LOCATION MOOSILAUKE NH +CT ME VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, frigid Aeric Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Moosilauke loam, on a 1 percent depressional basin in forested uplands. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 8 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loam; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and common medium roots; 2 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
Bg1--8 to 13 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; friable; few fine roots; 3 percent gravel and 7 percent cobbles; common fine and medium prominent brown (7.5YR 5/2), brown (7.5YR 4/4), and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6 and 7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bg2--13 to 20 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; 3 percent gravel and 7 percent cobbles; common fine and medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation, and few medium faint gray (5Y 6/1) iron depletions; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bg horizon is 6 to 25 inches.)
2C1--20 to 37 inches; olive (5Y 5/3) very gravelly sand; single grain; loose; 25 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; common fine and medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation and common fine and medium distinct gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
2C2--37 to 44 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very gravelly sand; single grain; loose; 30 percent gravel and 15 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
2C3--44 to 65 inches; pale olive (5Y 6/3) very gravelly sand; single grain; loose; 30 percent gravel and 15 percent cobbles; common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Sullivan County, New Hampshire; Town of Lempster, one mile south of Lovejoy Road from the village of Lempster, 50 feet west of Lovejoy Road; latitude 43 degrees 13 minutes 21 seconds North, longitude 72 degrees 12 minutes 42 seconds West, NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to stratified sand and gravel range from 18 to 28 inches. Rock fragments are mostly gravel and cobbles and range from 0 to 25 percent of the A and B horizons and 0 to 50 percent of individual layers in the 2C horizon. Unless limed, reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout the soil.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is loam, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have an Ap horizon with similar texture, structure, and consistence.
The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma 1 or 2. Texture is sandy loam or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have thin subhorizons of loamy sand.
Some pedons have a Bw horizon that has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 or 4. Texture is similar to the Bg horizon.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is sand or loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction. The sand is dominantly of medium or coarse size. Many pedons contain thin strata ranging from fine sandy loam to gravel.
COMPETING SERIES: Saganing is the only other series currently in this family. Saganing soils are from outside of Region R. They formed in less acid glacial outwash that contains less than 5 percent rock fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Moosilauke soils are nearly level to strongly sloping and are in low depressions and shallow drainageways of uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. These soils formed in a thin mantle of coarse-loamy drift underlain by sandy and gravelly drift largely from crystalline rocks. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches, mean annual soil temperature ranges from 43 degrees to 47 degrees F., and frost-free growing season ranges from 90 to 140 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Hermon, Lyme, Monadnock, Naumburg, Peru, Pillsbury, and Sunapee soils. The well drained Hermon soils have loamy-skeletal particle-size control sections and the well drained Monadnock soils have a coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal particle-size control section. These soils are in higher positions on the landscape than Moosilauke soils. Lyme soils are in similar positions on the landscape but have a coarse-loamy particle-size control section. The poorly and somewhat poorly drained Naumburg soils are on adjacent terraces and have sandier solums with spodic horizons. The moderately well drained Sunapee and Peru soils are generally in higher positions on the landscape than Moosilauke soils. Sunapee soils have a coarse-loamy particle-size control section and Peru soils formed in dense basal till. The poorly to somewhat poorly drained Pillsbury soils have dense basal till substrata and are in similar positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly and somewhat poorly drained. Surface runoff is slow to medium. Internal drainage is slow. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high in the solum and high or very high in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of these soils are forested with water tolerant trees. Principal species include yellow birch, eastern white pine, red maple, and spruce. Cleared areas are used primarily for hay and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont; MLRA 143 and 144B. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Sullivan County, New Hampshire, 1981. The name is from a mountain in Grafton County.
REMARKS: This series was formerly classified as Sandy, mixed, frigid Aeric Haplaquepts.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches (A horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 8 to 20 inches (Bg1 horizon).
3. Epiaquepts feature - a horizons at a depth less than 20 inches (50 cm) that have matrix chroma of 2 or less and redoximorphic features (Bg1 horizon).
4. Aeric feature - horizon within the upper 30 inches (75 cm) that has chroma greater than 2 (2C1 horizon).