LOCATION COLONEL ME+VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Colonel fine sandy loam, on a 5 percent northwest-facing slope in a very stony wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oa--0 to 1 inch; dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) highly decomposed plant material; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine roots and common medium roots; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
E--1 to 2 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots and common medium roots; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; very strongly acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
Bhs--2 to 3 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots and common medium and few coarse roots; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
Bs1--3 to 9 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots, common medium roots, and few coarse roots; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bs2--9 to 12 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak thin platy structure parting to weak fine granular; friable; common very fine and fine roots; common fine prominent olive gray (5Y 5/2) iron depletions and common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) areas of iron accumulation; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 3 to 15 inches.)
BC--12 to 18 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; moderate medium platy structure; friable; few fine and very fine roots; common medium distinct olive gray (5Y 5/2) iron depletions and common medium distinct brown (10YR 4/3) areas of iron accumulation; 10 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick)
Cd--18 to 65 inches; olive (5Y 4/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; very firm; common fine prominent dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) oxide coatings on and within prisms and plates; common coarse faint olive gray (5Y 5/2) iron depletions and common fine faint brown (10YR 4/3) areas of iron accumulation; 10 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; strong very coarse prisms parting to strong medium and thick plates; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Oxford County, Maine; Town of Dixfield; 1.9 miles southwest of the confluence of Tucker Valley Brook and Seven Mile Stream and 0.8 mile southeast of Severy Hill; USGS East Dixfield topographic quadrangle; lat. 44 degrees 32 minutes 30 seconds N. and long. 70 degrees 18 minutes 38 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Combined thickness of the A, E, B and BC horizons ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Texture is most commonly fine sandy loam, but the range includes sandy loam, very fine sandy loam and loam in the fine-earth fraction. The weighted average of clay in the particle-size control section is less than 10 percent. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to slightly acid in the solum and from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the substratum. Rock fragments are mostly gravel, channers, and cobbles with a few stones, and range from 5 to 30 percent throughout the mineral solum and 5 to 35 percent in the substratum. Stones and boulders cover from 0 to 15 percent of the surface. Iron depletions in the solum are between depths of 7 to 16 inches from the mineral soil surface.
The Oa horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. It has weak or moderate, very fine, fine or medium granular structure. Some pedons have an Oe horizon.
The A or Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, with value and chroma of 2 or 3. It has weak or moderate, fine, or medium granular structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate, very fine to medium granular or subangular blocky, or weak fine or medium platy structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, with value and chroma of 2 to 3. The Bh horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. They have weak or moderate, very fine or fine granular structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Bs horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 8. It has weak or moderate, very fine to medium subangular blocky, very fine to medium granular, or weak thin to thick platy structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. It has weak or moderate, fine or medium granular, moderate fine or medium subangular blocky or weak or moderate, thin to thick platy structure. Consistence is very friable to firm.
The E' horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. It has platy structure and consistence is friable or firm.
The Cd layer has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It has weak to strong, thin to thick plates or weak to strong very coarse prisms which in some pedons parts to weak to strong, thin to thick plates, or the layer is massive. Aggregation of material into structural units in the Cd layer is interpreted as inherited from the parent material. Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Daigle and Telos series. Clay content in the particle-size control section in Daigle soils ranges from 18 up to 27 percent and in the Telos soils from 10 up to 18 percent.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Colonel soils are on glaciated uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent but is commonly less than 10 percent. The soils formed in dense, loamy glacial till of Wisconsin Age derived mainly from mica schist, granite, phyllite, and gneiss. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 48 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 90 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 5 to 2500 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Becket, Berkshire, Brayton, Dixfield, Hermon, Lyman, Marlow, Monadnock, Pillsbury, Skerry and Tunbridge series. Berkshire, Becket, Dixfield, Hermon, Marlow, Monadnock and Skerry soils are better drained and occur in higher positions on the landscape. Brayton and Pillsbury soils are wetter and are in lower positions on the landscape. Lyman and Tunbridge soils are better drained, shallow and moderately deep to bedrock respectively, and occur in higher positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the solum and moderately high to moderately low in the substratum. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately slow or slow in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forest. Common tree species include red maple, eastern white pine, paper birch, red spruce and balsam fir. Areas cleared of stones are used mainly for hay and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine and Vermont.(MLRA's 143 and 144B) The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Oxford County, Maine, 1987.
REMARKS: 1. The family is revised from coarse loamy to loamy to comply with shallow characteristic. 2. Previous revisions included classification updates to coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods from coarse-loamy, mixed, frigid, Aquic Haplorthods. 2. The Colonel series will replace some soils included in mapping with the Peru series that are somewhat poorly drained. 3. 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 9 inches (Bh, and Bs1 horizons).
c. Aquic conditions - redoximorphic features at 8 inches below the mineral soil surface.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Soil Interpretation record numbers for the Colonel series are: Colonel, ME0106; Colonel, bouldery, ME0124; and Colonel, stony, ME0107.