LOCATION MONTAUK NY+CT MA NH
Established Series
Rev. RLM-JWW-MCT
05/2015
MONTAUK SERIES
The Montauk series consists of well drained soils formed in lodgment or flow till derived primarily from granitic materials with lesser amounts of gneiss and schist. The soils are very deep to bedrock and moderately deep to a densic contact. These soils are on upland hills and moraines. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral solum and low to moderately high in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 9 degrees C., and mean annual precipitation is about 1143 mm.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Montauk loam on a 14 percent slope in a wooded area with a discontinuous layer of undecomposed and slightly decomposed plant material less than 1 cm thick on the surface. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap-- 0 to 10 cm; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine, fine, medium, and coarse roots; 2 percent gravel, 1 percent cobbles, and 1 percent stones; extremely acid (pH 4.1); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 25 cm thick)
BA-- 10 to 34 cm; brown (10YR 4/3) loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine, medium, and coarse roots; many fine and medium pores; 4 percent gravel, 1 percent cobbles, and 1 percent stones; extremely acid (pH 4.3); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 25 cm thick)
Bw1-- 34 to 65 cm; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) loam; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine, medium, and coarse roots; many fine and medium pores; 6 percent gravel, 1 percent cobbles, and 1 percent stones; extremely acid (pH 4.3); clear wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 65 to 87 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sandy loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; many very fine, fine, and coarse roots; many fine and medium pores; 5 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; extremely acid (pH 4.3); clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 31 to 86 cm.)
2Cd1-- 87 to 101 cm; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) gravelly loamy sand; moderate medium plates; firm; few fine roots; many fine pores; 10 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles, and 1 percent stones; very strongly acid (pH 4.7); clear wavy boundary. (18 to 76 cm thick.)
2Cd2-- 101 to 184 cm; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) gravelly loamy sand; moderate medium plates; firm; many fine pores; 10 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles, and 1 percent stones; strongly acid (pH 5.1).
TYPE LOCATION: Queens County, New York; in Alley Pond Park near the Cross Island Parkway. USGS Flushing, NY topographic quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees, 45 minutes, 35 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 45 minutes, 20 seconds W. WGS 84.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the mineral solum and depth to the dense substratum from the mineral soil surface ranges from 50 to 100 cm. Rock fragments range from 3 to 35 percent in the solum and 5 to 50 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid.
Some pedons have Oi, Oe, and/or Oa horizons overlying the A horizon. Combined thickness of the O horizons is 0 to 10 cm thick.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Structure is granular. Consistence is friable or very friable. Undisturbed pedons have an A horizon that has properties similar to the Ap horizon.
The BA horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Structure is subangular blocky or granular. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have an E horizon up to 8 cm thick.
The upper part of the Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 8. The lower part has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Structure is subangular blocky and may part to granular. Consistence is friable or very friable. Some pedons have an E, C, or BC horizon immediately above the Cd.
The Cd layer has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 6. Texture of the fine-earth fraction ranges from coarse sand to fine sandy loam, and at least one sublayer of the Cd is loamy fine sand or coarser. The horizon has plates of geogenic origin or is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm and is brittle. Some pedons have firm dark reddish brown bands up to 1 cm thick that are spaced 12 to 20 cm apart. Silt coatings on the upper side of stones and gravel are common.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Amostown,
Bernardston,
Broadbrook,
Horseneck,
Nantucket,
Paxton,
Scituate, and
Wethersfield series. Amostown and Scituate soils are moderately well drained and have redoximorphic features in the B horizon. The Bearnardston, Nantucket, Paxton, and Wethersfield soils do not have sandy substratums. Broadbrook soils have a silty mantle with more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. Horseneck soils formed in friable glacialfluvial deposits and do not have a dense substratum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Montauk soils are on undulating to hilly slopes of terminal and recessional moraines in MLRA 149B and on glaciated uplands, hills, and ground moraines in MLRAs 144A and 145. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. The soils formed in loamy friable till underlain by firm sandy lodgment or flow till derived from granite with lesser amounts of gneiss and schist. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual precipitation is 889 to 1422 mm, and the mean annual temperature is 8 to 11 degrees C. The frost-free period ranges from 120 to 200 days. Elevation ranges from 3 to 122 m above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the well drained
Charlton,
Chatfield,
Riverhead,
Canton, and
Haven soils that do not have dense substratums, the excessively drained and sandy
Carver and
Plymouth soils, the moderately well drained
Scituate,
Sutton, and
Woodbridge soils, the somewhat poorly and poorly drained
Ridgebury soils, the poorly drained
Leicester soils, the very poorly drained
Whitman soils, and the shallow
Hollis soils.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Runoff is low to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and low to moderately high in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many of the nearly level and gently sloping areas are cleared and used for production of potatoes and vegetable crops, hay, silage corn, and pasture. Steeper and uneven areas are largely forested and contain northern red oak, white oak, and occasionally yellow poplar, eastern white pine, red pine, sugar maple, beech, and birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and possibly New Jersey and Rhode Island, MLRAs 149B, 144A, and 145. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Suffolk County, New York, 1970.
REMARKS: The typical pedon was updated from 1975NY103005 to the lab-sampled pedon S1998NY081002 that better represents the typical textures, horizonation, and location.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 10 cm (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 34 to 87 cm (Bw1 & Bw2 horizons).
3. Densic material - the zone from 87 to 184 cm (2Cd1 and 2Cd2 layers).
4. Oxyaquic subgroup - based on saturation in one or more layers within 100 cm of the mineral soil surface, for either or both 20 or more consecutive days or 30 or more cumulative days.
5. Lithologic discontinuity - at a depth of 87 cm.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Full characterization data for pedons with User Pedon IDs of S1973MA009003, S1987NY103002, S1993MA011001, S1998NY081002, and S02MA-011-002. Pedons analyzed by the KSSL, Lincoln, NE. Laboratory characterization data for these pedons and similar soils is available through the National Cooperative Soil Survey Soil Characterization Database: http://ncsslabdatamart.sc.egov.usda.gov/
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.