LOCATION PERU NH+MA ME NY VT
Established Series
Rev. HRM-RFL-DHZ
06/2016
PERU SERIES
The Peru series consists of moderately well drained soils that formed in loamy lodgment till on hills and mountains in glaciated uplands. They are moderately deep to a dense substratum and very deep to bedrock. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum, and moderately low or moderately high in the dense substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1180 mm, and mean annual temperature is about 6 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Peru fine sandy loam, on a north facing, 15 percent slope in a very stony wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oe--0 to 3 cm; black (10YR 2/1) moderately decomposed plant material; very friable; very strongly acid (pH 4.9); abrupt smooth boundary. (O horizon thickness is 0 to 10 cm.)
A--3 to 13 cm; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) fine sandy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine and few coarse roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid (pH 4.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick)
E--13 to 15 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid (pH 4.8); abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick)
Bs1--15 to 18 cm; dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine and few coarse roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); abrupt broken boundary.
Bs2--18 to 33 cm; strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine and few coarse roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); clear wavy boundary.
Bs3--33 to 46 cm; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid (pH 5.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 7 to 38 cm).
BC--46 to 54 cm; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common fine faint olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) iron depletions in the matrix; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid (pH 5.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 38 cm thick)
Cd1--54 to 94 cm; olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) fine sandy loam; 85 percent moderate medium plates and 15 percent sandy lenses; firm; common medium faint olive gray (5Y 4/2) iron depletions in the matrix; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear wavy boundary.
Cd2--94 to 165 cm; olive gray (5Y 4/2) fine sandy loam; 95 percent moderate thick plates and 5 percent sandy lenses; firm; common medium faint olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) masses of iron accumulation on faces of peds; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid (pH 5.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Merrimack County, New Hampshire; Town of New London; located about 275 meters west of County Road on Northwood Lane, and 35 meters south of the road; USGS Sunapee Lake North, NH topographic quadrangle; latitude 43 degrees 24 minutes 04 seconds N. and longitude 72 degrees 01 minutes 17 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the mineral solum and depth to densic materials from the mineral surface range from 50 to 100 cm. Depth to bedrock is greater than 150 cm. Texture is typically fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction but includes silt loam and very fine sandy loam in the upper part of the solum. The weighted average of clay in the particle-size control section is 10 percent or less. The silt content in the solum and underlying till averages less than 50 percent, but ranges to 50 percent or more in the upper 25 cm of the solum. Rock fragments are dominantly gravel with some cobbles and stones and typically range from 5 to 30 percent throughout the mineral soil. Some pedons have horizons with less than 5 percent rock fragments. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid in the solum, and from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the substratum.
The O horizons, where present, consist of slightly, moderately, and/or highly decomposed organic material. The Oe and Oa horizons have hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4.
The A, or Ap horizon where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR and value and chroma of 2 to 4.
The E horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2.
The Bhs horizon, where present, is up to 13 cm thick and has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, a value of 2 to 3, and a chroma of 1 to 3.
The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 8.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6.
Some pedons have an E or E' horizon below the B horizon. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Typically, it has a coarser texture than the overlying horizon.
Some pedons have a friable C horizon up to 20 cm thick that has color and texture similar to the underlying Cd horizon.
The Cd horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Consistence is firm or very firm. Arrangement of soil particles into plates is considered to be geogenic. Loose or friable segregated sand lenses with a horizontal orientation compose up to 20 percent of the densic materials. The lenses are typically coarse, medium, or fine sand ranging from 2 to 25 mm thick.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Chesuncook,
Crary,
Dixmont,
Howland,
Ragmuff,
Skerry,
Sunapee, and
Worden series. Chesuncook soils have a weighted average of more than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Crary soils have a mantle of eolian or water deposited sediments ranging from 40 to 100 cm thick over till. Dixmont and Sunapee soils are formed in loamy supraglacial till and do not have densic materials within 100 cm of the mineral soil surface. Howland soils have a weighted average of more than 50 percent silt in the particle-size control section. Ragmuff soils are moderately deep to bedrock. Skerry soils have more than 20% sandy lenses in the Cd horizon. Worden soils are somewhat poorly drained.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Peru soils are on nearly level to steep slopes in glaciated uplands. Typically they are on linear or convex areas of backslopes, footslopes, and toeslopes, but they also occur in concave positions. The soils formed in loamy lodgment till derived mainly from schist, gneiss, phyllite, and granite. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. The mean annual precipitation is 790 to 1640 mm, and the mean annual temperature is 2 to 7 degrees C. The frost-free period ranges from 90 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from about 2 to 800 meters above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Berkshire,
Brayton,
Cabot,
Colonel,
Lyman,
Marlow,
Monadnock,
Peacham,
Pillsbury,
Sunapee, and
Tunbridge soils. Berkshire, Lyman, Monadnock, Sunapee, and Tunbridge soils are formed in supraglacial till and do not have densic materials. Additionally, Lyman soils are shallow to bedrockk, and Tunbridge soils are moderately deep to bedrock. Peru soils are in a drainage sequence with the well drained Marlow soils, somewhat poorly drained Colonel soils, poorly drained Brayton, Cabot, and Pillsbury soils, and very poorly drained Peacham soils.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum, and moderately low or moderately high in the dense substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. The common trees are sugar maple, eastern white pine, balsam fir, red spruce, white spruce, white ash, yellow birch, paper birch, eastern hemlock, American beech, and red pine. Areas cleared of stones are used mainly for hay and pasture and some cultivated crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. The soils of this series are extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Berkshire County, Massachusetts, 1923.
REMARKS: 1. Dixfield soils were recorrelated to Peru soils as part of the national Soil Data Join Recorrelation initiative. Revisions to the Peru Range in Characteristics incorporate values from the Dixfield Official Series Description. As a result of this revision to Peru, the Dixfield series status has been changed to inactive.
2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 15 cm (Oe, A, and E horizons).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 15 to 33 cm (Bs1 and Bs2 horizons).
c. Aquic conditions - redoximorphic features at 43 cm below the mineral soil surface (BC, Cd1, and Cd2 horizons).
d. Densic materials - the zone from 54 to 165 cm (Cd1 and Cd2 horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data for Peru 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.