LOCATION ADAMS NY+MA ME NH VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, isotic, frigid Typic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Adams sand, on a 5 percent slope in a forested area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oe--O to 10 centimeters; black (10YR 2/1) humus (hemic material) in a mat of roots and fungal hyphae; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 15 centimeters thick)
E--10 to 20 centimeters; pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) sand; single grain; loose; many roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 20 centimeters thick)
Bhs--20 to 25 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) loamy sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many roots; many fine pores; few firm nodules 1 to 5 centimeters in diameter; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 20 centimeters thick)
Bs1--25 to 36 centimeters; brown (7.5YR 4/4) loamy sand; very weak very fine granular structure; very friable; common roots; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bs2--36 to 51 centimeters; brown (7.5YR 4/4) sand; single grain; loose; few coarse roots; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 13 to 46 centimeters.)
BC--51 to 76 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sand; single grain; loose; few very coarse roots; very strongly acid; diffuse wavy boundary. (0 to 43 centimeters thick)
C--76 to 183 centimeters; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sand; single grain; loose; few very coarse roots in upper part; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Lewis County, New York; 5/8 mile north of the Village of Watson on a Knoll in a wooded area west of road to New Bremen. USGS Lowville Quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 47 minutes, 4 seconds N., and Longitude 75 degrees, 25 minutes, 42 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 41 to 89 centimeters. Depth to bedrock is more than 183 centimeters. Rock fragments, mostly gravel, range from 0 to 10 percent above a depth of 51 centimeters and, from 0 to 20 percent below 51 centimeters. Some pedons have contrasting very gravelly deposits below a depth of 100 centimeters. The sand fraction is dominantly medium and fine. Adams soils are dry for less than 20 consecutive days following the summer solstice and moist within 91 centimeters of the soil surface during the month of August in normal years.
The 0 horizon, where present, is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 3. It is fibric, hemic or sapric material.
Some pedons have an A or Ap horizon that has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand. Structure is weak or moderate fine or medium granular or it is single-grain. Consistence is friable or very friable. Unless limed, reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand. In some pedons texture is fine sandy loam. Structure is granular or weak subangular blocky in some pedons, but most pedons are single-grain. Consistence is friable to loose. Reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid.
The Bhs or Bh horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand. Structure is weak or moderate fine or medium granular or weak subangular blocky, or the horizon is single-grained or massive. Consistence is very friable or friable. Massive, cemented bodies, 1 to 20 centimeters across, range from 0 to 30 percent of the exposed surface area of the horizon. Reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid.
The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak granular or subangular blocky, or the horizon is single-grain or massive. Consistence is very friable or loose. Massive, cemented bodies range from 0 to 30 percent of the exposed surface area of the Bs horizon. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid.
The BC horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. The texture is fine sand to coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have texture of loamy sand or loamy fine sand. Consistence is very friable or loose. Cemented bodies range up to 20 percent of the exposed surface area in some pedons. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is fine sand to coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have strata of loamy fine sand in the lower part. Reaction is very strongly acid to slightly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cusino, Duxbury, Kalkaska, Liminga, Pence and Stutts series. All except Duxbury occur outside region 12. The Kalkaska, Liminga and Cusino soils have dry soil moisture status within 91 centimeters of the soil surface in the month of August. The Stutts, Duxbury and Pence soils have combined content of silt plus clay greater than 15 percent in the the A, E, Bhs and Bs horizons. The Sheddenbrook series is in a related family. Sheddenbrook soils have bedrock within a depth of 40 inches and have redoximorphic features within a depth of 30 inches from the surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Adams soils are on nearly level to very steep sand plains, kames, moraines, benches, eskers, deltas, and terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 70 percent. These soils formed in sandy glaciofluvial or glaciolacustrine deposits from predominantly crystalline rock or sandstone. Mean annual temperature ranges from 3 to 8 degrees C., mean annual precipitation ranges from 760 to 1270 millimeters, and mean annual frost-free period ranges from 70 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 91 to 915 meters above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Allagash, Becket, Berkshire, Colton, Croghan, Duxbury, Hermon, Naumburg and Wallace soils. Allagash, Colton, Duxbury and Wallace soils are on similar landscapes. Allagash and Duxbury soils are loamy in the upper part. Colton soils have an average rock fragment content of at least 35 percent between depths of 25 and 100 centimeters. Wallace soils have ortstein between depths of 12 to 51 centimeters. Becket, Berkshire, and Hermon soils are on surrounding uplands in glacial till deposits. The moderately well drained Croghan soils and somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained Naumburg soils are on low lying areas of sand plains and terraces.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Runoff is very slow to medium. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high. Permeability is rapid or very rapid in the surface layer and upper part of the subsoil and very rapid in the lower part of the subsoil and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Extensive areas are idle and support aspen, birch, and pine seedlings or sweet fern, spirea, and brambles. Uncleared areas support maple, beech, spruce, and pine. Farmed areas are used mainly for hay or pasture with limited acreages of corn and small grain.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern New York and New England; MLRA's 141, 142, 143, 144A*, 144B. The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jefferson County, New York, 1911.
REMARKS: 1. Adams soils are no longer maintained in MLRA's 93 and 94B. Series have been proposed which better represent the previously correlated phases of the Adams series in these MLRA'S. Adams soils may not be recognized in MLRA 144A because of soil temperature when these areas are updated. 3. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Albic horizon - from 10 to 20 cm (E horizon).
2) Spodic horizon - from 20 to 51 cm (Bhs, Bs1, Bs2 horizons).
Soil Interpretation Record No: NY0025, NY0293, VT0048, NY0430