LOCATION VERGENNES NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, mixed, active, mesic Glossaquic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Vergennes clay described in an area of Vergennes clay, 3 to 8 percent slopes, in a cornfield. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted)
Ap-- 0 to 8 inches, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) clay; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular; friable; slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and medium and few coarse roots; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 8 inches thick.)
B/E-- 8 to 10 inches, 12 percent grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and 88 percent brown (10YR 5/3) clay; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; sticky and plastic; common fine and medium roots; common fine vesicular and few fine tubular pores; very thin discontinuous clay films in pores; many fine and medium faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 11 inches thick.)
Bt-- 10 to 22 inches, brown (10YR 4/3) clay; ped surfaces are brown (10YR 5/3); moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; very sticky and very plastic; common fine and medium and few coarse roots; many fine vesicular and few fine and medium tubular pores; thin discontinuous clay films on ped surfaces and pore linings; common fine and medium faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) soft masses of iron accumulation and few fine faint light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (The combined thickness of Bt horizons is 12 to 20 inches thick.)
BC-- 22 to 29 inches, 50 percent dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) and 50 percent brown (10YR 4/3) clay; weak very coarse prismatic parting to moderate fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; very sticky and very plastic; few fine, medium and coarse roots; many fine vesicular and few fine and medium tubular pores; thin discontinuous clay films on ped surfaces; common fine faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; ped surfaces are grayish brown (10YR 5/2); slightly alkaline, mild effervescence; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick.)
C1-- 29 to 37 inches, 50 percent dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) and 50 percent brown (10YR 4/3) clay; massive, weakly varved with very weak coarse prism like features; firm, very sticky and very plastic; few fine and medium coarse roots; common fine vesicular and few fine tubular pores; common coatings of light gray (10YR 7/2) CaCO3 on feature surfaces; common fine distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; feature surfaces are gray (10YR 5/1); moderately alkaline, strong effervescence; gradual wavy boundary.
C2-- 37 to 45 inches, brown (10YR 4/3) clay; massive, varved with weak coarse prism like features; firm, very sticky and very plastic; few fine roots; common fine vesicular and few fine tubular pores; common light gray (10YR 7/2) nodules of CaCO3; few medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) soft masses of iron accumulation; feature surfaces are gray (10YR 6/1); moderately alkaline, strongly effervescent; gradual wavy boundary.
C3-- 45 to 77 inches, variegated grayish brown (10YR 5/2) gray (5Y 5/1) and brown (10YR 4/3) clay; massive, varved with moderate very coarse prism like features; firm, very sticky and very plastic; few fine roots; few fine vesicular and tubular pores; light gray (10YR 7/2) carbonate nodules; few fine distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; ped surfaces are gray (10YR 5/1); moderately alkaline, strong effervescence.
TYPE LOCATION: Essex County, New York, Town of Crown Point, 50 feet north of the point on Burdick Road located 1 mile east of the junction of Burdick Road and State Route 9N. USGS Crown Point, NY 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 59 minutes, 08 seconds N. Longitude 73 degrees, 26 minutes, 13 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of solum ranges from 14 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 2 percent. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral in the upper part of the solum and moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the lower part. The C horizon is moderately alkaline. Depth to free carbonates ranges from 18 to 40 inches.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 4. The A horizon is clay, silty clay, silty clay loam, or silt loam.
Some pedons have an E horizon which has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. The E horizon is clay, silty clay, silty clay loam, or silt loam.
The B/E horizon has colors and textures similar to the Bt and E horizons.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 4. It is clay.
Some pedons have a BC horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 4. It is clay with silt and silty clay varves.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no series in the same family.
The Boxford, Broughton, Buxton, Caneadea, Covington, Fulton, Hudson, Livingston, Nappanee, St. Clair, and Suffield series are similar soils in related families. Caneadea, Bulton, Hudson, Nappanee, and St. Clair series have more silt and less than 60 percent clay in the B horizons. Nappanee and St. Clair series are dominated by less well sorted material containing more rock fragments. The Boxford, Buxton and Suffield soils have textures of silt loam in the upper B horizons and do not have argillic horizons. The Covington, Livingston, and Panton soils have distinct or prominent mottles just below the A horizons. The Livingston soils have a mollic epipedon. The Broughton soils lack the light colored ped coatings and interfingering of E horizon into the Bt horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Vergennes soils are nearly level to steep soils on glacial lake plains. They are on broad plains and on the tops and side slopes of hills ridges and knolls. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. The soils formed in calcareous estuarine and glaciolacustrine clays. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 26 to 36 inches and the mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit. The frost-free season ranges from 130 to 165 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The very poorly drained Livingston, the poorly drained Covington, the somewhat poorly and poorly drained Panton, and the somewhat poorly drained Kingsbury soils are associated in a drainage sequence. The Benson, Elmridge, Farmington, Galoo, Galway, Grenville, Melrose, Nellis, and Windsor soils are associated with Vergennes soils. The Elmridge soils have loamy material over clays. The Melrose soils have sandy or loamy material over clays. The Windsor soils are very deep sands. The Benson, Farmington, Galoo, Galway, Grenville, and Nellis soils developed in loamy till.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is low or moderately high in the mineral solum and moderately low to very low in the substratum. The soils remain wet for a long time in the spring and become wet early in the fall.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and used for hay, pasture, and to a lesser extent for silage corn and apple orchards. In wooded areas common trees are eastern white pine, red maple, sugar maple, American beech, red oak, white oak, eastern hemlock, northern white-cedar, and eastern red cedar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Vermont and Northern New York in the upper St. Lawrence River Valley and bordering Lake Champlain. MLRA 142 and 144A. The series is extensive, about 250,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Addison and Rutland Counties, Vermont and Essex and Warren Counties, New York, 1904.
REMARKS: The Vergennes soil series is a benchmark series and is in the soil series Hall of Fame.
This revision reflects new horizon designations and general updating.
The horizons and features diagnostic for the typical pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Argillic horizon from 10 to 22 inches (Bt horizon).
3. Interfingering of albic materials (B/E horizon).
4. The particle size control section, from 10 to 22 inches, is very fine.
5. Udic soil moisture regime.
6. Mesic soil temperature regime.
ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL laboratory data is available for the typical pedon S85NY031-08 and the following pedons: S58VT-1-5 (SSIR 20), S58VT-1-6 (SSIR 20), S73VT-1-1, S73VT-1-3, S80VT-1-1, S80VT-1-2, and S57NY-16-1