LOCATION BOONTON NJEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Fragiudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Boonton silt loam idle pasture, at an elevation of about 155 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and common medium and coarse roots; many fine and medium tubular pores; common uncoated sand grains; 5 percent subangular stones, cobbles, and gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
BA--8 to 15 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine and common medium and coarse roots; common fine tubular pores; many coated sand grains; 10 percent gravel and cobbles; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 9 inches thick)
Bt1--15 to 23 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium and coarse roots; common fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on horizontal and vertical faces of peds; few distinct clay films lining pores; 15 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--23 to 30 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak coarse and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium and coarse roots; few fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on horizontal and vertical faces of peds; 20 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 12 to 22 inches.)
Btx--30 to 50 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) gravelly sandy loam; strong very thick platy structure; very firm, brittle; few roots between peds; few fine vesicular pores; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; 20 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles and stones; few fine distinct black (N 2/0) and few fine distinct brown (7.5YR 5/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (10 to 30 inches thick)
Cd--50 to 65 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) gravelly sandy loam; weak medium and thick platy structure in upper part and massive in lower part; very firm, brittle; 25 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Passaic County, New Jersey; Totowa Borough, 0.2 mile northeast of Totowa Road on Brookmans Lane, 585 feet east of Brookmans Lane in idle pasture. USGS Paterson quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees, 54 minutes, 44 seconds N, longitude 74 degrees, 12 minutes, 11 seconds W, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 36 to more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 4 feet. The top of the fragipan is at a depth of 20 to 36 inches. In most pedons the upper part of the fragipan is part of the argillic horizon. Rock fragments of mostly rounded gravel occur throughout the soil, and range from 0 to 35 percent in individual horizons. Stones and cobbles range from 0 to 10 percent in the solum and from 0 to 20 percent in the substratum. Reaction is strongly acid to extremely acid in the upper part of the solum. It ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid in the lower part of the solum, and from moderately acid to neutral in the C horizon.
Some pedons have O horizons up to 3 inches thick with hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. In lieu texture is slightly decomposed to highly decomposed plant material.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture of the Ap or A horizon is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Some pedons have thin unplowed A horizons up to 2 inches thick with color and texture the same as the Ap.
The BA or BE horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. Texture is silt loam, loam or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 4 to 6. Pedons with the redder hues have a higher proportion of red sandstone or shale. Few or common redoximorphic features are in some pedons but depletions with chroma of 2 or less are absent in the upper 10 inches of the Bt horizon. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is commonly moderate to weak, coarse to fine subangular blocky. Some pedons have platy structure in places.
The Bx horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Redoximorphic features range from common to few, fine to coarse, and faint to distinct. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate very coarse prismatic to moderate or strong, thin to very thick platy. The Bx horizon is very firm or firm, and brittle.
The C layer has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. It is commonly loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loamy fine sand in the fine earth fraction but the range includes loamy sand in some places. It has weak medium to thick platy layers or is massive, and consistence ranges from very firm to very friable. In some pedons the C layer is loose friable till.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series currently in the same family.
The Readington, Rockaway, Turbotville, and Wooster series are in related families. Rockaway soils have rock fragments dominated by granitic gneiss and have less than 35 percent base saturation in the lower part of the solum and C horizon. Readington, Turbotville, and Wooster soils are fine-loamy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Boonton soils are on gently sloping to very steep uplands. Slope is usually smooth and regular and gradient ranges from 0 to 50 percent. The soils formed in glacial till composed mostly of red to brown shale, sandstone, basalt, and some granitic gneiss. The climate is humid temperate; mean annual temperature ranges from 50 to 57 degrees F, precipitation ranges from 40 to 45 inches. Frost free season is 130 to 150 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Holyoke and Haledon are the most extensive associated soils and are developed from similar materials. Holyoke soils are shallow to basalt bedrock and usually are on higher and steeper positions in the landscape. Haledon soils have low chroma depletions in the top 10 inches of the argillic horizon and are in lower positions in the landscape, in drainageways, or at the base of steeper slopes. Other associated soils are Riverhead and Dunellen which formed in stratified, water sorted material.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well and well drained. Runoff is slow to rapid. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid above the fragipan and very slow in the fragipan. Permeability in the substratum is very slow to moderately rapid. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low to high above the fragipan and low or very low in the fragipan and low to high in the substratum. There is a perched water table at a depth of 1.5 to 3 feet from November to May of most years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most Boonton soils are in areas that have become highly urbanized. Undeveloped sites are wooded or idle fields. Wooded areas have oaks, red maple, white ash, hickory, gray birch, and dogwood trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Till uplands in Northeastern New Jersey; MLRA 144A. The series is of moderate extent (20,000 acres).
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Morris County, New Jersey 1971.
REMARKS: Alfisols classification is inferred from decreasing acidity and the high proportion of ultra basic grains and fragments in the lower part of the solum and C horizon. CE activity class is inferred from similar soils. Geographic coordinates were determined from the narrative description for the type location.
Diagnostic horizons and feature recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 15 inches (Ap and BA horizons).
2. Argillic horizon - the zone from 15 to 30 inches (Bt horizon).
3. Fragipan - the zone from 30 to 50 inches (Bx horizon).
4. Densic materials - the zone from 50 to 65 inches (Cd horizon).