LOCATION SEARSPORT ME+MA NH NY VT
Established Series
Rev. KJL-GTH
04/2013
SEARSPORT SERIES
The Searsport series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils formed in thick sandy deposits in pockets and depressions on outwash plains, deltas, and terraces. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in the mineral horizons. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 41 inches, and mean annual temperature is about 45 degrees F. at type location.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, frigid Histic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Searsport mucky peat, on a 1 percent forested slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oe -- 0 to 8 inches; very dark gray (N 3/0) mucky peat; about 60 percent fiber, about 40 percent after rubbing; moderate fine granular structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine and medium roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick.)
A -- 8 to 13 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) loamy fine sand, gray (10YR 6/1) dry; weak and moderate fine granular structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick.)
Cg1 -- 13 to 23 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) loamy sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; very strongly acid; common fine and medium faint gray (5Y 6/1) iron depletions; abrupt smooth boundary.
Cg2 -- 23 to 65 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky, nonplastic; common coarse prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Waldo County, Maine; town of Monroe, 0.5 mile south of Robertson Cemetery, 1000 feet east of gravel road; latitude 44 degrees 33 minutes 49 seconds N. and latitude 69 degrees 01 minute 59 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Gravel, by volume, ranges from 0 to 15 percent in the particle-size control section and from 0 to 45 percent below. The soil ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid in the O, A, and E horizon and from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the C horizon.
The Oe horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. Some pedons have an Oa and/or an Oi horizon. Oi horizons have higher value and chroma. Combined thickness of O horizons is 8 to 16 inches.
The A horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is sand, fine sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam or fine sandy loam or their mucky analogues. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium, granular or subangular blocky, or the horizon is single grain.
Some pedons have an Eg horizon that is neutral or has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 or 1. It is sand, fine sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam or fine sandy loam.
The Cg horizon is neutral or has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 4. Chroma of 3 or 4 is generally below a depth of 30 inches. Redoximorphic features are faint to prominent, few to many, and fine to coarse, or may be absent. The C horizon is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, sand or coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction and some pedons are stratified.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Ausable,
Deerwood,
Leafriver, and
Tahawus series. Ausable, Deerwood, and Leafriver soils are from outside of Region R. Ausable soils have thin bands of organic material in the control section. Deerwood soils have free carbonates in the control section. Leafriver soils have a drier climate. Tahawus soils formed in till and are less acid than Searsport soils.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Searsport soils are nearly level and are in pockets and depressions on outwash plains, deltas and terraces. Slope gradients are 0 to 3 percent. These soils formed in thick sandy deposits. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 50 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 80 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 5 to 3000 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the somewhat excessively drained to excessively drained
Adams, the somewhat poorly drained Au Gres, the excessively drained
Colton, the moderately well drained
Croghan, the somewhat excessively drained
Masardis, and the poorly drained and somewhat poorly drained
Naumburg soils, all of which have spodic horizons and are in higher positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Very poorly drained. Potential for runoff is very high or negligible. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in the mineral horizons. The water table is at or above the surface from 6 to 12 months of the year, usually dropping below the surface for a short period of time in late summer.
USE AND VEGETATION: Idle or forested. Common wetland shrubs are alders, spirea (hardhack), leatherleaf, Labrador-tea, mountain holly, highbush blueberry, lowbush blueberry, bog cranberry, huckleberry, and sheep laurel. Woodland trees are red maple, elm, black spruce, northern white cedar, balsam fir, tamarack, eastern white pine, and gray birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. MLRAs 143 and 144B. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Waldo County, Maine, 1979.
REMARKS: 1. The Searsport series replaces some soils formerly mapped Scarboro that had a frigid temperature regime.
2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Histic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches (Oe horizon).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.