LOCATION NARRAGANSETT CT+MA RIEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Narragansett silt loam - forested.
(Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; common medium roots; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--6 to 15 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common medium roots; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--15 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common medium roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw3--24 to 28 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine roots; 15 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 16 to 34 inches)
2C--28 to 60 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) very gravelly loamy coarse sand; single grain; loose; 45 percent gravel and cobbles; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: New London County, Connecticut; town of Montville, 4,000 feet north along Cherry Lane from the intersection with Raymond Hill Road and 30 feet west of Cherry Lane. USGS Montville topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 29 minutes 28 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 09 minutes 23 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to the lithologic discontinuity range from 18 to 38 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 0 to 25 percent in the solum and from 10 to 50 percent in the substratum. Except where the surface layer is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded pebbles and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, the soil is extremely acid to moderately acid.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 to 4. Dry value is 6 or more. Undisturbed pedons have a thin A horizon with value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 to 3. The Ap or A horizon is silt loam, very fine sandy loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction with more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. It has weak or moderate, fine or medium granular structure and is friable or very friable.
The upper part of the B horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 to 8. The lower part of the B horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7 and chroma of 4 to 6. The B horizon is silt loam, very fine sandy loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction with more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. It has weak subangular blocky or weak granular structure or the horizon is massive. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The 2C horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture ranges from loamy fine sand to sand in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have thin subhorizons of fine sandy loam or sandy loam. The 2C horizon is massive or single grain. Consistence commonly is very friable or loose but the range in some pedons includes firm in some layers.
COMPETING SERIES: The Barnstable are in the same family. Barnstable soils formed in till over glacial outwash and have stratified sand and gravel in the substratum.
Branford soils are in a similar family. They have stratified sand or sand and gravel in the series control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Narragansett soils are nearly level to moderately steep soils on till plains, low ridges and hills. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. They formed in medium-textured deposits over coarse-textured till derived from gneiss, schist, sandstone, shale, conglomerate and basalt. Mean annual temperature is 45 to 52 degrees F., mean annual precipitation is 40 to 50 inches and the growing season is 120 to 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Barnstable and the similar Branford soils and the Bridgehampton, Broadbrook, Canton, Charlton, Cheshire, Enfield, Haven, Hollis, Holyoke, Ludlow, Montauk, Newport, Paxton, Pittstown, Rainbow, Sutton, Wapping, Watchaug, Wethersfield, Woodbridge and Yalesville soils on nearby landscapes. The moderately well drained Wapping soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Bridgehampton, Enfield, and Haven soils are on nearby glaciofluvial landforms. Broadbrook, Montauk, and Newport soils have a dense substratum. Canton soils have less than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand in the series control section. Charlton and Cheshire soils lack contrasting textures. Hollis and Holyoke soils have bedrock within a depth of 20 inches. Ludlow, Pittstown, Rainbow and Woodbridge soils are moderately well drained and have a dense substratum. Sutton and Watchaug soils are moderately well drained. Yalesville soils have bedrock within a 20 to 40 inch depth.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Surface runoff is slow to rapid. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately rapid or rapid in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for cultivated crops, hay or pasture. Common crops are silage corn, tobacco and vegetables. Some areas are wooded and scattered areas are used for community development. Common trees are red, white and black oak, hickory, white ash, sugar maple, red maple, gray birch, white pine and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kent and Washington Counties, Rhode Island, 1934.
REMARKS: This revision reflects update in soil taxonomy and general updating. Cation exchange activity class placement determined from a review of limited lab data and similar or associated soils.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon- the zone from 0 to 6 inches (Ap);
2. Cambic horizon- the zone from 6 to 28 inches (Bw horizons);
3. Particle size class - two strongly contrasting classes are present, coarse-loamy over sandy skeletal in the control section, 10 to 40 inches; both are thicker than 12.5 cm. and the transition zone between them is less than 12.5 cm. thick;
4. Lithologic discontinuity-a significant and abrupt change in particle size occurs at 28 inches (2C) where silt loam textures overlie very gravelly loamy coarse sand.