LOCATION PANGBORN WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic, mesic Typic Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Pangborn muck - on a level pasture at 140 feet elevation. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
OaP--0 to 15 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) muck, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) dry; moderate medium granular structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 80 percent fiber, 5 percent rubbed; many very fine and fine roots; extremely acid (pH 4.2); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 18 inches thick)
Oa1--15 to 29 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) muck, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 60 percent fiber, 5 percent rubbed; many very fine and fine roots; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); clear smooth boundary. (14 to 25 inches thick)
Oa2--29 to 45 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) muck, very dark brown (7.5YR 2/3) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 50 percent fiber, 5 percent rubbed; many very fine and fine roots; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 25 inches thick)
Oa3--45 to 60 inches; black (7.5YR 2/1) muck, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 30 percent fiber, 2 percent rubbed; common very fine roots; very strongly acid (pH 5.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Whatcom County, Washington; about 5 miles northeast of Lynden; 500 feet south and 2,500 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 1, T. 40 N., R. 3 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Mean annual soil temperature is 50 to 54 degrees F. The difference between mean winter and mean summer temperature is 12 to 16 degrees F. These soils are usually saturated with water unless drained. Fibers are mostly from grasses and sedges, but pedons contain up to 15 percent woody fragments. The control section is dominated by sapric material. Fiber content ranges from 30 to 80 percent, 2 to 12 percent rubbed. Thin discontinuous layers of volcanic ash and diatomaceous earth (1/2 to 2 inches thick) occur between 24 and 48 inches in some pedons. Reaction is extremely acid or very strongly acid throughout.
The Oa horizon has hue of 5 YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 4 moist, 2 through 5 dry, and chroma of 0 through 3 moist and dry.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Freetown series. Freetown soils have a difference of mean winter and mean summer temperature of more than 16 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pangborn soils are in depressional areas on outwash terraces, till plains, and stream terraces. Elevation is near sea level to 600 feet. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. The soils formed in herbaceous and woody organic deposits. Pangborn soils are in a marine climate with warm, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Snow cover is intermittent. Average annual precipitation is 35 to 55 inches. Mean January temperature is 35 degrees F; mean July temperature is 62 degrees F. The mean annual temperature is about 50 degrees F. The frost-free season is 150 to 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Birchbay, Clipper, Fishtrap, Hale, Kickerville, Lynden, Puget, Shalcar, Snohomish, Sumas, Tromp and Whatcom soils. None of these except Fishtrap and Shalcar soils are Histosols. Fishtrap and Shalcar soils are 16 to 51 inches deep over mineral soil.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained; very slow or ponded runoff; moderate permeability. An apparent water table is ponded at times from October through May unless artificially drained.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most Pangborn soils have been cleared and drained and used for pasture, hay, and cropland. The native vegetation is Sitka spruce, western redcedar, western hemlock, lodgepole pine, and red alder, with an understory of sedge, rush, Douglas spirea, salmonberry, trailing blackberry, devilsclub, and skunkcabbage.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Washington, west of the Cascade Mountains. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Whatcom county, Washington, 1983.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this soil are a histic surface, subsurface, and bottom tiers composed of very strongly acid or extremely acid sapric material.