LOCATION GREAT PIECE NJEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aeric Endoaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Great Piece loam, 1 percent slope, in a wooded area at an elevation of about 147 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)
Oi--0 to 1 inches; slightly decomposed plant material; extremely acid. (0 to 2 inches thick)
A--1 to 7 inches; black (10YR 2/1) loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 7 inches thick)
Btg1--7 to 12 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) sandy clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few patchy distinct clay films along pores and root channels; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and common medium faint dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Btg2--12 to 20 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) fine sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few patchy distinct clay films along pores and root channels; common medium distinct brown (10YR 4/3) and common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bt horizons is 8 to 24 inches.)
Bg--20 to 29 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) loamy fine sand; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common coarse prominent black (10YR 2/1) manganese concentrations and common distinct coarse dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
BC--29 to 33 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) loamy fine sand; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common medium distinct greenish gray (10Y 6/1) iron depletions; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Cg1--33 to 37 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) silt loam; massive; friable; many coarse prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation and few medium greenish gray (5G 5/1) iron depletions; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Cg2--37 to 50 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very fine sandy loam; massive; friable; common fine strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; neutral; clear wavy boundary.
Cg3--50 to 85 inches; dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) silt loam; massive; friable; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Essex County, New Jersey; Essex County, New Jersey; town of Fairfield, in Great Piece Meadows; 300 feet west of the western end of Marginal Road and 300 feet north of Route 80. USGS Pompton Plains topographic quadrangle; latitud 40 degrees 53 minutes 39.02 seconds N., longitude 74 degrees 17 minutes 49.31 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 45 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments are generally lacking but can range up to 5 percent in horizons within the solum, and to 15 percent in the C horizon. Unless limed, the reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid in the surface horizons, strongly acid to slightly acid in the B horizons, and slightly acid to slightly alkaline in the C horizons.
Some pedons have O horizons up to 2 inches thick.
A horizons have hues of 10YR to 2.5Y, values of 2 to 4 and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is sandy loam, silt loam or loam, and structure is fine to medium granular.
Some pedons have BA or BE horizons with hues of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, values of 3 to 6 and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is sandy loam, silt loam or loam, and structure is fine to medium subangular blocky.
Bt horizons have hues of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, or neutral, values of 3 to 6 and chroma of 0 to 6. Texture is sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, clay loam, sandy loam or loam. Some subhorizons may have less than 17 percent clay but the control section averages more than 17 percent clay. Structure is medium to coarse subangular blocky.
Bg horizons, where present, have hues of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, or neutral, values of 3 to 6 and chroma of 0 to 6. Texture is sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, clay loam, sandy loam or loam. Structure is medium to coarse subangular blocky.
BC horizons, where present, have hues of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, values of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 6. Texture is silt loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam or loamy sand. Structure is subangular blocky or massive.
C layers have hues of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, values of 5 to 6, chroma of 1 to 6. Texture is silt loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam or loamy sand. It is typically massive but some lenses of block-like aggregation may occur in places. Stratification is common.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Ayrshire, Crawleyville, Digby, Jimtown, Mitiwanga, Mongle, Sleeth, and Whitaker series. Ayrshire, Crawleyville, Digby, Mongle, Sleeth, and Whitaker soils are from outside of LRRs R and S.
Ayrshire soils are formed in aeolian materials. Crawleyville and Mongle soils are formed in alluvium. Digby and Jimtown soils average more than 15 percent rock fragments in the lower part of the series control section. Mitiwanga soils have bedrock at less than 40 inches. Sleeth soils are formed in loamy outwash underlain by calcareous gravelly and sandy outwash. Whitaker soils have an argillic horizon whose lower limit is deeper than 32 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Great Piece soils are formed in stratified sediments in glacial lake basins and outwash plains. Soil material is derived primarily from granitic gneiss, with some basalt and red sandstone. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. The mean annual temperature is from 45 to 50 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation is from 40 to 48 inches. The frost-free days are from 140 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the moderately well drained Horseneck soils and the and the somewhat poorly drained Pompton soils on higher positions on the landscape, and the poorly drained Preakness, Passaic and Parsippany soils on similar positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and substratum. In most years an apparent seasonally high ground water table is at or near the surface throughout the winter and early spring and following periods of heavy rainfall. Areas adjacent to major streams are subject to seasonal flooding.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used as woodland or meadows. Native vegetation is commonly pin oak, red maple, birch, and white oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeast New Jersey in the Passaic Basin area. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Essex County, New Jersey, 2003.
REMARKS: The Great Piece series was proposed as a poorly drained soil formed in stratified sediments in extreme southern MLRA 144A with textural particle size family intermediate between the Parsippany (fine) and Passaic (clayey over sandy or sandy skeletal) series. It is named for the nearby Great Piece Meadows in the Town of Fairfield.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 1 to 7 inches (A horizon).
2. Argillic horizon - the zone from 7 to 20 inches (Btg horizons).
3. Aquic suborder - the zone from 10 to 16 inches (Btg horizons).
4. Aeric subgroup - the zone from 29 to 31 inches (BC horizon).
5. Cation exchange activity class is superactive based upon limited lab data.
6. Particle size class - the zone from 7 to 20 inches averages fine loamy based upon an analysis of both NSSL characterization data and local particle size data (Btg1 & Btg2 horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Reference samples from pedon 100P329, samples 100P2021-2029 from Essex County, New Jersey by NSSL, Lincoln, NE, 12/2000.