LOCATION HUBBARDTON VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, acid, frigid Lithic Udorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Hubbardton very flaggy silt loam, on an 9 percent east facing slope in a very rocky wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 1 inches; slightly decomposed plant material. (0 to 8 inches thick)
A--1 to 4 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very flaggy silt loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many roots; 40 percent flagstones; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 7 inches thick)
Bw--4 to 6 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very flaggy silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many roots; 50 percent flagstones; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
R--6 inches; slightly weathered slate bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Rutland County, Vermont; Town of Middletown Springs, 2.25 miles north of Vermont Route 140 and 150 feet east of the Poultney Town Line.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock range from 2 to 10 inches. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid. Weighted average of rock fragments ranges from 35 to 60 percent. Rock fragments are primarily channers and flagstones. The fine-earth fraction is silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3.
The Bw horizon has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 8.
Bedrock is slightly weathered schist, phyllite, or slate.
COMPETING SERIES: The Schoodic series is in the same family. Schoodic soils have less than 45 percent silt in the particle size control section. The Quetico series is in a similar family. Quetico soils are from outside of Region R. They have less than 35 percent rock fragments in the solum and are shallow.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Hubbardton soils are on gently sloping to very steep glaciated uplands. They are on mountain side slopes, mountain tops, mountain ridges, hilltops, and hill slopes. Slope ranges from 0 to 80 percent. They formed in loamy till of Wisconsin age. Mean annual precipitation ranges from about 35 to 50 inches, and the mean annual air temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degrees F. The frost free season ranges from 90 to 135 days. Elevation ranges from 300 to 2000 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the very deep Dummerston soils, the moderately deep Macomber soils, and the shallow Taconic soils which are in slightly lower positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested. The common trees are oak, hickory, American hophornbeam, red maple, sugar maple, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, and red spruce. A few areas have been cleared and are used for pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Vermont and possibly Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Windham County, Vermont, 1984.
REMARKS: The diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 3 inches (A horizon).
b. Lithic feature - bedrock at 5 inches from the soil surface.