LOCATION WAREHAM MA +CT NH NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Humaqueptic Psammaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Wareham loamy sand, in a hayfield at an elevation of about 35 meters. (Colors are for moist soils)
Oa--O to 1 inches, black (10YR 2/2) highly decomposed plant material (sapric material). (0 to 5 inches thick)
A--1 to 7 inches, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loamy sand, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many medium and fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw--7 to 17 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy coarse sand; single grain; loose; common medium and fine roots; common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
Cg1--17 to 37 inches, light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) loamy coarse sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; common medium and coarse prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and common medium and coarse faint light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 30 inches thick)
Cg2--37 to 60 inches, pale olive (5Y 6/3) coarse sand; single grain; loose; many medium and coarse prominent light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) masses of iron accumulations and brown (7.5YR 5/2) iron depletions; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Bristol County, Massachusetts, Town of Easton; 0.6 miles west of intersection of Routes 24 and 123; 100 feet north of Route 123; Lat. 42 degrees, 03 minutes, 24 seconds N. and 71 degrees 04 minutes 19 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 6 to 30 inches. Gravel content to a depth of about 40 inches ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Below 36 inches the gravel content ranges from 0 to 60 percent and cobblestones range from 0 to 3 percent. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid throughout unless limed.
The A horizon, or Ap where present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. Dry value is 5 or less. It is sand, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand. Structure is weak fine or medium granular or the horizon is single grain. Consistence is very friable or loose. Some pedons have E horizons with hue 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. They are sand or loamy sand.
The Bw or Bg horizons where present have a hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, fine sand, or sand. Structure is weak fine or medium granular or subangular blocky, or the horizon is single grain. Consistence is very friable or loose.
The Cg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 3. It is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, fine sand, sand or coarse sand in the fine earth fraction. Some pedons have strata of sand and gravel below a depth of 40 inches, and some have lenses or bodies of fine sandy loam. Within a depth of 20 inches chroma is either 2 or less, when hue is 10YR or redder, or 3 or less, when hue is 2.5Y or 5Y. The Cg horizon is massive or single grain in the upper part and single grain in the lower part. Consistence is very friable or loose.
COMPETING SERIES: Gougeville is the only other series in the same family. Gougeville soils are less acid and receive less than 40 inches of annual precipitation.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wareham soils are level to gently sloping soils on outwash plains, deltas, and stream terraces in areas that receive run on water. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in sandy glaciofluvial materials derived from granite and gneiss. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 50 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is 40 to 47 inches. Mean growing season ranges from 120 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Agawam, Deerfield, Hinckley, Ninigret, Pipestone, Saugatuck, Scarboro, Sudbury, and Windsor soils. Agawam, Hinckley, Ninigret, and Sudbury soils are all better drained. The excessively drained Windsor, moderately well drained Deerfield, somewhat poorly drained Pipestone and Saugatuck and very poorly drained Scarboro soils, are in a drainage sequence with the Wareham soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly and somewhat poorly drained. Runoff is negligible or very low. Permeability is rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested or idle. Cleared and drained areas are used for growing hay, pasture, and row crops. Red maple, elm, hemlock, white pine, aspen, and tamarack are the most common trees, but in the northern range of the series red spruce and balsam fir are prominent.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, eastern New York, and northern New Jersey; MLRAs 142, 144A, 144B, 145, and 149B. Moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Massachusetts, 1964.
REMARKS: Narrative location (and resulting geographic coordinates added in 1997) as described place pedon in drainage area near Hinckley, Windsor, and Sudbury map units.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 7 inches (A horizon).
2. Aquic conditions as evidenced by a matrix chroma of 2 and redox concentrations within a layer between 16 and 20 inches from the mineral soil surface (C1 horizon).
3. Humaqueptic subgroup color value, moist of 3 and color value, dry of 5 in the upper 15 cm. (A horizon) and base saturation generally averages less than 25 percent within 100 cm. in similar soils.