedar Swamp Road in woodland, 1400 feet Northeast of its junction with Peck Bros. Road. USGS 7 1/2 minute Monson quadrangle: Latitude 42 degrees 3 minutes 46 seconds N. and longitude 72 degrees 18 minutes 21 seconds W.; NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 15 to 48 inches. Depth to the densic materials commonly is more than 19 inches but the range includes 15 to 35 inches. The volume of rock fragments larger than 3 inches ranges from 0 to 25 percent in the A horizon and 0 to 10 percent in the B and C horizons. Rock fragments smaller than 3 inches range from 5 to 35 percent in the A and B horizon and 10 to 35 percent in the C horizon. Some pedons have redoximorphic features in the lower part of the B horizon and in the Cd horizon. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid except where limed.
Some pedons have an O horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 4. Ap horizons have hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture of the A horizon ranges from loamy sand to fine sandy loam and includes gravelly analogs. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon. The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 1 or 2.
The Bw1 horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 4 through 7. Texture of the Bw1 horizon is sandy loam and includes gravelly analogs. Maximum depth of sandy loam texture is 18 inches from the soil surface.
The Bw2 and Bw3 horizons have hue of 10YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 7, and chroma of 3 through 8. Texture of the Bw2 and Bw3 horizons is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, or their gravelly analogs. The B horizon has granular or subangular blocky structure or it is massive. It is friable or very friable.
The Cd horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 7, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, loamy coarse sand or their gravelly analogs. It has weak thin, medium or thick platy structure or it is massive. It is firm or very firm. Some pedons have friable C layers with loamy sand or sand textures and similar colors.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other soil series currently in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Essex soils occur on glacial till upland plains, hills and ridges. Slope gradients are mainly 3 to 25 percent but range from 0 to 35 percent. The regolith consists of sandy glacial till derived principally from granite and gneiss. The mean annual air temperature is 45 to 50 degrees F. and the mean precipitation is 35 to 50 inches. Average frost free period ranges from 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include
Canton,
Gloucester,
Merrimac,
Montauk and
Scituate soils on nearby landscapes. The poorly drained
Norwell and very poorly drained
Brockton soils are associated with Essex in drainage sequence. Canton and Gloucester soils lack a firm substratum. Merrimac soils formed in glacial outwash and are somewhat excessively drained. Montauk and Scituate soils have an 18 to 30 inch loamy mantle over a loamy sand firm substratum, and Scituate soils, in addition, have redoximorphic features in the lower part of the cambic horizon. Also associated are
Charlton and
Hollis soils on nearby landscapes. Charlton soils have fine sandy loam texture and lack a firm substratum. Hollis soils are less than 20 inches deep to bedrock. Other less extensively associated soils are the
Carver,
Hinckley and
Windsor which developed in thick deposits of sands and gravel on outwash plains.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium. Internal drainage is medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in the subsoil and moderately high in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly as woodland. Cleared areas are used for hay, pasture, silage corn, oats and potatoes or are idle. Native forest vegetation consists mainly of red, white, black and scarlet oak, red maple, sugar maple, beech, gray birch, white pine and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Massachusetts and possibly New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York; MLRAs 144A, 145, and 149B. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Essex County, Massachusetts, 1925.
REMARKS: Classification history for this soil: Entic Fragiorthods, Typic Fragiochrepts (1975), Typic Dystrochrepts (1983), and Oxyaquic Dystrochrepts (1997). The Montauk series, which includes soils with, fine sandy loam A and B horizons overlying a firm loamy sand substratum were included in the Essex series in New England prior to about 1965.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 5 inches (Oe and Ap horizon);
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 5 to 31 inches (Bw1,Bw2, and Bw3 horizons);
3. Densic contact - firm, root-restrictive layer at 31 inches (Cd horizon);
4. Oxyaquic subgroup - presence of water table at 18 to 24 inches November through March.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.