LOCATION AURELIE ME+NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid, shallow Aeric Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Aurelie channery silt loam on a 5 percent west-facing slope in a forested area. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oa1--0 to 2 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) highly decomposed organic material; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine and common medium and few coarse roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Oa2--2 to 4 inches; black (5YR 2/1) highly decomposed organic material; strong fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine and common medium and few coarse roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (The combined thickness of the Oa horizon is 0 to 5 inches.)
A1--4 to 6 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine, common fine and medium and few coarse roots; 30 percent channers; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
A2--6 to 10 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) channery silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common very fine and few fine and medium roots; 30 percent channers; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (The combined thickness of the A horizon is 0 to 8 inches.)
Bg--10 to 13 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) channery loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine roots; few fine faint light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions; 20 percent channers; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 16 inches thick)
BCg--13 to 20 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) channery loam; weak medium platy structure; firm; few fine distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions and few fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; 20 percent channers; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Cd--20 to 65 inches; olive (5Y 4/3) channery loam; moderate coarse prisms; firm; common coarse prominent dark gray (N 4/0) iron depletions and common coarse prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; 25 percent channers; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Somerset County, Maine; Township 6, Range 19; 1.0 mile east of Ste. Aurelie international border crossing and 0.2 mile southeast of Baker Lake logging road; USGS Black Brook topographic quadrangle; lat. 46 degrees 12 minutes 23 seconds N. and long. 70 degrees 14 minutes 50 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 12 to 22 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragment content ranges from 10 to 50 percent in the A horizon, and in the Eg horizon where present, and from 5 to 25 percent in the B and Cd horizons. Rock fragments are mainly channers, gravel, and cobbles. Stones cover 0 to 3 percent of the surface. Clay content is 18 to 27 percent throughout the particle size control section and substratum.
The Oa and Oe horizons where present, have hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. They have very fine to medium granular structure, and are very friable or friable. They are extremely acid to strongly acid.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate, very fine to medium granular structure. Some pedons have moderate thin platy structure in the lower part. It is very friable or friable, and extremely acid to moderately acid.
The Eg horizon where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2. It is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak very thin or thin platy, or weak fine granular structure, or it is massive. It is very friable to firm, and extremely acid to strongly acid.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is dominantly loam or silt loam but includes fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate very fine to medium granular, subangular blocky, or weak or moderate, thin or medium platy which parts in some pedons to weak or moderate, very fine subangular blocky structure. It is very friable, friable, or firm, and very strongly acid to slightly acid.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has moderate or strong, coarse or very coarse prismatic, weak or moderate medium or thick platy, or weak or moderate, fine or medium subangular blocky structure. It is friable to very firm, and strongly acid to slightly acid.
The Cd layer has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is dominantly loam or silt loam but includes clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate, thin to thick plates, moderate or strong, coarse or very coarse prisms which part in some pedons to plates, or the horizon is massive. Arrangement of soil particles into aggregates is considered inherited from the parent material. The Cd layer is firm or very firm, and strongly acid to neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Brayton series. Brayton soils have less than 10 percent clay throughout the particle size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Aurelie soils are on lower slopes of ridges and on till plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in glacial till derived mainly from slates, metsandstones, phyllites and shales. The mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 45 degrees F and mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 46 inches. The frost free season ranges from 80 to 150 days. Elevation ranges from 120 to 2500 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Daigle, Elliottsville, Monson, Perham, Thorndike, and Winnecook soils. The Daigle and Perham soils are better drained, receiving less runoff or having steeper slopes. The Elliottsville, Monson, Thorndike, and Winnecook soils are better drained, shallower to bedrock, and are on higher positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Permeability is moderate in the solum, and slow to very slow in the underlying material. A fluctuating perched water table is at or near the mineral soil surface for 7 to 9 months of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. Forest vegetation is mainly balsam fir, northern white cedar, red spruce, paper birch, red maple, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, yellow birch, black spruce, and black ash.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern and eastern Maine and eastern New York. Estimated extent is moderate.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Columbia County, New York, 1985.
REMARKS: Per revision 2/2008: Great group revised from Epiaquepts to Endoaquepts in accordance with Soil Taxonomy, 7th edition, 1998 which, in reference to applying keys, stipulates that diagnostic horizons and properties below a densic contact are excluded.
Per revision 3/2006: Particle size class is revised to loamy from fine-loamy to compliment shallow family.
Per revision 6/1995: The Aurelie series was classified as fine-loamy, mixed, nonacid, frigid Aeric Haplaquepts but has been reclassified (to Epiaquepts) to conform with the Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Sixth Edition, 1994
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 10 inches (Oa1, Oa2, A1 and A2 horizons) b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 10 to 20 inches (Bg, and BCg horizons) c. Densic contact - at 20 inches (Cd layer) d. Aquic conditions - redoximorphic features at 6 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Source of data used in establishing taxonomic class and range in characteristics are Technical Bulletins 94 and 137, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station.
The Soil Interpretation Record Numbers for the Aurelie series are: Aurelie, ME0110; and Aurelie, stony, ME0103.