LOCATION PENWOOD CTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Typic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Penwood loamy sand - brushy field, 4 percent slope at an elevation of about 85 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) loamy sand; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 18 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) loamy sand; single grain; loose; common fine roots; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--18 to 30 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 16 to 32 inches)
C--30 to 60 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) medium sand with thin strata of fine sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots in upper part; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: New Haven County, Connecticut; town of East Haven, one mile north on Connecticut Route 100 from the interchange of Connecticut Route 100 and the Connecticut Turnpike, 250 feet east of Connecticut Route 100 just south of the State Rifle Range. USGS Branford topographic quadrangle, latitude 40 degrees 17 minutes 48 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 51 minutes 45 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 20 to 36 inches. Rock fragments, dominantly fine gravel, range from 0 to 10 percent in the solum and from 0 to 30 percent in the substratum. Unless limed, the soil is very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 to 4. 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 commonly loamy sand or loamy fine sand but the range includes fine sandy loam. It has weak granular structure and is friable to loose.
The Bw horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 4 to 8. It is loamy sand or loamy fine sand in the upper part and loamy fine sand, loamy sand, sand or fine sand in the lower part. Some pedons have thin subhorizons of loamy coarse sand or coarse sand. The Bw horizon has weak granular structure or it is single grain. Consistence is very friable or loose.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 3 to 6. It is dominantly sand or fine sand, but ranges to subhorizons of coarse sand.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Acquango,
Aldo,
Bigapple,
Biltmore,
Boplain,
Breeze,
Caesar,
Chute,
Dabney,
Hodge,
Oakville,
Osolo,
Pahuk,
Perks,
Pinegrove,
Plainfield,
Poquonock,
Sardak,
Sarpy,
Scotah,
Spessard,
Suncook,
Tyner, and
Windsor series.
Acquango,
Aldo,
Boplain,
Chute,
Dabney,
Hodge,
Osolo,
Pahuk,
Perks,
Pinegrove,
Sardak, Sarpay,
Scotah, and
Spessard soils are from outside LRR R and S.
Acquango,
Biltmore,
Chute,
Dabney,
Hodge,
Pahuk,
Perks,
Pinegrove,
Sardak,
Sarpy, and
Suncook soils lack a Bw horizon.
Aldo and
Scotah soils are moderately
well drained and have saturation within the series control section for as much
as 1 month per year in 6 or more out of 10 years.
Bigapple, Biltmore,
Breeze,
Osolo, and
Spessard soils are well drained. Bigapple and Breeze soils contain
humanly transported or manufactured fragments.
Boplain soils have a paralithic
contact within the control section.
Caesar,
Oakville,
Plainfield,
Tyner and
Windsor soils have hue yellower than 7.5YR in the B horizon.
Poquonock soils have a densic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Penwood soils are nearly level to strongly sloping soils on glaciofluvial landforms. Slope commonly ranges from 0 to 8 percent but the range includes 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in outwash deposits of loamy sands and sands derived mainly from red Triassic rocks with some basalt. Mean annual temperature is 47 to 54 degrees F., mean annual precipitation is 42 to 50 inches and the growing season is 130 to 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bash, Branford, Cheshire, Deerfield, Ellington, Hartford, Manchester, Walpole, Wethersfield and Yalesville soils on nearby landscapes. Bash soils are somewhat poorly drained soils on flood plains. Branford soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy skeletal. Hartford soils have a cambic horizon and Manchester soils are sandy-skeletal. Cheshire, Wethersfield and Yalesville soils are on nearby till hills. Deerfield and Ellington soils are moderately well drained terrace associates. Walpole soils are poorly drained.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained. Surface runoff is negligible to very low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested or in community development. Some areas are used for silage corn, hay and pasture. Small areas, mostly irrigated, are used for tobacco, vegetables and nursery stock. Common trees are white, black and red oak, white pine, pitch pine, gray birch and poplar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciofluvial landforms in the Connecticut River Valley of Connecticut; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hartford County, Connecticut, 1962.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features in this typical pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon);
2. Particle-size class averages sandy in control section from 10 to 40 inches (part of the Bw1, Bw2 and part of the C horizon);
3. Mesic temperature and udic moisture regimes;
4. Mixed mineralogy;
5. Subsoil has color development but does not meet current cambic criteria (Bw horizon from 8 to 30 inches).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Full characterization data for samples S99CT003009 and S95NY085014. Analyzed by the NSSL, Lincoln, NE.