LOCATION HERO CT+MA NJ VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aquic Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Hero gravelly loam - pasture, 2 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) gravelly loam; pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine roots; 15 percent gravel; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--9 to 18 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) gravelly silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and very fine roots; 20 percent gravel; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--18 to 24 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) gravelly silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; 25 percent gravel; few medium and fine distinct grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) and olive gray (5Y 5/2) iron depletions and few medium and fine distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons with less than 50 percent fine and coarser sand is 12 to 34 inches)
Bw3--24 to 27 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) gravelly sandy loam; massive; very friable; 30 percent gravel; slight effervescence; common fine and medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation and grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) iron depletions; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
2C--27 to 60 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) and dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) extremely gravelly sand; few thin lenses of gravelly sandy loam; single grain; loose; 50 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; few strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and gray (N 6/ ) weathered limestone pebbles; few fine and medium distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; slight effervescence; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Litchfield County, Connecticut; town of Sharon, 700 feet due south of the junction of Connecticut Route 361 and Mudge Pond Road; on the USGS Sharon topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 53 minutes 24 seconds N., longitude 73 degrees 28 minutes 55 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 18 to 36 inches and typically corresponds to the depth of the sandy and gravelly substratum. Rock fragments range from 5 to 35 percent in the solum and from 15 to 65 percent in the substratum. Typically, 75 percent or more of the rock fragments are rounded pebbles. The soil is moderately acid to neutral in the A horizon, moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the B horizon and neutral to moderately alkaline in the 2C horizon. Carbonates are within a depth of 40 inches.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4 and chroma of 1 to 3. 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 silt loam, loam or fine sandy loam in the fine earth. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is friable or very friable.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 6. Subhorizons with chroma of 2 are below a depth of 20 inches. The Bw horizon has iron depletions above a depth of 24 inches. It is silt loam, loam or fine sandy loam with less than 50 percent fine and coarser sand, except some pedons have a sandy loam subhorizon less than 5 inches thick just above the 2C horizon. The Bw horizon has weak or moderate granular or subangular blocky structure or it is massive. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture ranges from loamy fine sand to coarse sand in the fine earth. Rock fragments in individual layers range from 5 to 65 percent, but the weighted average is more than 15 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family.
Amenia, Belgrade, Copake, Dover, Ellington, Galway, Georgia, Grenville, Hogansburg, Lenox, Minoa, Nellis, Ninigret, Pawling, Pittsfield and Stockbridge series are similar soils in related families. Amenia, Georgia and Hogansburg soils have a loamy glacial till substratum. Belgrade soils lack carbonates within 40 inches and are coarse-silty. Copake soils lack iron depletions within a 24 inch depth. Dover, Grenville, Lenox, Nellis, Pittsfield and Stockbridge soils lack iron depletions and have a loamy glacial till substratum. Ellington and Ninigret soils lack carbonates. Galway soils lack redoximorphic features and are 20 to 40 inches deep to bedrock. Minoa soils are coarse-loamy and have less than 5 percent rock fragments. Pawling soils are on floodplains and have an irregular decrease in organic carbon with depth.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Hero soils are nearly level and gently sloping soils on glaciofluvial landforms. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in loamy over stratified sandy and gravelly glacial outwash derived mainly from limestone, shale, schist, sandstone and dolomite. Mean annual temperature is 45 to 50 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, Copake, Dover, Fredon, Georgia, Groton, Hadley, Halsey, Hazen, Kendaia, Lenox, Massena, Nellis, Palmyra, Pittsfield , Stockbridge, and Winooski soils on nearby landscapes. The excessively drained Groton, well drained Copake, Hazen and Palmyra soils, somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained Fredon and very poorly drained Halsey soils are drainage associates on terraces. Hadley and Winooski soils are on floodplains. Dover, Lenox, Nellis, Pittsfield, and Stockbridge soils are located on nearby glacial till uplands. Amenia, Georgia, Kendaia and Massena soils are wetter associates on nearby glacial till uplands.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Surface runoff is slow to medium. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the solum and rapid or very rapid in the substratum. The soil has a seasonal high water table.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are in cultivated crops, hay and pasture. Common crops are silage corn and grass-legume hay. Some areas are wooded or in community development. Common trees are red, white, and black oak, white ash, red maple, sugar maple, beech, black birch, black cherry, hemlock and white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciofluvial landforms in western Connecticut, western Massachusetts, northern New Jersey, and Vermont; MLRAs 142 and 144A. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Dutchess County, New York, 1941.
REMARKS: This revision reflects general updating.
The horizons and features diagnostic for the typical pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon from 0 to 9 inches (Ap).
2. Cambic horizon from 9 to 27 inches (Bw1, Bw2, Bw3).
3. Carbonates within a 40 inch depth (Bw3 and 2C horizons).
4. Particle-size control section that is coarse-loamy to 27 inches and contrasting sandy or sandy-skeletal below.
5. Iron depletions within a 24 inch depth (Bw2 horizon).
6. Mesic temperature and udic moisture regimes.