LOCATION POOCHAM NH
Established Series
Rev. GLR-SALP-CAW
01/2013
POOCHAM SERIES
The Poocham series consists of very deep well drained soils formed in wind or water deposited silts and very fine sands. They are on terrace escarpments and along deeply dissected drainageways. Slope ranges from 25 to 80 percent. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderate or moderately slow in the substratum. Mean annual temperature is about 48 degrees F and mean annual precipitation is about 42 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Poocham very fine sandy loam on a 64 percent west facing slope in a forested site. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 2 inches, very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) very fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and common medium roots; 2 percent pebbles, 2 percent channers; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick.)
Bw1--2 to 8 inches, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) very fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and common medium roots; 3 percent pebbles, 2 percent channers; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--8 to 13 inches, olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) very fine sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; common fine sand few medium roots; 3 percent pebbles, 2 percent channers; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bw horizons 10 to 14 inches.)
C1--13 to 30 inches, olive (5Y 5/3) silt loam; massive; firm; few fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C2--30 to 55 inches, olive gray (5Y 4/2) silt loam; massive; firm; few fine roots; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C3--55 to 60 inches, olive (5Y 5/3) very fine sandy loam; massive; friable; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Cheshire County, New Hampshire, town of Chesterfield, 80 feet east of River Road; 1500 feet east of Connecticut River; 1000 feet north of village of West Chesterfield. USGS Brattleboro quadrangle; 42 degrees 54 minutes 37 seconds N., 72 degrees 31 minutes 29 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 9 inches to 15 inches. Coarse fragments range from 0 to 5 percent throughout the soil. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid throughout. Chroma of 2 or less are inherited from the parent material and are not indicative of aquic conditions.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 5 and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is silt loam or very fine sandy loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 6. Structure of the Bw horizon is weak or moderate, fine or medium, granular or subangular blocky. Texture is silt loam or very fine sandy loam.
The C Horizon has hue of 2.5Y, or 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is very fine sandy loam, silt loam, or silt. Thin or very thin strata of fine sand, very fine sand, loamy fine sand, loamy very fine sand, silty clay loam, or silty clay are in some pedons with colors similar to the C range but may include chroma 1.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Hitchcock and
Unadilla series. Hitchcock and Unadilla soils have thicker sola and Unadilla soils have moderately rapid or rapid permeability below a depth of 40 inches.
Bridgehampton soils may be in the same family when updated to the 8th edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy. Bridgehampton soils have thicker sola and formed in outwash material.
The
Belgrade,
Charlton,
Chatfield,
Dutchess,
Enfield,
Hartland,
Melrose and
Scio series are in related families. Belgrade and Scio soils have redox depletions with chroma of 2 or less within a depth of 24 inches. Charlton, Chatfield and Dutchess soils are coarse loamy. Enfield soils are coarse silty over sandy or sandy skeletal. Hartland soils have base saturation of 60 percent or more. Melrose soils are underlain by clay below a depth of 18 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Poocham soils are steep to very steep soils on escarpments or sideslopes of dissected drainageways of terraces or lake plains. Slope ranges from 25 to 80 percent. The soils formed in wind or water deposited materials. Annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches and mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 degrees to 50 degrees F. Average frost-free period ranges from 90 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The competing
Unadilla soils are on adjacent landscapes that are level to strongly sloping. The moderately well drained
Scio soil, and the poorly drained
Raynham soil, and the very poorly drained
Birdsall soil are in depressional areas on associated landscapes.
Agawam,
Enfield,
Haven,
Ninigret,
Tisbury soils are on nearby terraces, but formed in loamy over sandy materials.
Deerfield,
Merrimac, and
Windsor soils are also on nearby terraces, but formed in sandy or gravelly material.
Hadley,
Limerick,
Occum,
Pootatuck,
Rippowam,
Saco, and
Winooski soils are on adjacent floodplains.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderate or moderately slow in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested. Forests include sugar maple, red maple, beech, ash, black, yellow and white birches, white pine, and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New Hampshire; MLRA 145. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cheshire County, New Hampshire, 1985.
REMARKS: 1. The classification is updated to the 8th edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 1998, with this revision.
2. The horizons and features considered diagnostic for this pedon are as follows:
1) Ochric epipedon from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon).
2) Cambric horizons from 2 to 13 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
3) Other features include a mesic soil temperature regime and a udic moisture regime.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.