LOCATION HOLLIS CT+MA NH NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, mesic Lithic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Hollis gravelly fine sandy loam, 3 to 15 percent slopes, forested. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi-- 0 to 1 inches; slightly decomposed plant material.
Oa-- 1 to 2 inch; black (10YR 2/1) highly decomposed plant material; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and very fine roots; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of O horizons is 0 to 4 inches)
A-- 2 to 7 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) gravelly fine sandy loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine, very fine, medium, and coarse roots; 10 percent gravel, 5 percent channers; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)
Bw1-- 7 to 10 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots, common medium roots; 10 percent gravel, 10 percent channers; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 10 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly fine sandy loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine and very fine roots, common medium roots; 10 percent gravel, 5 percent channers; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of Bw horizons is 7 to 19 inches.)
2R-- 16 inches; schist bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Middlesex County, Connecticut, town of East Hampton, 1000 feet due west of Connecticut Route 196 and 3200 feet due north of Connecticut Route 151; USGS Moodus topographic quadrangle, latitude 41 degrees 31 minutes 28 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 29 minutes 48 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock range from 10 to 20 inches. Rock fragments commonly range from 5 to 35 percent by volume but some pedons have less than 5 percent rock fragments. The fragments are mostly subrounded gravel except where the surface is stony. The soil has 20 percent or more silt in the particle-size control section. Unless limed, reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid in the organic horizons and very strongly acid to moderately acid in the mineral horizons.
The O horizon ranges from slightly decomposed plant material to highly decomposed plant material.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a BA horizon.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 to 8. It is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. The Bw horizon has weak granular or weak to moderate subangular blocky structure. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a thin BC or C horizon with color like the Bw horizon, except it includes hue of 5Y. Texture, structure, and consistence are similar to the Bw horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Brimfield, Cleveland and Kearsarge series.
Cleveland soils are from outside LRR R.
Brimfield soils have hue redder than 5YR in some part of the B horizon and are dominated by rock fragments of mica schist. Cleveland soils have less than 20 percent silt in the particle-size control section and lack a 2R horizon. Kearsarge soils lack a 2R horizon and have rock fragments of phyllite, slate, or schist.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Hollis soils are nearly level to very steep soils on bedrock controlled hills, modified by glacial action. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. The soils formed in a thin mantle of glacial till derived from local bedrock of schist, granite, and gneiss. Rock outcrop ranges from few to many. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 54 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 37 to 51 inches but the range includes as low as 26 inches in some places east of Adirondack Mountains in the Champlain Valley of New York, and the growing season ranges from 115 to 185 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Brimfield, Acton, Broadbrook, Brookfield, Canton, Charlton, Chatfield, Essex, Gloucester, Hibernia, Leicester, Montauk, Narragansett, Paxton, Rainbow, Ridgebury, Rockaway, Scituate, Sutton, Wapping, Whitman, and Woodbridge soils on nearby landscapes. All are very deep upland soils formed in glacial till except for the Brimfield and Chatfield soils. Acton, Rainbow, Rockaway, Scituate, Sutton, Wapping, and Woodbridge soils are moderately well drained. The Broadbrook, Brookfield, Canton, Charlton, Essex, Montauk, Narragansett, and Paxton soils are well drained. Chatfield soils have bedrock within a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Gloucester soils are somewhat excessively drained. Hibernia soils are somewhat poorly drained in drainageways. Leicester and Ridgebury are poorly drained and Whitman soils are very poorly drained soils in drainageways and low-lying areas.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained and somewhat excessively drained. Surface runoff is negligible to very high. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. Small areas with few rock outcrops are cleared of stones and used for cultivated crops, but most cleared areas are in hay or pasture. Scattered areas are used for community development. Common trees are red, white, black, and chestnut oak, hickory, white pine, hemlock, and gray and black birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated uplands in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and eastern New York; MLRAs 101, 142, 144A, and 145. Hollis soils have been previously correlated in some surveys in Maine. Subsequent soil temperature studies indicated the presence of the frigid soil temperature regime and resulted in the decision to not use the mesic soil temperature regime in Maine. The series is of large extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nashua Area, New Hampshire, 1909.
REMARKS: Cation exchange activity class placement based upon a review of lab data and similar and associated soils.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (O and A horizons).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 16 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
3. Lithic contact - hard bedrock at 16 inches (2R horizon).
4. Loamy (coarse-loamy) particle-size class - the control section from 10 to 16 inches averages less than 35 percent clay in fine-earth fraction and the soil is in a lithic subgroup.
5. Lithologic discontinuity - till with rock fragments from mixed sources overlying single kind of bedrock at 16 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Full characterization data for sample no. S00CT007004, S99CT005001 and S98NY061001. Partial characterization data for sample no. S99NY061003 and S99NY061003A-3D. Analyzed by the NSSL, Lincoln, NE.