LOCATION LEICESTER CT+MA ME NH NY RI
Established Series
Rev. MFF-SMF-JTI
05/2016
LEICESTER SERIES
The Leicester series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils formed in coarse-loamy till. They are nearly level or gently sloping soils in drainageways and low-lying positions on hills. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid in the surface layer and subsoil and moderate to rapid in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 9 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation is about 1205 mm.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, acid, mesic Aeric Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Leicester fine sandy loam - forested, extremely stony. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe--0 to 3 cm; black (10YR 2/1) moderately decomposed plant material. (0 to 10 cm thick)
A--3 to 18 cm; black (10YR 2/1) fine sandy loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 15 cm thick)
Bg1--18 to 25 cm; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bg2--25 to 46 cm; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; common fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bg horizons is 16 to 68 cm.)
BC--46 to 61 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine sandy loam; massive; friable; few fine roots; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 20 cm thick)
C1--61 to 84 cm; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive; friable; 15 percent gravel and cobbles; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and prominent pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
C2--84 to 155 cm; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive; friable; 15 percent gravel and cobbles; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: New Haven County, Connecticut; town of Prospect, 5,200 feet north of the Prospect-Bethany town line and 130 feet west of Route 69; USGS Mount Carmel topographic quadrangle; latitude 41 degrees 28 minutes 48.88 seconds N. and longitude 72 degrees 58 minutes 14.81 seconds W., WGS 84.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 46 to 100 cm. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 183 cm. Rock fragments range from 5 to 35 percent by volume to a depth of 100 cm and up to 50 percent below 100 cm. Except where the surface is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded gravel and typically comprise 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid in the upper 100 cm and ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid below.
The O horizon, where present, consists of slightly, intermediately, and/or highly decomposed organic material.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. Disturbed pedons have an Ap horizon that includes chroma of 3. The A or Ap horizon is fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is very friable or friable.
Some pedons have a thin Eg horizon below the A horizon. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture, structure, and consistence are like the underlying B horizon.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. Chroma of 3 and 4 are limited to subhorizons. Chroma of 1 or 2 is in some subhorizons within a 50 cm depth. The horizon has distinct or prominent redoximorphic features. Texture is fine sandy loam, loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak granular or subangular blocky, or the horizon is massive.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. The horizon has distinct or prominent redoximorphic features. Texture is fine sandy loam, loam, or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak subangular blocky or massive.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It has redoximorphic features that typically decrease in abundance with depth. Texture is fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction, but may range to loamy sand at depth. Some pedons have pockets or thin lenses of silt loam, loamy sand, or sand. The horizon is massive or it has weak plates. Consistence commonly is very friable or friable but some pedons have lenses or layers that are firm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series currently in the same family.
The
Fredon,
Lamson,
Lyme,
Mansfield,
Massena,
Menlo,
Neversink,
Newstead,
Raynham,
Raypol,
Red Hook,
Ridgebury,
Stissing,
Sun, and
Whitman series are similar soils in related families. Fredon, Lamson, Red Hook, and Raynham soils formed in water sorted materials and are nonacid. Lyme soils are in a frigid family. Mansfield, Menlo, and Whitman soils have a dense substratum and are very poorly drained. The Massena, Newstead, and Sun soils are nonacid. Raypol soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal. Ridgebury and Stissing soils are nonacid and have a dense substratum. Neversink soils have rock fragments dominated by sandstone, siltstone, and shale.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Leicester soils are nearly level to gently sloping and are in low-lying depressional areas and drainageways of glaciated hills. Slope commonly is less than 3 percent but the range includes 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in acid coarse-loamy till derived from granite, gneiss, and/or schist. Mean annual temperature ranges from 4 to 13 degrees C, and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 910 to 1800 mm. The frost-free period ranges from 140 to 240 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Ridgebury and
Whitman soils and the
Acton,
Broadbrook,
Brookfield,
Canton,
Charlton,
Chatfield,
Essex,
Georgia,
Gloucester,
Hollis,
Montauk,
Narragansett,
Paxton,
Rainbow,
Scituate,
Stockbridge,
Sutton,
Wapping, and
Woodbridge soils. The well drained Charlton and the moderately well drained Sutton soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Acton soils are sandy and moderately well drained. Broadbrook, Essex, Montauk, and Paxton soils are well drained with a dense substratum. Brookfield, Canton, Narragansett, and Stockbridge soils are well drained. Chatfield and Hollis soils have bedrock at 50 to 100 cm and 25 to 50 cm depths, respectively. Georgia and Wapping soils are moderately well drained. Gloucester soils are sandy and excessively drained. Rainbow, Scituate, and Woodbridge soils are moderately well drained and have a dense substratum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Surface runoff is slow. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high. Leicester soils have a water table at or near the surface much of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. Some areas are in brushy unimproved pasture. Cleared areas are used for hay or pasture. Tree species include alder, gray birch, red maple, eastern hemlock, American elm, and spruce. Shrub species include northern spicebush, winterberry, and silky dogwood. Herb species include skunk cabbage, green false hellebore, sensitive fern, cinnamon fern, jewelweed, and water-tolerant sedges and rushes.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Low-lying areas on glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, eastern New York, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Windham County, Connecticut, 1947.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 18 cm (Oe and A horizons)
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 18 to 46 cm (Bg horizons).
3. Aquic moisture regime as indicated by 2 chroma matrix color with redox concentrations at 18 cm (Bg horizons).
4. Endosaturation - based on saturation to a depth of 200 cm from the mineral soil surface.
5. Aeric great group based on matrix color and chroma of 3 or more in one subhorizon between the Ap and 75 cm. (BC horizon).
6. Particle-size class in control section from 25 to 100 cm - coarse-loamy.
7. Acid reaction class and mesic temperature regime.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.