LOCATION SCARBORO MA+ CT NH NY RI VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, mesic Histic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Scarboro mucky fine sandy loam woodland; in an area of Scarboro mucky fine sandy loam at an elevation of about 212 meters. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch; slightly decomposed maple leaves and other plant material
Oa--1 to 8 inches; dark brown (10YR3/3) mucky peat; thin platy structure; friable; common fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Oi, Oe, and Oa horizons is 8 to 13 inches.)
A--8 to 14 inches; black (N 2/0) mucky fine sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 14 inches thick)
Cg1--14 to 19 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) loamy sand; massive; friable; many fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary.
Cg2--19 to 22 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) sand; massive; friable; few fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; common medium prominent dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) iron depletions and common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Cg3--22 to 65 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) gravelly sand; single grain; loose; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: 60 feet north of Electric Avenue near the south edge of Forest Hill Cemetery in the City of Fitchburg, Massachusetts; USGS Fitchburg quadrangle; Lat. 42 degrees 34 minutes 00 seconds N., and 71 degrees 48 minutes 35 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Stones range from 0 to 5 percent by volume in the A horizon and upper part of the C horizon and are absent in the lower part of the C horizon. Cobbles range from 0 to 10 percent in the A horizon, 0 to 5 percent in the upper part of the C horizon, and are absent in the lower part of the C horizon. Gravel ranges from 0 to 10 percent by volume in the A horizon, 0 to 20 percent in the upper part of the C horizon to a depth of 30 inches, and 0 to 50 percent in the C horizon below a depth of 30 inches. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the A horizon and upper part of the C horizon, and from very strongly acid to neutral in the lower part of the C horizon.
The O horizon is commonly mucky peat or muck, but the range includes thin layers of peat at the surface.
The A horizon is neutral or has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, sand or their mucky analogues in the fine-earth fraction. This horizon commonly is 5 to 14 inches thick but in some places may be less than 5 inches thick or absent.
The upper part of the C horizon is neutral or has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2. Some pedons have few or common fine to coarse redoximorphic features. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand in the fine-earth fraction.
The lower part of the C horizon is neutral or has hue of 10YR to 5Y or 5GY, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 4. Redoximorphic features range from none to many and are fine to coarse. Texture is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, sand, loamy coarse sand, or coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. The C horizon is structureless and loose, very friable, or friable. It is often stratified.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Ackerman and Antung series. These soils are from outside LRR R and S.
Ackerman soils are more alkaline in the organic horizons and the upper part of the C horizon. They also contain copregenous material. Antung soils are more alkaline and effervesce in the C horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Scarboro soils are in level or nearly level depressions on glacial outwash plains, deltas, and terraces. Slope is less than 3 percent. The soils formed in sandy glaciofluvial deposits. Mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 57 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 55 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The excessively drained Hinckley, Windsor and Penwood soils, somewhat excessively drained Merrimac soils, moderately well drained Sudbury and Deerfield soils, poorly drained Mashpee(T) and Massasoit(T) soils, somewhat poorly and poorly drained Walpole and Wareham soils are on higher positions on associated glaciofluvial landforms. The poorly drained Rippowam soils and very poorly drained Saco soils are on nearby flood plains.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high. Surface runoff is negligible. The water table is at or near the surface for 6 to 12 months of the year, and many areas are ponded for short periods.
USE AND VEGETATION: Shrub and brush land or woodland. Common shrubs are speckled alder, smooth alder, rhoda azalea, steeplebush spirea, leatherleaf, labrador-tea, winterberry, highbush blueberry, large cranberry, black huckleberry, poison sumac, and sheep laurel. Common trees are red maple, slippery elm, Atlantic white cedar, tamarack, white pine, willow, and gray birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciofluvial landforms in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, eastern New York, and Vermont; MLRAs 142, 144A, 145 and 149B. Scarboro soils are extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cumberland County, Maine; 1915.
REMARKS: Geographical location (latitude and longitude) determined from the published soil survey.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Histic epipedon - the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 8 inches, (Oi and Oa horizons).
2. Thickness of organic soil materials is 8 inches.
3. Aquic conditions - the zone from 19 to 22 inches has 50 percent or more 2 chroma with redox concentrations (Cg1 horizon).