LOCATION TIMAKWA                 CT+MA NJ NY RI VT

Established Series
DAF-SMF-JTI
02/2015

TIMAKWA SERIES


The Timakwa series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils formed in woody and herbaceous organic materials over sandy deposits in depressions on lake plains, outwash plains, till plains, moraines, and flood plains. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the organic layers and high or very high in the sandy material. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 13 degrees C and the mean annual precipitation is about 1258 mm.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, euic, mesic Terric Haplosaprists

TYPICAL PEDON: Timakwa muck - 0 percent slope in a swamp at an elevation of about 148 meters. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Oa1--0 to 25 cm; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck, 20 percent fibers, 5 percent rubbed; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear wavy boundary.

Oa2--25 to 53 cm; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck; 15 percent fibers, 2 percent rubbed; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 5 percent woody fragments; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear wavy boundary.

Oa3--53 to 61 cm; black (7.5YR 2.5/1) broken face and rubbed muck; 5 percent fibers, 0 percent rubbed; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; strongly acid (pH5.4); clear wavy boundary.

Oa4--61 to 94 cm; black (5YR 2.5/1) broken face and rubbed muck; 40 percent fibers, 10 percent rubbed; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 10 percent woody fragments; strongly acid (pH5.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizons is 40 to 130 cm.)

2Cg1--94 to 120 cm; dark gray (5Y 4/1) very gravelly loamy coarse sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; 40 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear wavy boundary.

2Cg2--120 to 152 cm; gray (5Y 5/1) gravelly loamy very fine sand; massive; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 20 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.8).

TYPE LOCATION: Windham County, Connecticut; 125 feet northwest of New Road at a point 750 feet northeast of the intersection of Town Farm Road and New Road in a swamp. USGS Thompson topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 59 minutes 57 seconds N., longitude 71 degrees 48 minutes 30 seconds W., NAD 27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The organic material extends to a depth of 40 to 130 cm. The reaction of the organic material commonly is ultra acid to moderately acid in 0.01 M calcium chloride but the range includes slightly acid or neutral in some places. The pH value is 4.5 or more (in 0.01 M calcium chloride) in one or more layers of organic soil materials within the control section. The reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral in the substratum. Woody fragments, consisting of twigs, branches, logs, or stumps, occur in some part of the organic soil materials in most pedons and range from 0 to 30 percent by volume in the control section. Fragments range in size from 20 to 300 mm in diameter.

The surface tier has hue of 10YR to 5YR, or is neutral; value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 6. It is dominantly muck (sapric material); however, some pedons have surface layers of peat or muck peat (fibric or hemic materials). The structure of the surface tier is massive, or is weak or medium, coarse to fine granular or subangular blocky.

The subsurface and bottom tiers have hue of 10YR to 5YR, or are neutral; value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 4. They are typically muck (sapric material). Thin hemic layers less than 3 inches thick occur in some places on the boundary between MLRAs 144A and 101. The tiers are commonly massive, but some pedons have weak coarse blocky or thick platy structure.

The 2C horizon has a hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, or is neutral, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 8. It is coarse sand, sand, loamy coarse sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand or gravelly analogues of these textures. Some pedons may have thin lenses of loamy very fine sand within the control section; however the weighted average in the control section is coarser than loamy very fine sand. Rock fragments range in size from gravel to stones and from 0 to 40 percent by volume.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Adrian and Fishtrap series. Fishtrap soils are from outside LRRs R and S. The Adrian soils are derived primarily from herbaceous plants and lack woody fragments in the organic materials. Adrian soils have mean annual precipitation less than 1090 mm. The Fishtrap soils have mean summer temperatures less than 18 degrees C.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Timakwa soils are in depressions in lake plains, outwash plains, moraines, till plains and flood plains. These soils formed primarily in woody organic materials with some herbaceous materials. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual temperature is 8 to 10 degrees C and the mean annual precipitation is 1092 to 1270 mm. The frost-free period is 120 to 180 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Catden, Freetown, Leicester, Natchaug, Ridgebury, Scarboro, and Whitman soils on nearby landscapes. Natchaug soils have a loamy substratum at depths of 40 to 130 cm. Freetown and Catden soils are formed in organic deposits more than 130 cm deep. Poorly drained Ridgebury and Leicester or very poorly drained Whitman soils occur at the margins of Timakwa areas as they grade into the upland. Very poorly drained Scarboro soils are sandy.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Very poorly drained. Depth to the seasonal high water table ranges from 30 centimeters above the surface to 30 cm below the surface from October to June. Surface runoff is negligible or very low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the organic layers and high or very high in the sandy material. Some areas are subject to rare, very brief flooding from November to May.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for wildlife, or are in woodland or clear-cut woodland. Some of these soils are used for pasture. Common vegetation is red maple, skunk cabbage, and sphagnum moss.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Connecticut, Massachusetts, northern New Jersey, eastern New York, and southern Vermont; MLRAs 101, 144A and 145. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Connecticut Statewide Update Survey, 2003. The name is derived from an American Indian word.

REMARKS: These soils were previously mapped in Connecticut as the Adrian series.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:

1. Sapric material - the zone from the surface to 94 cm (Oa1, Oa2, Oa3, and Oa4 horizons).
2. Terric feature - mineral soil material at a depth of 94 cm (2Cg horizons)
3. Control section - 0 to 130 cm (Oa1, Oa2, Oa3 and part of the 2Cg horizons).
4. Euic reaction class - pH of 4.5 or more in 0.01 M calcium chloride in one or more organic layers within the control section (Oa1, Oa2, Oa3, and Oa4 horizons).


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.