LOCATION HADLEY MA+CT NH VT
Established Series
Rev. WHT-SMF-MFF
01/2013
HADLEY SERIES
The Hadley series consists of very deep well drained soils formed in silty alluvium. They are nearly level soils on flood plains. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the surface layer and upper substratum and moderately high to very high in the lower substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 48 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is about 40 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, nonacid, mesic Typic Udifluvents
TYPICAL PEDON: Hadley silt loam-cultivated at an elevation of about 115 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 11 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silt loam, light gray (2.5Y 7/2) dry; weak and moderate fine and very fine granular structure; friable; slightly sticky, plastic; many fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 14 inches thick)
C1--11 to 28 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) silt; massive, evidence of fine stratification; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; few fine pores; strongly acid; gradual irregular boundary.
C2--28 to 40 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) and grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silt loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; common fine pores; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
C3--40 to 54 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) and brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; common very fine and fine pores; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
C4--54 to 68 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) silt loam; massive; friable, nonsticky, slightly plastic; few very fine and fine pores; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
2C5--68 to 72 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) and light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) loamy fine sand; massive; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Hampshire County, Massachusetts; City of Northampton, about 1 mile southeast of the west end of Coolidge Memorial Bridge on Route 9 and 3/4 mile northeast of the Northampton sewage treatment plant. USGS Mt. Holyoke quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees 19 minutes 14 seconds N., Longitude 72 degrees 37 minutes 8 seconds W..
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness and number of subsurface horizons correspond closely to the thickness and variability of the alluvial deposits. Reaction, to a depth of 40 inches, ranges from very strongly acid through neutral, but some subhorizon in each pedon is moderately acid or less acid. Reaction below 40 inches ranges from strongly acid through slightly alkaline. Rock fragments are absent or few to a depth of 40 inches.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Dry value is 6 or 7. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam.
The C horizons have hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6. They are silt to very fine sand to a depth of 40 inches. Some pedons have thin strata of loamy fine sand, fine sand, or sand. Below 40 inches the texture ranges from silt loam to sand.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Arenzville,
Belvue, and
Chaseburg series. All of these soils are from outside Region R. Arenzville soils have a buried A horizon more than 10 inches thick within 40 inches. Belvue soils have a mean annual temperature of 52 to 55 degrees F. Chaseburg soils have platy structure throughout the C horizon.
Juneau soils have a buried E horizon at a depth of 24 to 36 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Hadley soils are nearly level soils on flood plains and high bottoms. Slope gradients are mainly less than 3 percent. The soils formed in alluvial deposits consisting primarily of very fine sand and silt. Flooding by stream overflow ranges from once a year to once in 5 to 10 or more years. Flooding generally occurs during the early spring runoff or occasionally during periods of high rainfall in the fall. Floodwater seldom covers these soils for periods of more than 2 or 3 days on the high bottoms, but the duration is up to 7 days in the lower positions. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 50 inches; mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F; mean growing season ranges from 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Hadley soils are the well drained member of a drainage sequence which includes the moderately well drained
Winooski, the poorly drained
Limerick, and the very poorly drained
Saco soils.
Adams,
Agawam,
Allagash,
Colton,
Enfield,
Groveton,
Hartland,
Hinckley,
Merrimac,
Unadilla, and
Windsor soils are on nearby terraces. All these soils, with the exception of Enfield, Hartland and Unadilla, have more than 15 percent fine sand or coarser in the control section. Enfield, Hartland, and Unadilla soils have cambic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the surface layer and upper substratum and moderately high to very high in the lower substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas used for hay, pasture, and silage corn in support of dairying. Some areas in Massachusetts and Connecticut areas are also used for truck crops, potatoes, and tobacco. Some areas are in urban uses. The few areas of woodland have red maple, elm, silver maple, sycamore, willow, sugar maple, and white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 142, 143, 144A, 144B, and 145 in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and eastern New York. The series is extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hampden and Hampshire Counties, Massachusetts, 1928.
REMARKS: Although thickness is not quantified in the typical pedon this pedon dates to 1973 - the presence of fine stratification in the C1 horizon immediately below the Ap horizon is evidence of rock structure as defined by Soil Taxonomy (Ninth Edition 2003). The soil series as represented by the typical pedon - also does not possess decisive evidence of alteration in the form of the development of structure or color in more than 50 percent of the volume. Therefore, this soil does not meet Soil Taxonomy, Ninth Edition criteria for a cambic horizon. However, a review of published data was conducted and does suggest that fine stratification is not always present or was not described. Therefore, further investigation of Hadley soils throughout its extent may be requisite to determine the extent of stratification and other alteration. Soils formed in fluvial materials on similar landscapes have been determined to have cambic horizons and have been reclassified as Inceptisols (early 2000s). Interestingly though, historical data demonstrates an evolution of the Hadley series as a soil originally described on the high bottoms with some incipient development in the 1920s to one in the 1960s that has migrated off the high bottoms to lower positions on the floodplain with no genetic development below the surface layer. The soils original characteristics were not completely lost - despite some new series development based on textural and reaction properties - and so remained a part of the soils range, at least conceptually. Historical records of past studies and conclusions are on file at the MLRA Office in Amherst.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of 11 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Coarse-silty particle size - less than 10 percent of the material in the 10 to 40 inch zone is sand or coarser, including gravel, and clay averages about 7 percent.
3. Nonacid feature - reaction is moderately acid in the 28 to 40 inch zone.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data are available for the typical pedon: S70MA-8-1(1-8).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.