LOCATION BECKET NH MA ME NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Oxyaquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Becket fine sandy loam, on a 9 percent west-southwest facing slope in a stony, forested site. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi-- 0 to 2 inches; slightly decomposed plant material. (0 to 4 inches thick.)
E-- 2 to 4 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many medium and fine roots; 5 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick.)
Bhs-- 4 to 5 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many medium and fine roots; 10 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick.)
Bs1-- 5 to 7 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many medium and fine roots; 10 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary.
Bs2-- 7 to 14 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common medium and fine roots; 10 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary.
Bs3-- 14 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots; 15 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bs horizons is 4 to 25 inches.)
BC-- 24 to 33 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) gravelly sandy loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; few fine roots; 20 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 24 inches thick.)
Cd-- 33 to 67 inches; mixed olive (5Y 4/3) gravelly sandy loam and olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6) sand, composite texture of gravelly loamy sand; massive; firm and brittle; few medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; 20 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles; horizon consists of firm gravelly sandy loam with horizontally oriented lenses and pockets of loose sand; rock fragments coated with olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6) sand; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Cheshire County, New Hampshire; town of Rindge, 2,200 feet south of NH Rte. 119, 3,000 feet southwest of the intersection NH Rte. 119 and U.S. Rte 202, in a logging road cut. USGS Monadnock 15 minute quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees 45 minutes 35 seconds N. and Longitude 72 degrees 03 minutes 00 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Mineral solum thickness ranges from 20 to 36 inches. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid in the solum, and from very strongly acid to neutral in the substratum. Rock fragment are dominantly gravel and range from 5 to 30 percent in the solum and from 5 to 40 percent in the substratum. Rock fragments constitute less than 35 percent of the particle-size control section. Ortstein ranges from 0 to 20 percent of the spodic horizon.
The O horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 4. It is slightly, moderately or highly decomposed plant material.
Some pedons have an A horizon that has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. It is up to 6 inches thick.
Disturbed areas have an Ap horizon with hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4.
The A and Ap horizons are dominantly fine sandy loam, but include loam and sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is granular.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is granular or subangular blocky or the horizon is massive.
The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is dominantly fine sandy loam, but includes loam and sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is granular or subangular blocky or the horizon is massive.
Some pedons have a Bh horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture range is the same as the Bhs horizon.
The Bs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 8 and chroma of 2 to 8. Texture is fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is granular or subangular blocky or the horizon is massive.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is granular, platy, or subangular blocky or the horizon is massive.
The Cd horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 6. It is comprised of loamy layers and sandy pockets and lenses with horizontal orientation, with a composite texture of loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or their gravelly analogues. The lenses are coarse, medium, or fine sand and are 1/8 to 3 inches thick. They make up 20 percent or more of the horizon. They are massive with or without plate-like divisions. Consistence is firm or very firm. Some pedons have friable C horizons up to 8 inches thick.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Marlow, Mundal, Mundalite and Plaisted series. Marlow soils have loamy substrata with less than 20 percent sand lenses or pockets. The duration of saturation in the subsoil is greater in Mundal soils which are moderately well drained. Mundalite soils have spodic horizons greater than 18 inches. Plaisted soils have greater than 50 percent silt in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Becket soils are on drumlins and glaciated uplands. Slope is dominantly 3 to 35 percent, but ranges from 3 to 60 percent. The soils formed in stony till of Wisconsin age derived principally from granite, gneiss, and schist on drumlins and glaciated uplands. Mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 45 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 50 inches. The frost-free growing season ranges from 90 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berkshire, Lyman, Lyme, Monadnock, Peru, Pillsbury, Skerry, and Sunapee soils. The moderately well drained Skerry soils are in a drainage sequence with Becket soils. The well drained Marlow soils and moderately well drained Peru soils have densic materials with less than 20 percent sand lenses. The somewhat excessively drained Hermon soils, the well drained Berkshire and Monadnock soils, and the moderately well drained Sunapee soils have friable substrata. The somewhat excessively drained Lyman soils are on bedrock controlled landforms and have bedrock within 20 inches. The somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained Pillsbury and Lyme soils are in depressions and drainageways.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderateley rapid or rapid in the solum and moderately slow or slow in the dense substratum. Potential for runoff is low to high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. Principle species include sugar maple, yellow birch, paper birch, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, balsam fir, and white spruce. Areas cleared of trees and stones are used mostly for hay and pasture with a few apple orchards and cultivated crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, New Hampshire, and northern New York. MLRAs 142, 143, 144B and 145. The series is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Berkshire County, Massachusetts, 1923. Becket is a Hall of Fame series.
REMARKS: 1. Becket soils were previously classified as Typic Fragiorthods and more recently as Typic Haplorthods.
2. The type location was previously in Carroll County, NH.
3. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Albic horizon - the zone from 2 to 4 inches (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizons - the zone from 4 to 14 inches (Bhs, Bs1, and Bs2 horizons).
c. Densic contact - at 33 inches.
d. Densic materials - the zone from 33 to 67 inches (Cd horizon).