LOCATION WARWICK            MA NH VT 
Established Series
Rev. DGG-WHT-DAS
03/2010

WARWICK SERIES


The Warwick series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained soils formed in glaciofluvial deposits. They are nearly level through steep soils on terraces, outwash plains, and deltas. Slope ranges from 0 through 45 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in the mineral solum and very high in the substratum. The mean annual temperature is 48 degrees F. (9 degrees C.), and the mean annual precipitation is about 45 inches (1143 millimeters).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Warwick channery fine sandy loam - hayfield. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap-- 0 to 8 inches (0 to 20 centimeters); dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery fine sandy loam, gray (10YR 6/1) dry; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many grass roots; 25 percent subrounded slate channers; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 10 inches (18 to 25 centimeters) thick.)

Bw1-- 8 to 14 inches (20 to 36 centimeters); yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many grass roots; 30 percent subrounded slate channers and 2 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 9 inches (13 to 23 centimeters) thick.)

Bw2-- 14 to 23 inches (36 to 59 centimeters); light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) very channery fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common grass roots; 35 percent subrounded slate channners and 2 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 16 inches (20 to 41 centimeters) thick.)

2C1-- 23 to 36 inches (59 to 91 centimeters); olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) extremely channery loamy sand; single grain; loose; common grass roots; 65 percent subrounded slate channers and 2 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 20 inches (10 to 51 centimeters) thick.)

2C2-- 36 to 65 inches (91 to 165 centimeters); variegated black (5Y 2/1) and light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) extremely channery sand stratified with slate or phyllite channers; single grain; loose; very few grass roots in upper 6 inches; 65 percent channers mostly less than 3 inches in size including 2 percent granitic gravel and cobbles; moderately acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Massachusetts; town of Gill, Ben Hale Road, 1 1/2 miles northwest of village of Gill. USGS Bernardston, MA quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 39 minutes, 35 seconds N. and Longitude 72 degrees, 30 minutes, 53 seconds W.; NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 through 30 inches (50 through 76 centimeters). The A horizon contains 5 through 30 percent rock fragments less than 3 inches in size and 0 through 10 percent from 3 through 10 inches in size. The B horizon has 10 through 60 percent rock fragments less than 3 inches in size and 0 through 10 percent are 3 through 10 inches in size. The C horizon has 35 through 60 percent rock fragments less than 3 inches and 5 through 15 percent 3 through 10 inches in size, and 0 through 10 percent rock fragments greater than 10 inches. Dark flat phyllite, shale, or slate constitutes 50 through 75 percent of the rock fragments and about 10 through 50 percent of the sand and silt fraction. The soil ranges from extremely acid through moderately acid in the solum where not limed, and from very strongly acid through slightly acid in the substratum.

Some pedons have an O horizon.

The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. An A horizon, 1 through 4 inches thick, is in unplowed areas. It has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3. The A or Ap horizon is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction.

The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR in the upper part and 10YR or 2.5Y in the lower part, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 8 with chroma of 8 restricted to the upper part. The Bw horizon is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.

Some pedons have a BC horizon up to 5 inches thick. It is sandy loam or loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction and ranges from about 30 through 60 percent rock fragments.

The 2C horizon is stratified loamy sand, sand, or coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 4.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Berks, Blasdell, Brownstown, Brownsville, Cadosia, Calvin, Cloverlick, Deadline, Highsplint, Jubin, Judyville, Keyesville, Lippit, Manlius, Matewan, Nailkeg, Peaks, Solon (T), Sylco, and Wyoming series. Berks, Blasdell, and Brownsville soils have B horizon textures of silt loam or loam. Brownstown, Calvin, Deadline, Keyesville, Manlius, Matewan, Nailkeg, Peaks, Solon (T), and Sylco soils have bedrock within 20 through 40 inches of the soil surface. Cadosia soils formed in till and local colluviums derived from sandstone, siltstone and shale. Cloverlick soils are formed in colluvium or residuum weathered from sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Jubin is formed in colluviums from sandstone and siltstone bedrock. Judyville is formed in residuum from sandstone. Highsplint soils formed in colluvium on mountain slopes from sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Lippit soils have a paralithic contact within 20 to 40 inches. Parker soils formed in residuum and have angular rock fragments. Wyoming soils have gray sandstone, shale, and siltstone rock fragments.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Warwick soils are nearly level through steep soils on terraces, outwash plains, and deltas. Slope commonly is 1 through 8 percent, but ranges from 0 through 45 percent. The soils formed in stratified glaciofluvial deposits derived principally from dark, fine-grained rock fragments of phyllite, slate, or shale. The climate is humid and temperate with a mean annual temperature of 45 through 50 degrees F. (7 through 10 degrees C.), and a mean annual precipitation of 40 through 50 inches (1016 through 1270 millimeters). Length of the growing season ranges from about 140 through 195 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Quonset, Bernardston, Dutchess, Nassau, Newport, and Pittstown soils. All but Quonset formed in till. Bernardston, Newport, and Pittstown soils have dense till substrata. Dutchess soils have a loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam C horizon within 40 inches (100 cm) of the soil surface. Nassau soils have bedrock within 20 inches (50 cm) of the surface. Quonset soils have dominant textures of loamy sand or sand between a depth of 10 and 40 inches (25 and 100 cm).

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Runoff is slow or medium depending on slope gradient. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in the mineral solum and very high in the substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and are used for the production of hay, pasture, oats, silage corn, and to a smaller extent, truck crops. The common forest trees are eastern white pine, gray birch, eastern hemlock, red maple, and upland oaks and in the northern range of the series, yellow birch, sugar maple, and beech.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. MLRAs 144A, 144B, and 145. The series is of moderate extent, estimated 20,000 acres.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kent and Washington Counties, Rhode Island, 1934.

REMARKS: This revision reflects changes to the range in characteristics as well as general updating to metric units. The use of Warwick in 144B is a relic from before temperature class families.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1) Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 8 inches (0 to 20 centimeters) (Ap horizon).
2) Cambic horizon - the zone from 8 to 23 inches (20 to 59 centimeters) (Bw horizon).
3) Loamy-skeletal feature - the weighted average volume of fragments larger than 2 mm in size averages 51 percent in the texture control section.
4) Cation-exchange activity class is active based upon available laboratory data.
5) Particle-size control section - the zone from 25 to 100 centimeters (Bw1,Bw2, 2C1, 2C2 horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: Full characterization data for sample no.78VT025002. Pedon analyzed by the NSSL, Lincoln, NE.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.