LOCATION WINOOSKI MA+CT NH VT
Established Series
Rev. DGG-SMF-DCP
01/2013
WINOOSKI SERIES
The Winooski series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in alluvial material. These soils are on nearly level flood plains. Slope ranges from 0 through 3 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low through high. Mean annual precipitation is about 45 inches (1143 millimeters) and the mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F (7 degrees C).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Fluvaquentic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Winooski very fine sandy loam on a 1 percent slope in a cultivated field at an elevation of about 69 meters. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap -- 0 to 8 inches (0 to 20 centimeters); very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) very fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 18 inches (10 to 46 centimeters thick).
Bw1 -- 8 to 18 inches (20 to 46 centimeters); brown (10YR 4/3) very fine sandy loam; massive; friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Bw2 -- 18 to 26 inches (46 to 66 centimeters); olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) very fine sandy loam, common medium prominent pinkish gray (5YR 7/2) and faint brown (10YR 5/3) areas of iron depletion; massive; friable; few fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 6 to 30 inches (15 to 76 centimeters).
BC -- 26 to 43 inches (66 to 109 centimeters); olive gray (5Y 5/2) very fine sandy loam; massive; friable; common medium faint light gray (5Y 7/2) areas of iron depletion and faint brown (10YR 5/3) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches (0 to 51 centimeters thick).
C -- 43 to 65 inches (109 to 165 centimeters); olive (5Y 5/3) loamy very fine sand; massive; friable; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions and prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Worcester County, Massachusetts, Town of Lancaster, 100 feet north of Massachusetts Route 117, 900 feet west of the Bolton town line. USGS Hudson, MA topographic quadrangle, Latitude 42 degrees, 27 minutes, 35 seconds N., Longitude 71 degrees, 39 minutes, 7 seconds W., NAD 1983.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 18 through 43 inches (46 through 110 centimeters). Gravel ranges from 0 through 5 percent by volume throughout the soil. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through neutral. Depth to iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less ranges from 14 through 20 inches (35 through 50 centimeters).
The O horizon where present ranges in thickness from 1 or 2 inches (3 through 6 centimeters). The O has hue 7.5YR, value 2.5 or 3, and chroma of 2 or 3. Decompositon of the plant material ranges from fibric through sapric.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 1 through 3. Texture is silt loam, silt, very fine sandy loam, or loamy very fine sand. Structure is subangular blocky, platy, or granular. Consistence is very friable or friable.
Some pedons have Ab and/or AB horizons similar in characteristic to the A or Ap horizon.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5 YR through 5Y, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 6. Matrix chroma of 2 is below a depth of 20 inches (50 centimeters). Texture is silt loam, silt or very fine sandy loam. Structure is granular or subangular blocky, or it is massive. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Matrix chroma of 2 is below a depth of 20 inches (50 centimeters). Texture is silt loam, silt, very fine sandy loam, or loamy very fine sand. Structure is granular or subangular blocky, or it is massive. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 4. Matrix chroma of 2 is below a depth of 20 inches (50 centimeters). Texture is silt loam, silt, very fine sandy loam, or loamy very fine sand. Some pedons have thin strata of very fine sand, fine sand, sand, or coarse sand below a depth of 40 inches (100 centimeters). The C horizon is massive or has fine stratification. Consistence is firm through very friable.
The thickness and number of horizons below the A horizon is variable and corresponds to the thickness and variability of the alluvial deposits.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Otego soil is the only other soil currently in the same family. Otego soils are formed in alluvium from sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Otego soils do not allow for loamy very fine sand textures in their A, BC, or C horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Winooski soils are nearly level soils on flood plains. They are typically in broad depressions. Slope ranges from 0 through 3 percent. The soils formed in recent alluvial deposits of very fine sand and silt. The source of the alluvium is from igneous and meta-igneous geology, with additions of limestone and dolomite for areas in the Lake Champlain valley, and their resultant glacial materials. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 through 50 inches (1016 through 1270 millimeters) and mean annual air temperature from 45 degrees through 52 degrees F. (7 through 11 degrees C.). Mean annual growing season ranges from 120 through 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Winooski soils are the moderately well drained member of a drainage sequence which includes the well drained
Hadley soils, the poorly drained
Limerick soils and the very poorly drained
Saco soils on nearby landscapes.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low through high. Flooding frequency varies from twice a year to once in 10 years. Stream overflow generally occurs during late winter or spring and during periods of high rainfall.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for growing hay, silage corn and pasture in support of dairying and to some extent for truck crops, potatoes, and tobacco. Native vegetation is forest composed mainly of red maple, silver maple, elm, willow, northern hardwoods, and eastern white pine. Balsam fir and spruce are in the northerly range of the series.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont. MLRA's 142, 144A, and 145. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Chittenden County, Vermont, 1938.
REMARKS: The Winooski soils mapped in Maine, and in MLRA 144B and 143, are now considered to be in the frigid temperature regime and are relict.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of about 8 inches (20 centimeters) (Ap horizon).
2. Coarse-silty particle size - less than 10 percent of the material in the 10 through 40 inch (25 through 100 centimeter) zone is fine sand or coarser, including gravel, and clay averages about 7 percent.
3. Cambic horizon the zone from 8 to 43 inches (20 to 109 centimeters) (Bw1, Bw2, and BC horizons) has evidence of alteration in the form of absence of rock structure or some degree of soil structure.
4. Aquic feature - the zone from 18 to 26 inches has redox depletions and aquic conditions at some time during the year. (Bw2 horizon)
Additional NSSL data: numerous full characterization pedons sampled in CT, MA, NH and VT
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.