LOCATION PAXTON CT+MA NH NY RI VT
Established Series
Rev. MFF-SMF-JTI
04/2015
PAXTON SERIES
The Paxton series consists of well drained loamy soils formed in lodgment till. The soils are very deep to bedrock and moderately deep to a densic contact. They are nearly level to steep soils on hills, drumlins, till plains, and ground moraines. Slope ranges from 0 to 45 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the surface layer and subsoil and low or moderately low in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 10 degrees C., and mean annual precipitation is about 1194 mm.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Paxton fine sandy loam - in a brushy field at an elevation of about 850 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap -- 0 to 20 cm; dark brown (10YR 3/3) fine sandy loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 5 percent gravel; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (13 to 28 cm thick)
Bw1 -- 20 to 38 cm; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; 5 percent gravel; few earthworm casts; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2 -- 38 to 66 cm; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; 10 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 38 to 94 cm thick.)
Cd -- 66 to 165 cm; olive (5Y 5/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; medium plate-like divisions; massive; very firm, brittle; 25 percent gravel; many dark coatings on plates; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: New Haven County, Connecticut; town of Prospect, 0.4 mile east of Straitsville Road and 0.5 mile north of the Bethany - Prospect town line; USGS Mount Carmel, CT topographic quadrangle; Latitude 41 degrees, 28 minutes, 34 33.79 seconds N., Longitude 72 degrees, 59 minutes, 16 119.19 seconds W., WGS 84
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the mineral solum and depth to the densic contact ranges from 50 to 100 cm. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 1.5 meters. Rock fragments range from 5 through 35 percent by volume in the mineral soil. Except where the surface is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded gravel and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the mineral soil.
The O horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR or it is neutral, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 0 to 2. It is mainly composed of slightly, moderately, or highly decomposed plant material.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Dry value is 6 or more. The structure is commonly granular but the range includes subangular blocky in some pedons. Undisturbed pedons have a thin A horizon with value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. The Ap or A horizon is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon below the A horizon. It has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 3.
The upper part of the Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. The lower part of the Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Some pedons have few faint redoximorphic features just above the Cd horizon. The Bw horizon is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam with less than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. It has granular or subangular blocky structure Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a BC horizon up to 20 cm thick.
Some pedons have an E or E' horizon up to 8 cm thick below the B horizon. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Typically, it is coarser textured than the overlying horizon.
The Cd has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. In some pedons there are a few faint or distinct areas of iron depletion or masses of iron accumulation in the upper part. Texture is loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or coarse sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. A few thin lenses of loamy sand are in some pedons. The structure is geogenetically derived, appearing in the form of medium to very thick plates, or it is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm. Some pedons have a friable C horizon above the Cd horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: These are
Amostown,
Bernardston,
Broadbrook,
Horseneck,
Nantucket,
Scituate, and
Wethersfield series. Amostown soils are underlain by stratified very fine sand or silt within a depth of 100 cm. Bernardston and Broadbrook soils have a solum with more than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. Horseneck soils lack a densic contact. Nantucket soils have a lithologic discontinuity. Scituate soils have sandy substrata. Wethersfield soils have 5YR or redder hue in the B and C horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Paxton soils are nearly level to steep and are on till plains, ground moraines, hills, and drumlins. Slope commonly is 0 to 35 percent, but range from 0 to 45 percent in some pedons. The soils formed in acid lodgment till derived mostly from schist, gneiss, and granite. Mean annual temperature ranges from 7 to 11 degrees C., mean annual precipitation ranges from 940 to 1245 mm, and the growing season ranges from 115 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Bernardston,
Broadbrook, and
Scituate soils and the
Canton,
Charlton,
Chatfield,
Georgia,
Hollis,
Leicester,
Montauk,
Narragansett,
Pittstown,
Ridgebury,
Stockbridge,
Sutton,
Wapping,
Whitman, and
Woodbridge soils on nearby landscapes. The moderately well drained Woodbridge, poorly drained Ridgebury, and the very poorly drained Whitman soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Canton soils have a friable loamy sand substratum. Well drained Stockbridge and moderately well drained Georgia soils have higher base status. Hollis soils have bedrock within a depth of 25 to 50 cm. Leicester soils are poorly drained and do not have a dense substratum. Montauk soils have sandy substrata. Narragansett soils have a lithologic discontinuity within a depth of 100 cm and a solum high in silt and very fine sand. Sutton and Wapping soils are moderately well drained and do not have a dense substratum.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Water may perch on the densic contact for brief periods in late fall through early spring. Surface runoff is negligible to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral solum and low or moderately low in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for cultivated crops, hay, or pasture. Scattered areas are used for community development. Some areas are wooded. Common trees are red, white, and black oak, hickory, sugar maple, red maple, gray and black birch, eastern white pine, and eastern hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, eastern New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Worcester County, Massachusetts, 1922.
REMARKS: Paxton is the state soil of Massachusetts.
Prior revisions included changes to the range in characteristics as well as general updating to metric units. Cation exchange activity class placement was determined from a review of limited lab data and similar or associated soils. Paxton soils were previously classified as Typic Dystrochrepts, and before that as Typic Fragiochrepts.
The Paxton series was previously used in some surveys in Maine. Maine determined from soil temperature studies that the mesic soil temperature regime would no longer be used. Maine is re-evaluating the soil temperature regimes in southern Maine as of the date of this revision.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 20 cm (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 20 to 66 cm (Bw horizons).
3. Densic material - the zone from 66 to 165 cm (Cd horizon).
4. Oxyaquic subgroup - based on saturation in one or more layers within 100 cm of the mineral surface, for one month or more per year, in 6 out of 10 years.
5) Particle-size control section - the zone from 20 to 66 cm (Bw horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Full characterization data for pedons with User Pedon IDs of S1955MA027002, S1955NH015001, S1973MA005001, S1973MA005006, S1975CT013001, S1996NH013001, S1999NY061001. Pedons analyzed by the NSSL, 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.