LOCATION NASMITH VTTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy over loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid Aeric Epiaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Nasmith loamy fine sand on a 4 percent south facing slope, in a pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) loamy fine sand, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots; many fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) pore linings; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)
Bg1--9 to 18 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) loamy fine sand; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; many coarse distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) and few medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation, and common medium faint olive gray (5Y 5/2) iron depletions in the matrix; neutral; clear smooth boundary.
Bg2--18 to 23 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) loamy fine sand; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine roots; common medium faint gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions and few medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (combined thickness of the Bg horizon is 6 to 29 inches)
2Cg1--23 to 27 inches; stratified grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) loamy fine sand and gray (N 5/0) silty clay loam; massive; firm; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and common medium distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 5 percent rock fragments; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary.
2Cg2--27 to 65 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silty clay loam; massive; firm; common medium distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4), common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8), and common medium prominent brown (7.5YR 4/2) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Orleans County, Vermont; Town of Troy; 2600 feet south of the Canadian border, 3500 feet west of Mud Creek; USGS Newport Center topographic quadrangle; latitude 44 degrees 59 minutes 57 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 22 minutes 25 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Thickness of the solum ranges from 13 to 26 inches. Depth to contrasting material ranges from 15 to 36 inches. Rock fragments are mostly gravel and cobbles and range from 0 to 30 percent in the glaciofluvial material and from 0 to 5 percent in the underlying 2C material. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to neutral throughout.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. It is very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loamy fine sand in the fine earth fraction.
The Bg horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand in the fine earth fraction.
Some pedons have a C horizon above the contrasting layers that has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loamy fine sand or fine sand in the fine earth fraction.
The 2Cg horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 0 to 2. It is silt loam, silty clay loam or silty clay, which may be stratified with layers of loamy fine sand or fine sand. The weighted average clay content in the 2Cg horizon is less than 35 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in this family. The Coveytown and Enosburg series are in related families. Coveytown soils have endosaturation and are underlain by till. Enosburg soils have a mesic temperature regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Nasmith soils are on lake plains and stream terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in sandy glaciofluvial deposits underlain by loamy glaciolacustrine deposits of Wisconsin age. The glaciofluvial deposits are derived mainly from phyllite or schist. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 50 inches and the mean annual temperature ranges from 40 to 44 degrees F. The frost free season ranges from 90 to 135 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the somewhat excessively drained Adams, excessively drained Colton, moderately well drained Sheepscot and Nicholville soils, and somewhat poorly drained Lamoine soils. Adams, Colton and Sheepscot soils are generally at higher elevations on nearby kames and stream terraces. Lamoine, and Nicholville soils have finer textured sola and are in slightly higher positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Permeability is rapid or moderately rapid in the solum and moderately slow or slow in the substratum. Potential for runoff is negligible to moderately low.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are used for hay and pasture. Some areas are wooded. Common trees include eastern white pine, red spruce, balsam fir, eastern hemlock, gray birch, white birch and quaking aspen.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Vermont and possibly, New Hampshire and New York; MLRA 143 and 144B. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES PROPOSED: Washington County, Vermont, 1985. The source of the name is Nasmith Brook.
REMARKS: 1. The classification is revised with this revision. 2. The Nasmith series replaces some soils formally mapped as Enosburg that have a frigid temperature regime. The former classification was Sandy over loamy, mixed, nonacid, frigid Typic Humaquepts. 3. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Aquents feature - a layer directly under the epipedon that has 50 percent or more chroma 2 in the matrix with redox concentrations (Bg1 horizon).
c. Aeric feature - hue of 2.5Y with value of 5 and chroma of 2 (Bg1 horizon).
d. Strongly contrasting particle size class - the transition between the sandy material and the loamy material in the control section (10 to 40 inches) is less than 5 inches. The loamy material has less than 50 percent fine or coarser sand.