LOCATION MARLOW NH+MA ME NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Oxyaquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Marlow fine sandy loam, on a 12 percent east-facing slope in a stony, forested site. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 3 inches; very dark gray (N3/0) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 5 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
E--3 to 6 inches; gray (N5/0) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 5 percent gravel; very strongly acid; abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
Bs1--6 to 13 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 5 percent gravel; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bs2--13 to 17 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 8 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 3 to 25 inches.)
BC--17 to 31 inches; olive (5Y 5/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine roots; 15 percent gravel; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 14 inches thick)
Cd--31 to 65 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) fine sandy loam; moderate medium platy structure; very firm; 12 percent gravel; thin lenses of gray (5Y 5/1) segregated fine sand on faces of peds; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Grafton County, New Hampshire; Town of Littleton. Mann Hill. Approximately 1.7 miles northeast from the junction of NH-116 and Mann Hill Road, 0.25 miles east of Mann Hill Road. Approximate latitude 44 degrees, 19 minutes, 26 seconds N. and longitude 71 degrees, 44 minutes, 33 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Mineral solum thickness and depth to densic materials from the mineral surface ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments are dominantly gravel with some cobbles and a few stones, and range from 5 to 30 percent throughout the pedon. The silt content in the solum and underlying till is less than 50 percent, but ranges to 50 percent or more in the upper 10 inches of the solum. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid throughout the pedon.
Undisturbed pedons have an 0 horizon that is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is up to 5 inches thick.
The A horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is dominantly fine sandy loam or loam, but ranges to silt loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Some pedons have an Ap horizon that has hue of 5YR to 10YR and value and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is similar to the A horizon.
The E horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is dominantly fine sandy loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction, but ranges to silt loam or very fine sandy loam in some pedons.
Some pedons have a Bh or Bhs horizon up to 4 inches thick. Bh horizons have hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Bhs horizons have hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 to 3.
The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 8.
The BC horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6.
Texture of the B and BC horizons is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
An E horizon is present below the B horizon in some pedons. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Typically, it has texture coarser than the overlying horizon.
The Cd horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate, medium or thick platy structure, or it is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm. Loose or friable segregated sand lenses with a horizontal orientation comprise up to 20 percent of the densic materials. The lenses are typically coarse, medium, or fine sand ranging from 1/8 to 1 inch thick. Some pedons have a friable C horizon up to 8 inches thick with color and texture similar to the underlying Cd horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Becket, Mundal, Mundalite and Plaisted series. Becket soils have greater than 20 percent sandy lenses or strata in the Cd layer. Mundal soils are saturated for a longer duration at a shallower depth. Mundalite soils have spodic horizons greater than 18 inches thick. Plaisted soils average greater than 50 percent silt content in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Marlow soils are nearly level to very steep soils on drumlins and uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent, but commonly is less than 35 percent. The soils formed in dense, loamy till derived mainly from mica schist, granite, and phyllite. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 45 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 50 inches, and the frost-free season ranges from 90 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berkshire, Colonel, Hermon, Monadnock, Peacham, Peru, Pillsbury, Sunapee, and Tunbridge soils. Marlow soils are in a drainage sequence with the moderately well drained Peru soils, somewhat poorly drained Colonel soils, somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained Pillsbury soils, and very poorly drained Peacham soils. Berkshire and Sunapee soils do not have densic materials in the substratum. Hermon and Monadnock soils have coarser substrata with rapid or moderately rapid permeability. Lyman and Tunbridge soils are on bedrock controlled uplands. Lyman soils have bedrock within a depth of 20 inches and the Tunbridge soils are moderately deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the solum, and moderately high to moderately low in the densic materials. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately slow or slow in the densic materials. Potential for runoff is medium to high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Areas cleared of stones are used mainly for hay and pasture and some cultivated crops. In forested area, the principal species are sugar maple, eastern white pine, balsam fir, red spruce, white spruce, white ash, yellow birch, paper birch, and red pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont; MLRA 143 and 144B. The series is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cheshire County, New Hampshire, 1939.
REMARKS: 1. Marlow soils were formerly classified as Typic Fragiorthods and more recently as Typic Haplorthods. 2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 6 inches (A and E horizons).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 6 to 13 inches (Bs1 horizon).
c. Densic contact - at 31 inches.
d. Densic materials - the zone from 31 to 65 inches (Cd horizon).