LOCATION WATCHAUG CT +NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Watchaug fine sandy loam - young forest - at an elevation of about 298 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) fine sandy loam, light reddish brown (5YR 6/3) dry; weak medium and fine granular structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 8 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 18 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--18 to 24 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; 10 percent gravel; common fine and medium, faint strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron concentration and common fine and medium prominent pinkish gray (5YR 6/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 12 to 34 inches.)
C--24 to 65 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) gravelly sandy loam, streaks of pale red (2.5YR 6/2) and reddish brown (2.5YR 5/4); massive; friable; few fine roots above 48 inches; 25 percent gravel and cobbles; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: New Haven County, Connecticut; town of Wallingford, 250 feet north of the intersection of Cook Hill Road and Schoolhouse Road. USGS Wallingford topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 27 minutes 22 seconds
N., longitude 72 degrees 51 minutes 54 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 18 to 36 inches. Depth to bedrock is commonly more than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 5 to 35 percent by volume throughout the soil. Except where the surface is stony, the fragments are mostly subrounded gravel and typically make up 60 percent or more of the total rock fragments. Unless limed, reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the solum and from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the substratum.
The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR and value and chroma of 2 to 4. Dry value is 6 or more. Undisturbed pedons have a thin A horizon with value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 to 3. The Ap or A horizon is sandy loam to silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is friable
or very friable.
The Bw horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Redoximorphic features are in the lower part of the Bw above a depth of 24 inches. It is sandy loam to silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. The Bw horizon has weak granular or subangular blocky structure, or it is massive. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a thin BC horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR and value and chroma of 3 to 6. It typically has redoximorphic features. Texture is fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have thin lenses of loamy sand. The horizon is massive or it has weak plates. Consistence is commonly very friable or friable but the range includes firm.
COMPETING SERIES: Ludlow soils are the only soils currently in the same family. Ludlow soils have a dense substratum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Watchaug soils are nearly level to strongly sloping and are typically on lower slopes or in slightly depressed areas of glaciated till plains, low ridges, and hills. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in acid till derived mostly from reddish sandstone, shale, and conglomerate with some basalt. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52
degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 50 inches, and the growing season ranges from 130 to 185 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Ludlow soils and the
Berlin,
Branford,
Cheshire,
Ellington,
Hartford,
Holyoke, Ludlow,
Manchester,
Menlo,
Narragansett,
Penwood,
Rainbow,
Wapping, and
Wethersfield soils on
nearby landscapes. The well drained Cheshire soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Berlin soils are on lacustrine terraces. Branford, Ellington, Hartford, Manchester, and Penwood soils are on nearby outwash terraces and are underlain by stratified sand or sand and gravel. Holyoke soils have bedrock within a depth of 10 to 20 inches. Well drained Wethersfield soils have a dense substratum. Menlo soils are very poorly drained. Narragansett soils are well drained and have a loamy sand substratum. Rainbow soils have a dense substratum and are 7.5YR or yellower hue in the B horizon. Wapping soils have 7.5YR or yellower in the B horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Surface runoff is negligible to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high. Watchaug soils have a seasonal high water table.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used mostly for cultivated crops, hay, or pasture. Some areas are used for vegetables, nursery stock, and other specialty crops. Scattered areas are used for community development. Stony areas are mostly wooded. Common trees are red, white, and black oak, red maple, ash, gray
birch, white pine, and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in the Connecticut Valley of Connecticut and in southeastern New York; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hartford County, Connecticut, 1959.
REMARKS: Cation exchange activity class placement determined from a review of limited lab data and similar or associated soils.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 8 to 24 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
3. Aquic subgroup - iron depletions with chroma 2 or less at 18 inches are within a depth of 24 inches (Bw2 horizon).
4. Particle-size class - averages coarse-loamy in the control section from 10 to
40 inches.