LOCATION DAIGLE MEEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Daigle silt loam on a 7 percent northwest-facing slope in a very stony wooded area, at an elevation of about 900 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oa--0 to 3 inches; black (7.5YR 2/1) highly decomposed organic material; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine to coarse roots throughout; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary.(0 to 3 inches thick)
E--3 to 6 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam; weak very thin platy structure; very friable; common very fine to medium roots throughout; 8 percent channers; extremely acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
Bs1--6 to 9 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common very fine and fine roots throughout; 5 percent channers; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bs2--9 to 12 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common very fine and fine roots throughout; 5 percent channers; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bs3--12 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam, moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots throughout; 5 percent channers and 2 percent flagstones; common fine prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions and common fine faint brown (7.5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (The combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 4 to 18 inches.)
BC--16 to 22 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) silt loam; strong medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and medium roots throughout; 8 percent channers and 3 percent flagstones; common medium and coarse faint light olive gray (5Y 6/2) iron depletions and common fine and medium distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Cd--22 to 65 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/3) channery silty clay loam; firm; 5 percent very fine vesicular pores; 10 percent channers and 5 percent flagstones; common medium and coarse distinct olive gray (5Y 4/2) and common fine and medium faint light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; strong medium subangular blocks; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Piscataquis County, Maine; T7 R10 WELS; 0.9 mile south-west from the East Branch Bridge and about 0.2 mile north of the Baxter State Park Boundary; USGS Frost Pond topographic quadrangle; lat. 46 degrees 13 minutes 12 *seconds N., long. 68 degrees 58 minutes 17 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 10 to 23 inches. Depth to the dense till ranges from 10 to 20 inches from the top of the mineral soil surface. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 10 to 35 percent by volume. The rock fragments are commonly dominated by channers and gravel followed in order of prevalence by flagstones and cobbles and stones. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid in the solum and very strongly acid to slightly alkaline in the substratum. Clay content ranges from 18 to 27 percent in the particle size control section.
The O horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate, very fine or fine granular structure. It is fibric, sapric and/or hemic material.
The Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak to strong, very fine to medium granular structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 6 or 7, and chroma of 1 or 2.
The Bhs horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR, with value and chroma of 3 or less. The Bh horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 or 3. The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate, very fine to medium granular or subangular blocky structure.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is silt loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate, thin to thick platy or very fine to medium subangular blocky structure. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Cd layer has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is silty clay loam, silt loam, loam or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak to strong, fine to coarse subangular or angular blocks, medium or thick plates, primary aggregation that is comprised of strong very coarse prisms or the layer is massive. Arrangement of soil particles into aggregates is considered to be inherited from the parent material. Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: The Colonel and Telos soils are in the same family. Colonel soils have less than 10 percent clay in and Telos soils have 10 up to 18 percent clay in the particle size control section. The Conant and Perham are soils in related families. Conant soils lack the dense lodgement till substratum. Perham soils are moderately deep to dense till and are moderately well drained.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Daigle soils are on till plains and ridges. The soils formed in dense till derived mainly from slate, shale, metasandstone and some phyllite. Slope is dominantly 2 to 8 percent but ranges from 0 to 25 percent. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 44 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 43 degrees F. The frost-free season ranges from 80 to 130 days. Elevation ranges from 120 to 2500 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Aurelie, Elliottsville, Monson and Perham soils. Aurelie soils are poorly drained and on lower slopes. Elliottsville and Monson soils are shallower to bedrock and occupy the highest positions in the landscape. Perham soils are better drained and occupy higher positions in the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the mineral solum and low to moderately high in the substratum. Permeability is moderate in the solum and slow or very slow in the dense substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forest. Common tree species include red spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, northern white cedar and to a lesser extent sugar maple, red maple, paper birch, yellow birch and quaking aspen. Cleared areas are mostly in hay and pasture. Some areas are used for potatoes and oats where they occur adjacent to better drained soils.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern and eastern Maine; MLRAs 143 and 146. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Aroostook County, Maine; 1960.
REMARKS: This revision reflects reclassification from fine-loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods to Loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods to conform with Keys to Soil Taxonomy. Competing series section revised accordingly.
Remarks from previous revision,2/2000: 1. This revision reflects a change in classification from fine-loamy, mixed, frigid Aquic Haplorthods to fine-loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods. 2. This revision also includes a change in the type location to better reflect actual field conditions. 3. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 6 inches (Oa and E horizons).
b. Albic horizon - the zone from 3 to 6 inches (E horizon).
c. Spodic horizon - the zone from 6 to 12 inches (Bs1 and Bs2 horizons).
d. Aquic feature - redoximorphic features within 30 inches of the mineral soil surface.
e. Densic contact - at 22 inches (19 inches from the mineral soil surface).
f. Densic materials - 22 to 65 inches (Cd horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Source of data used in establishing taxonomic class and range in characteristics are Maine Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin Number 75; NRCS characterization data; and composite data from the Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems compiled by Dr. Paul R. Hepler, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Maine at Orono,
Orono, Maine.
Soil Interpretation Record numbers for the Daigle series are: Daigle, ME0029; and Daigle, stony, ME0031.