LOCATION LOONMEADOW CTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid Mollic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Loonmeadow mucky fine sandy loam, on a 3 percent slope in a wooded area at an elevation of about 1390 feet. (Colors refer to moist and broken soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--0 to 2 inches; very dusky red (2.5YR 2.5/2) slightly decomposed plant material derived from forest leaf litter.
A--2 to 9 inches; black (10YR 2/1) mucky fine sandy loam, dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) dry; weak fine to medium granular structure; friable; many fine to coarse roots; 2 percent gravel, 1 percent cobbles, 1 percent stones; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 7 inches thick)
Bg--9 to 18 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) sandy loam; weak fine to medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine to coarse roots; 8 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles, 1 percent stones; few fine faint gray (2.5Y 6/1) iron depletions and few medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) masses of iron accumulation; neutral; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 18 inches thick)
Cg1--18 to 35 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) gravelly sandy loam; massive; friable; 10 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles, 5 percent stones; few fine faint olive (5Y 4/3) masses of iron accumulation; neutral; gradual smooth boundary.
Cg2--35 to 80 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) gravelly sandy loam; massive; friable; 20 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles, 5 percent stones; few fine prominent olive (5Y 4/3) masses of iron accumulation; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Litchfield County, Connecticut. Town of Norfolk, 50 feet east of Doolittle Drive at a point 1600 feet south of the intersection of Doolittle Drive and North Colebrook Road, USGS South Sandisfield topographic quadrangle; latitude 42 degrees, 01 minutes, 18 seconds N. and longitude 73 degrees, 09 minutes, 33 seconds W.; NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 14 to 25 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 30 percent by volume. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral in the solum, and from neutral to moderately alkaline in the C horizon. Carbonates are deeper than 80 inches but reaction may be very slightly effervescent within 40 inches.
The O horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value 2 or 2.5, and chroma 2 or 3. It is slightly decomposed plant material to highly decomposed plant material.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 7.5 YR or 10 YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1. Dry value is 5 or less. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is fine sandy loam or loam. Structure is very weak to moderate, fine or very fine granular. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 1 or 2 and has redoximorphic features. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is sandy loam or fine sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The Cg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 1 or 2.
Texture of the fine-earth fraction is sandy loam or fine sandy loam. Texture ranges to coarse sand below 40 inches. Structure is massive. Consistence is firm or friable.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no series currently in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Loonmeadow soils occupy nearly level depressions and
drainageways of hills on glaciated uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. The regolith is till dominated by schist, granite, gneiss and dolomite. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 55 inches, mean annual temperature ranges from 42 to 46 degrees F., and the frost-free period ranges from 120 to 150 days. Elevation ranges from 1200 to 1600 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The well drained
Bice and
Shelburne soils and moderately well drained
Schroon and
Ashfield soils are drainage associates on nearby landscapes.
Bucksport and
Wonsqueak are in nearby organic deposits.
The shallow somewhat excessively drained
Westminster soils and moderately deep somewhat excessively drained and well drained
Millsite soils are on higher positions underlain by schist bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Surface runoff is very low or low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high in the surface layer, moderately high or high in the subsoil and substratum above 40 inches, and moderately low to very high below 40 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. Common trees are red maple and white pine. Highbush blueberry and various fern species are also common.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Connecticut; MLRA 144B. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Litchfield County, State of Connecticut Soil Survey, 2003.
REMARKS: The series name is derived from nearby brook.
Diagnostic horizons and feature in this pedon include:
1. Cambic horizon - the zone between 9 and 18 inches (Bg horizon)
2. Aquic conditions - evidenced by redoximorphic features below the surface layer (Bg horizon), a 2 chroma matrix and redox concentrations within 20 inches of the soil surface, and an aquic soil moisture regime.
3. Endosaturation - saturation in all layers from the upper boundary of saturation to a depth of 200 cm. from the mineral soil surface.
4. Mollic subgroup - color value, moist, of 3 or less and color value, dry, of 5 or less in the upper 15 cm. after mixing (A horizon).