LOCATION SKERRY NH+MA ME NY VT
Established Series
Rev. JFH-SALP-SHG-GWS
06/2016
SKERRY SERIES
The Skerry series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in a loamy mantle overlying dense, sandy till on drumlins and glaciated uplands. They are moderately deep to a densic contact. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral solum and moderately low or moderately high in the dense substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1175 mm, and mean annual temperature is about 5 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Skerry fine sandy loam, on an 11 percent slope in a stony, forested area. The soil is covered by a 3 cm layer of fresh leaf and pine needle litter. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oa -- 0 to 5 cm; sapric material consisting of partially and well decomposed leaf and pine needle litter. (0 to 15 cm thick.)
E -- 5 to 10 cm; gray (10YR 6/1) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel, cobbles, and stones; strongly acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 8 cm thick.)
Bhs -- 10 to 15 cm; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel, cobbles, and stones; strongly acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick.)
Bs1 -- 15 to 51 cm; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) and dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; moderate medium granular structure; 60 percent friable, 40 percent weakly cemented (ortstein); few fine roots; 10 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles and stones; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bs2 -- 51 to 64 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive; 80 percent friable, 20 percent weakly cemented (ortstein); common fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and common fine distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and common fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) areas of iron depletion; 15 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles and stones; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizons is 15 to 76 cm.)
Cd1 -- 64 to 86 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly fine sandy loam layers with lenses of light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) sand; composite texture is gravelly loamy sand; massive and firm (fine sandy loam), and single grain and loose (sand); common fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; 20 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles and stones; sand lenses up to 5 cm thick are in a horizontal orientation alternatively with fine sandy loam layers; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Cd2 -- 86 to 165 cm; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) sand lenses with layers of grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) gravelly fine sandy loam; composite texture is gravelly loamy sand; massive and firm (fine sandy loam), and single grain and loose (sand); 20 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles and stones; sand lenses up to 5 cm thick are in a horizontal orientation alternatively with fine sandy loam layers; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Carroll County, New Hampshire; Town of Conway, 0.50 mile north of Greely Road on Potter Road, and 85 feet east of Potter Road. USGS Ossipee Lake, NH 15 minute quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 56 minutes, 28 seconds N. and Longitude 71 degrees, 3 minutes, 5 seconds W., NAD 1983.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Mineral solum thickness and depth to densic materials ranges from 51 to 96 cm. Rock fragments range from 5 to 30 percent in the solum and from 5 to 40 percent in the substratum. Unless limed, reaction ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid in the solum and very strongly acid to neutral in the substratum. Weak cementation (ortstein) ranges from 0 to 50 percent in the spodic horizon.
The O horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 4.
Some pedons have an A horizon up to 10 cm thick that has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 or 2, or an Ap horizon that has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam or their gravelly analogues.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loamy sand, or their gravelly analogues.
The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is dominantly fine sandy loam, but includes sandy loam or their gravelly analogues. Combined thickness of the Bhs horizon is 0 to 15 cm.
The Bs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is fine sandy loam or sandy loam, or their gravelly analogues.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, or their gravelly or cobbly analogues.
Some pedons have an E' horizon below the B horizon 2 inches thick or less. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture range is the same as the lower part of the B, but typically it is coarser textured than the overlying horizon.
The Cd layer has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is loamy sand or loamy fine sand, or it comprised of loamy layers and sandy lenses with a composite texture of loamy sand, loamy fine sand, loamy coarse sand, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam, or their gravelly or cobbly analogues. The lenses range from loamy fine sand to coarse sand and are 3 to 51 mm thick. They constitute more than 20 percent of the layer. The Cd layer has weak or moderate, thin to thick plates or it is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm except in individual lenses where it is friable to loose.
Some pedons have a friable C horizon above the Cd 20 cm thick or less.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Chesuncook,
Crary,
Dixfield,
Dixmont,
Howland,
Peru,
Ragmuff,
Sunapee, and
Worden series. Chesuncook soils have more clay in the particle-size control section. Crary and Dixmont soils have more silt and very fine sand in the solum. Dixfield, Howland, and Peru soils have less than 20 percent sand lenses in the C horizon. Ragmuff soils have bedrock within 102 cm. Sunapee soils have friable substrata. Worden soils have Bh that is more than 10 cm thick.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The nearly level to moderately steep Skerry soils are on drumlins and glaciated uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. The soils formed in stony till of Wisconsin age derived from granitic, schistose, and gneissic rocks. Mean annual temperature ranges from -3 to 9 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 790 to 2420 mm. The frost-free growing season ranges from 90 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Adirondack,
Becket,
Hermon,
Marlow,
Monadnock,
Moosilauke,
Peru,
Pillsbury,
Sabattis,
Success,
Tunbridge, and
Waumbek soils. The well drained Becket, somewhat poorly drained Adirondack, and very poorly drained Sabattis soils are in a drainage sequence with Skerry soils. The well drained Marlow soils, the moderately well drained Peru soils, and the somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained Pillsbury soils have densic materials with less than 20 percent sand lenses. The somewhat excessively drained Hermon and Success soils, well drained Monadnock soils, moderately well drained Waumbek soils, and somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained Moosilauke soils have friable substrata. The well drained Tunbridge soils are on bedrock controlled landforms and have bedrock within 102 cm of the mineral surface.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral solum and moderately low or moderately high in the dense substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils are forested. Principle species include sugar maple, yellow birch, paper birch, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, balsam fir, white spruce, and red spruce. Areas cleared of trees and stones are used primarily for hay and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. MLRAs 142, 143, and 144B. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, New York, 1950s.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Albic horizon - the zone from 5 to 10 cm (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 10 to 51 cm (Bhs and Bs1 horizons).
c. Aquic feature - redoximorphic features in the zone from 51 to 64 cm (Bs2 horizon).
d. Densic contact at 64 cm.
e. Densic materials - The zone from 64 to 165 cm. (Cd1 and Cd2 horizons).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.