LOCATION ALLAGASH ME MA NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, isotic, frigid Typic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Allagash fine sandy loam in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oe-- 0 to 1 inch; hemic material. (0 to 1 inch thick.)
E-- 1 to 2 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam; weak thin platy structure; friable; many roots; 2 percent fine gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick.)
Bhs-- 2 to 3 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many roots; 5 percent fine gravel; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick.)
Bs1-- 3 to 8inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; common roots; 5 percent fine gravel; few very dusky red (2.5YR 2/2) concretions 1/8th inch in diameter; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bs2-- 8 to 14 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common roots; 5 percent fine gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 4 to 18 inches thick.)
BC-- 14 to 28 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; few roots; 5 percent fine gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 26 inches thick.)
2C-- 28 to 65 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) and olive (5Y 5/3) fine sand; single grain; loose; 5 percent fine gravel; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Aroostook County, Maine; St. John Plantation; one mile west of Fort Kent and St. John town line and 500 feet north of Maine Route 161 adjacent to terrace face. Wheelock, ME topographic quadrangle; Latitude 47 degrees, 14 minutes, 10 seconds N. and Longitude 68 degrees, 43 minutes, 16 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 15 to 36 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. The mineral solum is fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam or silt loam. The substratum is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand except some pedons have gravelly or very gravelly strata below depths of 40 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent by volume above a depth of 40 inches, including thin strata of fine gravel in some pedons. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid throughout the mineral material unless limed.
Cultivated areas have an Ap horizon 5 to 10 inches thick with hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. It has granular structure and consistence is very friable or friable.
The O horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 or 2.5 and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate fine granular structure.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has granular, subanguar blocky or platy structure and consistence is very friable or friable.
The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR with value and chroma of 2 or 3. Some pedons have a Bh horizon with hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 2 to 6. The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. The B horizons have granular or subangular blocky structure and consistence is very friable or friable. Concretions are not present in some pedons.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. It has granular or subangular blocky structure and consistence is very friable or friable.
Some pedons have a massive C layer, up to 8 inches thick, with color, texture and consistence like the BC horizon.
Some pedons have a C horizon with color, texture and consistence like the BC horizon. It is massive.
The 2C horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is massive or single grain and consistence is loose to very friable.
Some pedons have a C horizon up to 8 inches thick with color, texture and consistence as the BC horizon. It is massive.
COMPETING SERIES: Monadnock is the only series in the same family. Monadnock soils have more large angular rock fragments in the control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Allagash soils are on outwash plains and stream terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. Steep slopes are on terrace margin escarpments and sides of gullies in dissected outwash plains. The soils formed in materials derived mainly from granite, slate, schist, gneiss, phyllite and quartzite. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 48 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degrees F. The frost-free season ranges from 80 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 20 to 2000 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Adams, Colton, Fryeburg, Machias, Madawaska, Masardis, Ondawa, Salmon, and Stetson soils. Adams, Colton, Masardis, Salmon, and Stetson soils are on adjacent outwash terraces and plains and glacial lake plains. Adams and Colton soils have a thinner loamy mantle and Masardis and Stetson soils have more gravel in the substratum. Salmon soils are not underlain by sands and gravels. Machias and Madawaska soils are moderately well drained and are in lower positions on the landscape. Fryeburg and Ondawa soils are on nearby floodplains.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate in the solum and rapid in the substratum. The potential for surface runoff is low to medium.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for growing potatoes, corn silage, clover, and grasses. Some areas have reverted to forest or were left in forest. Major tree species include red spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, red pine, American beech, red maple, and paper birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York. MLRAs 143, 144B and 146. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Aroostook County, Maine 1960.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Albic horizon - the zone from 1 to 2 inches (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 2 to 8 inches (Bhs and Bs1 horizons).
c. Strongly contrasting particle-size class - the transition at 28 inches between the loamy material and the sandy material in the control section (10 to 40 inches) is less than 5 inches. The loamy material has less than 50 percent fine or coarser sand.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Source of data used in establishing taxonomic class and range in characteristics is Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin 46, 1971.