LOCATION GROTON CT+MA NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Typic Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Groton gravelly sandy loam in a hayfield a tan elevation of about 676 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine and few medium roots; 30 percent gravel; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 18 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) very gravelly sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common very fine and fine and few medium roots; 40 percent gravel; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 16 inches thick)
Bw2--18 to 24 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) very gravelly loamy sand; very weak fine granular structure; very friable; few very fine and fine roots; 50 percent gravel; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw3--24 to 30 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) very gravelly loamy sand; single grain; loose; few very fine roots; 50 percent gravel; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the sandy part of the Bw horizons is 4 to 18 inches)
C1--30 to 52 inches; light olive gray (5Y 6/2) extremely gravelly sand; single grain; loose; very few very fine roots; 65 percent gravel; slight effervescence; slightly alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (20 to 50 inches thick)
C2--52 to 72 inches; pale olive (5Y 6/3) gravelly sand; single grain; loose; 30 percent gravel; slight effervescence; secondary lime deposits on pebbles below 60 inches; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Litchfield County, Connecticut; town of Canaan, 800 feet southwest of Route 63 at a point 2200 feet northwest of the intersection of Route 126 and Route 63; USGS South Canaan topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 51 minutes 00 seconds North, longitude 73 degrees 18 minutes 36 seconds West, NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 12 to 36 inches. Gravel or gravel and cobbles range from 20 to 60 percent in the solum and from 25 to 70 percent in individual layers of the C horizon. Typically, 60 percent or more of the fragments are rounded pebbles. The soil is moderately acid to neutral in the upper part of the solum, moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the lower part of the solum and neutral to moderately alkaline in the C horizon. The soil is calcareous within a depth of 40 inches.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 to 4. Dry value is 6 or more. Undisturbed pedons have a thin A horizon with value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 to 3. The A or Ap horizon is dominantly sandy loam or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction, but ranges to loam. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is friable or very friable.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 3 to 6. Fine earth texture is fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the upper part and sandy loam, loamy fine sand or loamy sand in the lower part. Fine sandy loam or sandy loam texture extends to a depth of 12 to 24 inches. A few pedons have a thin layer of loam in the upper part of the horizon. The loamy subhorizons have weak or moderate granular or subangular blocky structure and the sandy subhorizons are single grain or have weak granular structure. Consistence is friable, very friable or loose.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 6. Color is typically a composite cast of individual sand grains. Texture of individual layers ranges from loamy fine sand to coarse sand in the fine earth. Many pedons have weathered limestone fragments.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family.
The,
Copake,
Gloucester, and
Hoosic, series are similar soils in related families. Copake soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal.
Gloucester and Hoosic soils are more acid.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Groton soils are nearly level to very steep soils on terraces, outwash plains, kames, eskers and moraines. Slope range from 0 to 60 percent. The soils formed in stratified sand and gravel deposits derived mainly from limestone, gneiss and schist. Mean annual temperature is 45 to 52 degrees F., mean annual precipitation is 36 to 50 inches and the growing season is 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Amenia, Dover, Farmington, Fredon, Georgia, Hadley, Halsey, Hero, Howard, Kendaia, Nellis, Palmyra, Pittsfield, Stockbridge and Winooski soils on nearby landscapes. The moderately well drained Hero, somewhat poorly and poorly drained Fredon and very poorly drained Halsey soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Amenia, Dover, Farmington, Georgia, Kendaia, Nellis, Pittsfield and Stockbridge soils, all of which formed in lime-bearing glacial till, are on nearby hills. Hadley and Winooski soils are on floodplains. Howard and Palmyra soils are finer textured, better developed soils on nearby terraces.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained. Surface runoff is negligible to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Some areas are cleared for use as cropland including hay and pasture. Common crops are silage corn and grass-legume hay. Many areas are used as woodland. Common trees are red, white and black oak, sugar maple, beech, white pine, cedar, red pine and gray birch. A few areas are in community development. Gravel is commonly excavated from areas of these soils.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciofluvial landforms of western Connecticut and western Massachusetts, Vermont and eastern New York; MLRAs 101, 142, and 144A. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Tompkins County, New York, 1920.
REMARKS: The horizons and features diagnostic for the typical pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon from 0 to 8 inches.
2. Cambic horizon from 8 to 18 inches (Bw1 horizon).
3. Carbonates within a depth of 40 inches (C1 horizon 30 to 52 inches).
4. Particle-size control section from 10 to 40 inches averages sandy-skeletal.
5. Mesic temperature and udic moisture regimes.