LOCATION SHAKER CT +MA NH NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over clayey, mixed, semiactive, nonacid, mesic Aeric Epiaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Shaker fine sandy loam - wooded, 1 percent slope in a low-lying area. (Colors are for moist soil.)
0e--0 to 2 inches; black (10YR 2/1) hemic material. (0 to 3 inches thick)
A--2 to 6 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) fine sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bg--6 to 20 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick)
Bw--20 to 30 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; common medium distinct light gray (2.5Y 7/2) clay and iron depletions and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 18 inches thick)
2C--30 to 65 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) varved silt and clay, silty clay weighted average texture; massive separating to weak plates along varved bedding planes; firm, very sticky, plastic; thin films of very fine sand on plate surfaces; common medium distinct light gray (2.5Y 7/2) clay and iron depletions; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Hartford County, Connecticut; town of Windsor, 2000 feet west of the Basswood Road and Connrail Railroad Crossing, 330 feet north of Basswood Road, in a wooded area. USGS Windsor Locks topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 53 minutes 04 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 38 minutes, 02 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to the underlying clayey material range from 18 to 40 inches. Rock fragments, mostly fine gravel, range from 0 to 5 percent by volume in the upper loamy horizons and from 0 to 3 percent in the underlying clayey horizons. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to neutral in the surface layers, strongly acid to neutral in the subsoil and moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the substratum.
The O horizon, where present, commonly has hue of 10YR, value of 2, and chroma of 1. It is commonly hemic material.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Some pedons have a 6 to 12 inch thick Ap horizon with value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 4. Dry value is 6 or more. The A or Ap horizon is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, or loam. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a BA horizon with hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, or loam. Structure is weak or moderate granular or subangular blocky. Consistence is very friable or friable.
Some pedons have an Eg horizon with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 2. Texture and structure are similar to the A horizon.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. Matrix chroma of 3 and 4 is limited to subhorizons and chroma of 1 or 2 is in some subhorizon within a 20 inch depth. Texture of the B horizon is dominantly sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, or loam, but some pedons have a silty clay loam, silty clay, or clayey 2B horizon. The loamy B horizons have weak or moderate granular or subangular blocky structure, or are massive. Consistence is very friable, friable, or firm. Clayey 2B horizons, where present, have blocky, platy, or prismatic structure, or are massive. Consistence is friable or firm. Some pedons have thin strata or lenses of loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sand, or sand.
The 2C horizon is neutral or has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 4. It is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. The horizon is massive, platy, or has weak prismatic structure. Consistence is firm or very firm.
Some pedons have a contrasting C horizon below a depth of 48 inches that is loamy sand or loamy fine sand. The coarse-textured substratum material has colors similar to the overlying clayey C horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family.
The Birdsall, Binghamville, Canadaigua, Elmridge, Enosburg, Fredon, Jerome, Lamson, Munson, Raynham, Scitico, and Swanton series are similar soils in related families. Birdsall, Binghamville, and Raynham soils have a coarse-silty particle-size control section. Canandaigua soils are fine-silty. Elmridge soils have matrix chroma of 3 or more to a depth of 20 inches. Enosburg soils have a sandy over loamy particle-size control section. Fredon soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal. Jerome soils have dominant chroma of 2 or less to a depth of 30 inches. Lamson soils are coarse-loamy. Munson soils are coarse-silty over clayey. Scitico soils are in a fine family. Swanton soils are frigid.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Shaker soils are nearly level to gently sloping and are on lacustrine and marine terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in loamy and clayey glacial lacustrine and marine deposits. Typically, these soils are in low-lying broad, flat, or slightly concave areas. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 54 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 50 inches, and the growing season ranges from 125 to 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Canandaigua, Elmridge, Enosburg, Munson, Raynham, and Scitico soils and the Amenia, Boxford, Brancroft, Covington, Deerfield, Livingston, Maybid, Panton, Ridgebury, Vergennes, and Walpole soils. The moderately well drained Elmridge soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Amenia and Ridgebury soils are on nearby glacial till uplands. The fine-textured Boxford soils and the fine-silty Brancroft soils are moderately well drained associates on nearby terraces. Covington, Livingston, Panton, and Vergennes soils have a very fine particle-size control section. Deerfield and Walpole soils are terrace associates formed in coarse-textured outwash deposits. Maybid soils are very poorly drained soils in nearby depressional areas.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Surface runoff is negligible to slow. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high in the upper loamy horizons and low to moderately high in the underlying clayey horizons. Shaker soils have a water table at or near the surface much of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for hay or pasture. A few small areas are used for silage corn. Some areas are wooded and a few areas are in community development. Common trees are red maple, gray birch, alder, aspen, white pine, and swamp oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 101, 142, 144A, small mesic areas within 144B, and 145 of the Connecticut Valley Lowland of Connecticut, coastal areas of Massachusetts, eastern and central New York, and western Vermont. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Rensselaer County, New York, 1980.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 2 to 6 inches (A horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 6 to 30 inches (Bg and Bw horizons).
3. Epiaquepts features - matrix chroma of 2 and redoximorphic features from 6 to 20 inches (Bg horizon) and unsaturated layers (Bw and 2C horizons) within 200 cm depth, below the saturated layer (Bg horizon).
4. Strongly contrasting particle-size classes - the control section is coarse-loamy above a depth of 30 inches and is clayey below 30 inches.