LOCATION ROUNDABOUT ME+NH NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid Aeric Epiaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Roundabout silt loam, on a 1 percent slope in a hayfield. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap-- 0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam, light gray (10YR 7/1) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; few fine and medium prominent gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions and few fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation in the lower two inches; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 11 inches thick.)
Bw-- 7 to 17 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) silt loam; weak thin and medium platy structure; friable; few very fine roots; common medium prominent olive gray (5Y 5/2) iron depletions and many medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick.)
Bg-- 17 to 26 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silt loam; weak medium platy structure; friable; few fine roots; many coarse distinct gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions and common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 21 inches thick.)
BCg-- 26 to 30 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) very fine sandy loam; weak thin platy structure; friable; many medium faint gray (5Y 5/1) iron depletions and common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 30 inches thick.)
C-- 30 to 65 inches; olive (5Y 5/3) silt loam; moderate thin and medium platy structure; firm; common coarse distinct gray (5Y 6/1) iron depletions and common medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Oxford County, Maine; Town of Paris; 1 mile east-southeast of Paine Pond and 1.1 miles southwest of the confluence of Moody Brook and the Little Androscoggin River; USGS West Paris topographic quadrangle; lat. 44 degrees 15 minutes 39 seconds N. and long. 70 degrees 32 minutes 04 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the mineral solum ranges from 16 to 48 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments, mostly gravel, are less than 5 percent by volume above 40 inches and from 0 to 20 percent below 40 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the mineral solum and from moderately acid to neutral in the substratum. Some pedons below 40 inches range to moderately alkaline. Some subhorizon below the Ap horizon, within 20 inches of the mineral soil surface, has chroma of 2 or less with redox concentrations.
The Oa horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate, very fine to medium granular structure.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. It has weak to strong, fine or medium, granular or subangular blocky structure. Undisturbed areas have an A horizon 1 to 6 inches thick that has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 1 or 2. Dry value for the Ap or A horizon is 6 or 7. It has weak or moderate very fine to medium granular or subangular blocky structure. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. Consistence is very friable or friable.
Some pedons have an E horizon with hue of 5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate, thin or medium platy, or weak fine granular structure. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It has faint to prominent redox concentrations. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate, thin to thick platy, weak or moderate very fine to medium subangular blocky, or weak fine granular. Some pedons have primary structure that is weak coarse or very coarse prismatic. Consistence is friable or firm.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It has faint to prominent redoximorphic features. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate, thin to thick platy. Consistence is friable or firm.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4. It has faint to prominent redoximorphic features. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam and may have strata that range from silty clay loam to fine sand in some pedons. Below 40 inches some pedons have fine sand and gravelly sand. Structure is weak or moderate, thin to thick platy, weak medium to very coarse prismatic, or the horizon is structureless. Consistence is loose to very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Roundabout soils are on lake or marine plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in medium textured glaciolacustrine or glaciomarine deposits of Wisconsin Age. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 50 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degrees F. The frost-free season ranges from 80 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 5 to 2000 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Biddeford, Boothbay, Lamoine, Nicholville, Scantic and Swanville soils. Biddeford soils are very poorly drained and in depressions. Boothbay and Swanville soils have more than 18 percent clay in the particle-size control section and are in similar landscape positions. Lamoine and Scantic soils have more than 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section and are in similar landscape positions. Nicholville soils are moderately well drained and are in higher more convex positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Poorly drained and somewhat poorly drained. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral solum and moderately low or moderately high in the medium textured substratum and is high or very high in the coarse textured substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used mainly for hay and pasture. In forested areas the principle tree species are balsam fir, red spruce, red maple, and gray birch. White spruce, eastern white pine, hemlock, and tamarack are also present to a lesser extent.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. (MLRA's 143, 144B and 146). The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Oxford County, Maine, 1987.
REMARKS: 1. The Roundabout series have replaced some soils formerly mapped Raynham that have a frigid soil temperature regime.
2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 26 inches (Bw and Bg horizons).
c. Aeric feature - both value and chroma of 3 or more between the Ap horizon and a depth of 30 inches below the soil surface (Bw horizon).
d. Aquic conditions - redoximorphic features throughout the mineral soil.
e. Episaturation - a perched water table.
ADDITIONAL DATA: The Soil Interpretation Record Number for the Roundabout Series is: ME0097.